Headlight relays started appearing during the mid to late 1950's, beginning on cars, then later on trucks. A headlight relay will give you brighter headlights and greatly extend the life of your original headlight switch. A typical 6 volt headlight switch is expected to carry 20 plus amps of current. By adding a relay into the system the headlight switch would then carry just .05 amps of current, and all of the heavy battery current would stay down next to the headlight relay. Your headlights would then be brighter because the distance the heavy current has to travel is reduced by 2/3.
A headlamp that receives 95% of its rated voltage will only provide 83% of its rated output. A one amp drop in voltage at the headlamp...and the headlamp will provide just 67% of its rated output. Halogen headlamps will not fix this because they require 30 percent more current and you are short of current already.
Headlight Relays work because less distance means less voltage drop. With original headlight switches becoming difficult to find and expensive, It seems logical to also do what we can to save the originals
Symptoms....
As the contacts wear in your original headlight switch it causes the contact points in the switch itself to arc and burn. this causes high resistance (heat) which causes still more arcing and burning of the contacts. You begin to notice the switch getting hot and having to pull the switch off and on a couple of times before the lights come on. Those are the first signs of trouble ahead.
The headlight relay kits are a simple installation using the middle wire of the dimmer switch. The relay is very small and mounts down close to the battery on the inner fender or firewall. Installation time is less than an hour. Best of all you can see the difference immediately.
Last edited by Rusty Rod; 01/13/2021 6:41 PM. Reason: Removed information related to selling
