Anybody know where to grab a Hi Beam ground?

[Oldfart]

That's it!! You guys are all being taken out of my will! I'm in trouble when even a gratuitous shot of ******* can't get an answer.

 

[GordoJay]

Stop bothering me, I'm looking at a picture of *******.

 

[FordTechOne]

I just called BD back and asked more questions and now he says you could use the positive for a switch wire, but that it's not possible on a '20 because there IS NO high beam wire, it's internal. I'm so glad I already pulled the original fully installed harness out after I got his first advice when I received the high beam harness! Thanks to tech support @Baja Designs for making a bunch of needless work for me.

@FordTechOne do you know this one by any chance? Is there a high beam lead wire that can be used for a relay?

The headlamps have 2 separate circuits coming from the BCM to provide power for the low and high beams in each headlamp, but neither can be used to power a relay. This is due to the fact that the BCM uses a Field Effect Transistor (FET) to power each lamp. The FET measures the current draw on the circuit; if current draw is out of range (short to ground, open, etc) it will disable the circuit output and the BCM will set a DTC. Therefore, if you install a relay in any of those circuits, FET will detect the additional current draw, power down the circuit, and a DTC will set in the BCM.

View media item 15085

 

[FordTechOne]

That harness is used with a traditional style headlight with three leads, low, high, and ground. On most automotive applications, power is switched between low and high with the headlight switch. But on newer vehicles such as a 2020 Ford Raptor, I believe they've changed that. You can confirm this with a multi-meter or test light probing the leads from the back of the headlight. What you're looking for is a lead that has power in the high beam, and no power in the low beam. That would be your high beam wire. But hopefully a FRF member can chime in on that and what they've incorporated. Most customers run our lights to the auxiliary switches on Raptors. If it's a switched ground design to go between low and high, that harness will not work. That relay needs switched power to trigger a closed circuit.

To answer your previous question, the red wire has 12v constant power and would be left capped like in the picture. The black is for the load (lights) and is tapped into switched power (ex. high beam circuit).

-Paul M.

You are correct, power no longer runs through the headlamp switch on newer vehicles. Instead, the headlamp switch is simply used as an input to the Body Control Module (BCM); no current runs through the switch. This design was implemented on Ford vehicles in the mid-late 2000's, back when the BCM was referred to as a Smart Junction Box (SJB). The design is beneficial because the switches no longer generate heat due to current flow, and are no longer any high-current contacts to wear out within the switch.

 

[GordoJay]

Does anyone make a buffer amplifier for this application? Seems like a BJT triple driving the coil would reduce the current stolen from the headlight wire to well below 1mA. What would be really nice if it was all integrated in one package. I did a quick DigiKey/Mouser search and didn't see anything like that.

 

[Oldfart]

The headlamps have 2 separate circuits coming from the BCM to provide power for the low and high beams in each headlamp, but neither can be used to power a relay. This is due to the fact that the BCM uses a Field Effect Transistor (FET) to power each lamp. The FET measures the current draw on the circuit; if current draw is out of range (short to ground, open, etc) it will disable the circuit output and the BCM will set a DTC. Therefore, if you install a relay in any of those circuits, FET will detect the additional current draw, power down the circuit, and a DTC will set in the BCM.

View media item 15085

Thanks, time for me to give up on this one. I had just gotten done checking all the leads that go into the headlight plug and they are all hot with low beam on. Now I know why. Thanks again.

Did I ever waste a ton of time on this little adventure!

 

[BrttClne22]

Oh boy. I'm on a similar adventure, so I bought this:

www.lvjmotorsports.com/product-page/gen-2-hi-beam-modified-relay-panel

Does this apply to 2019s? I wonder what he's using to trigger the relay in his box. I haven't heard from him yet. I

I also bought WPT1279 and WPT1321 to give myself a tapping point on the driver headlight according to thread: https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/hi-beam-relay-trigger-wire.73057/page-2

 

[downforce137]

that VT-OG wire in the diagram for high beam shouldn't have 12V with the low beams on...

violet/orange??

 

[downforce137]

it says right in the linked product, he's using the hi beam wire on the BCM side.. VT-OG its the same at the back of the headlight...

 

[fftfk]

You are correct, power no longer runs through the headlamp switch on newer vehicles. Instead, the headlamp switch is simply used as an input to the Body Control Module (BCM); no current runs through the switch. This design was implemented on Ford vehicles in the mid-late 2000's, back when the BCM was referred to as a Smart Junction Box (SJB). The design is beneficial because the switches no longer generate heat due to current flow, and are no longer any high-current contacts to wear out within the switch.

Hi FordTechOne - sorry if this is the wrong thread to follow-up on or not. I saw on another thread where someone mentioned you had indicated it is not a good idea to tap various lighting systems to make after market lights work alongside factory lights. I looked back through a lot of your posts and this seems to the closest one.

Assuming the comment was correct, when you indicate not to tap into factory lights are you meaning using quick splices or the wiring harnesses sold by various third party vendors. Similar to the wiring harness sold here: https://offroadalliance.com/collect...otorsports-third-brake-light-2017-2020-raptor Don't mean to single these guys out it is just the clearest example of what I am talking about.

I have to add some after market lighting. It would be nice if it could be used as shown with the wiring harness but would prefer not to do that if it can cause issues. I would just hook it straight to upfitter switches then.

Thanks for any guidance/help.