Headlights for dummies...

[1500ram12]

OK yeah I will be installing OEM Projectors, but with Retroshop harness - no HID's in headlights...yet .

I'd set the turn/park lamps to led and bypass the resistors that will come with his harness if you can. I don't remember if the are integrated into the harness or are removable like in the past.

@Jimmy07 can shed more light on if you should change the settings from quads to bi-xenon


2018 2500 6.4L

 

[78Staff]

I'd set the turn/park lamps to led and bypass the resistors that will come with his harness if you can. I don't remember if the are integrated into the harness or are removable like in the past.

@Jimmy07 can shed more light on if you should change the settings from quads to bi-xenon


2018 2500 6.4L

Current website pic shows a potted connector - although technically I suppose it could be cut out. But is that really necessary? One of the reasons I went with OEM and these harnesses was to minimize wiring hassles .

https://shop.retroshop.us/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=13.Adapt

 

[Tahoebronco]

Installed LED fogs today - grabbed the Hikari's Boosted recommended. Look great no errors or flicker that I could detect but I updated the settings with Alfa anyway. Only thing that threw me was the "clockable" design where you can spin the element after install - I suppose it makes them usable in more installations, but will have to see if the move/rotate any down the road.

While in Alfa, I did notice there are settings for Quad Headlight Enable, Bi-Xeon Headlight Enable, etc so when I install projectors next week will I need to change those as well - I don't recall seeing it mentioned.

I have a 2011 Ram 2500 that originally came with the 2 high/low bulbs combo's for both the right and left side. (Not the the quad bulbs of later models.) I recently replaced the light assemblies with a pair from Modify Street that have a total of 4 projectors. I love the improvement of the light output compared to the original OEM's; however, the new lights are similar with the OEM's in that when I turn on the high beams, the low beams turn off.

My question is, will the Alpha OBD allow a change to the truck so that when the high beams are switched on that the low beams will remain on too? Having all 4 bulbs on at the same time when on high beams would vastly improve the lighting of the road when one needs the high beams.

Whereas now when I switch on the high beams and the low beams turn off, I lose a lot of lighting just in front of the truck.

Origiginal OEM replaced with new quad projectors.

 

[Jimmy07]

Installed LED fogs today - grabbed the Hikari's Boosted recommended. Look great no errors or flicker that I could detect but I updated the settings with Alfa anyway. Only thing that threw me was the "clockable" design where you can spin the element after install - I suppose it makes them usable in more installations, but will have to see if the move/rotate any down the road.

While in Alfa, I did notice there are settings for Quad Headlight Enable, Bi-Xeon Headlight Enable, etc so when I install projectors next week will I need to change those as well - I don't recall seeing it mentioned.

I'd set the turn/park lamps to led and bypass the resistors that will come with his harness if you can. I don't remember if the are integrated into the harness or are removable like in the past.

@Jimmy07 can shed more light on if you should change the settings from quads to bi-xenon


2018 2500 6.4L

The bi-xenon headlamps enable is one of the settings used to let the BCM know that there are bi functional projectors on the truck that has a solenoid operated shield that needs to drop when the high beams are used. You don’t need to set this because the adapter harness has accounted for it by jumping the high beam circuit over to the shutter solenoid circuit.
Leave quad headlamps enabled.

 

[Jimmy07]

I have a 2011 Ram 2500 that originally came with the 2 high/low bulbs combo's for both the right and left side. (Not the the quad bulbs of later models.) I recently replaced the light assemblies with a pair from Modify Street that have a total of 4 projectors. I love the improvement of the light output compared to the original OEM's; however, the new lights are similar with the OEM's in that when I turn on the high beams, the low beams turn off.

My question is, will the Alpha OBD allow a change to the truck so that when the high beams are switched on that the low beams will remain on too? Having all 4 bulbs on at the same time when on high beams would vastly improve the lighting of the road when one needs the high beams.

Whereas now when I switch on the high beams and the low beams turn off, I lose a lot of lighting just in front of the truck.

Origiginal OEM replaced with new quad projectors.
View attachment 168031

View attachment 168032 View attachment 168033

Yes, the alfa will allow the highs and lows to run together. You would set quad headlamps enable to yes.

 

[Bennyrok]

Im not a rich man, but I finaly invested in the 1,300.00 dollar morimoto's Nothing compares.

 

[78Staff]

omg I cannot wait to get my projectors and LED tails lol... so impatient. Every Ram I see now I'm checking out their headlighs and taillights hah. Saw a sweet Power Wagon at the range today - Man I should have bought one of those

Tails arrived, damn harnesses did not...

I hate ordering stuff from the Leftist Coast... never seems to make it on time. Hopefully be here tomorrow though.

Also got one headlight, the other should be here next week.

Plus my PTS harness arrived... Dang I got a lot of work to do lol...

 

[78Staff]

LED tails installed... mostly painless other than one of the pins had become de-pinned and I didn't notice at first - not sure if arrived that way or I pushed it out with the plug accidentally. After I figured it out (brake light was not working on that side) I used a small punch to re-seat it. I don't have a pin set tool specifically, but this seemed to have worked. I zip tied the cables right behind the connector to take any stress off of a single wire, and I think it'll be fine, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Used the new V2 Retroshop harness with the potted connectors - not the older version with two external resistors that had to be mounted and grounded. While I like the new version, the potted piece isn't really secure by any means, ie it's just attached by the wiring, so hopefully it wont bang around to much .

Anyway, all installed. I went ahead and set the rear lamps to LED with alfa - I don't think that's really necessary with the Retroshop harness but wanted to keep things consistent.

 

[78Staff]

dammit dammit dammit...

Dang headlight came in with the bottom tab completely broken off. It was packed really well too. . Back it goes. I think I am going to not mess around with any more ebay/salvage units and just get one from Bennie. It'll cost more, but I won't have to worry about broken/repaired tabs, plus this way both headlights will be new.

 

[Lawsuit11]

dammit dammit dammit...

Dang headlight came in with the bottom tab completely broken off. It was packed really well too. . Back it goes. I think I am going to not mess around with any more ebay/salvage units and just get one from Bennie. It'll cost more, but I won't have to worry about broken/repaired tabs, plus this way both headlights will be new.

Yeah I agree it cost a bit more but at least you know it is good to go


—2018 Ram 1500—

 

[Noeyes]

I looked at several different options for my 2018 Lone Star Silver Edition that currently has halogen bulbs in the same quad housings that you have. I choose the Supernova V.4 LED replacements. They have a great you tube video of replacing the low beams on a Ram, with the V.4's and they also replace the high beams with another Supernova product and turn signals as well. I finally ran across a guy in one of the Ram Clubs I participate in who made the change with the same Supernovas and the output is amazing. We put the trucks side by side and you could really see the difference. I went down about a mile then drove back into his light beam and they did not shine in my eyes, so they are set to mimic the halogen output of the beam. The replacement of the Supernovas are very simple plug and play and it comes with some sort of resistor to prevent flashing, but its small enough to fit completely inside the housing. Looking forward to getting the better light output since I drive mostly farm to market roads here in Texas getting to work and out to my farm. With all the hogs and deer we have running around I want to see them, if possible before meeting them in a way I have before and did not like at all. Hope this helps. I did take some pictures of the halogen output and will do the same after installing the Supernovas.

I went with them too and love them. Made it way safer driving at night. Tons of deer where I'm at.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Im not a rich man, but I finaly invested in the 1,300.00 dollar morimoto's Nothing compares.View attachment 168069 View attachment 168069 View attachment 168071 View attachment 168071

Congratulations they look great!!

 

[78Staff]

Im not a rich man, but I finaly invested in the 1,300.00 dollar morimoto's Nothing compares.View attachment 168069 View attachment 168069 View attachment 168071 View attachment 168071

I agree those look sweet. And I can't look at that tag without picturing Archer lol...

 

[Domonic J McGrath]

I used these on my 2016 1500 and they were plug and play and all went well no bulb out message or anything they came with a whip attatched they came with high beam , low beam, and fog lights I love them

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[78Staff]

Well I got them installed. Really happy with the change and the look but I'll be honest, it was a bit more work than I expected.





I ran into an issue on the drivers side, I guess I unscrewed the long lower bolt too much, and this little part below came out with it.





It's simple enough looking, and appears to thread right back into the socket attached to the support, although oddly has a larger threaded section under the upper section. I spent probably 30 minutes trying to thread it back in but couldn't get it to catch. I compared to the passenger side and it definitely screws in, but for whatever reason it wouldn't go. The actual threads for the mounting bolt is below this, so it's not the actual attachment point, but appears to be some sort of spacer/leveling part maybe, with a plastic collar.

In the interest of getting it back together, I used a small fender washer to take up the space to keep the headlight level (that in itself was a trick), and figured i would research this little part.

Otherwise everything went fine. Tedious to do it without removing the grill though, which probably contributed to the user error on the part above . I figure next time if I upgrade to HID's or go back in to correct the above issue I'll probably just pull the grill. I get that it's easy to break the clips, but I saw a pack of them online for less that $10 so will just pick those up ahead of time.

Anyway, function test went fine, Alfa-enabled turn signal DRL's work on the projectors as expected, and they look so much nicer than the quads of course. I will need to adjust them a bit I can tell already but will wait till tonight so I can get a better look.

Retroshop harness again bothers me a bit as similar to the tails it's somewhat of a loose jumble of wires behind the light, without much slack to tie them up in any way - so hopefully bouncing around won't be an issue. Another reason I will probably want to go back in at some point to see if I can do a better job securing the harness.

Anyway, other than that, everything went great lol.

 

[78Staff]

Oh I also noticed this little bumper deals on each side - they line up with a hole in the fender, but neither have any sort of retainer - so not sure if there's supposed to be something holding these in, or if it's just pressure/friction from the light body shell...

 

[1500ram12]

Oh I also noticed this little bumper deals on each side - they line up with a hole in the fender, but neither have any sort of retainer - so not sure if there's supposed to be something holding these in, or if it's just pressure/friction from the light body shell...

Mine are just held in by friction and are fairly loose


2018 2500 6.4L

 

[78Staff]

Mine are just held in by friction and are fairly loose


2018 2500 6.4L

Excellent thanks - yeah I couldn't imagine both sides would be missing lol.

Definitely happy with the look... needs to hurry up an get dark though so I can aim them and actually "see" the results lol.

 

[78Staff]

Excellent thanks - yeah I couldn't imagine both sides would be missing lol.

Definitely happy with the look... needs to hurry up an get dark though so I can aim them and actually "see" the results lol.

OK was able to get them aimed - still not really dark yet so going to wait a bit and then take a leisurely drive to confirm and see the difference from the quads.

I only changed the below in alfa...

Faults reported:
2019/06/09 20:11:45.607
No faults reported by the unit.
Car configuration change: LED Front Turn Lamps Present: ' NO ' -> '1 '
Car configuration change: LED Front Park/Marker Lamps Present: ' NO ' -> '1 '

I left Quad and and Bi-Xenon settings alone as previously discussed.

And
Car configuration change: LED CHMSL Lamp Present: ' NO ' -> '1 '

Because I guess I never changed it when I put in led lamps in the 3rd Brake light a while back.

 

[78Staff]

Just realized I never reported back. Definitely a very noticeable improvement over the Quads, even with stock bulbs. I'm not sure why RAM even sells Duals and Quads when they have these available, they are that much nicer. Highly recommend the upgrade, although looking back getting the Modify Street versions instead of the OEM headlamps and Retroshop harnesses would have probably done just as well, and quite a bit cheaper to boot. But I had to have that Ram logo that no one will ever see lol.

Have them adjusted and went driving last night - never got flashed but I suspect they may be a smidge high - as the high beams seem to point higher than expected -not sure if that's alignment or difference in the lamp design. Also hard to tell as I was on lighted streets. I need to get on a less lighted road and confirm.

Now I just need to get of my butt and to the PTS install... it's just been so hot lately I haven't felt like tearing the rear interior and console out to put in the hub and antennas