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There
are two major benefits to installing a headlight relay
into your lighting system. One is brighter, headlights
for safer driving
at night. The second is the extended life of (up to 50%)
of your original headlight switch. To better understand
why adding a relay into the  headlight
circuit works so well, you first need to understand
the problem at
hand.
Electrical friction, officially known as "resistance" is
created whenever heavy electrical current travels through
a wire. A by-product of resistance is heat. The greater the
distance involved the more resistance (and more heat) that
will be created. As the resistance builds, the voltage within
the circuit begins to drop.
A
drop in battery voltage will have an immediate effect on the
brightness of the headlights. For example, a 12-volt charging
system is designed to maintain 13.5 volts at the battery.
When 13.5 volts is available at
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the
battery, the headlamps will provide 100% of there rated
output. When the operating voltage falls to 12.8 volts,
because of high resistance within the circuit, the headlamps
will provide just 83% of their rated output. When the voltage
drops to 12.5 volts, the headlamps will provide just 63%
of their rated output. You experience this as dim headlights.
Service
Life of the Headlight Switch
Besides the brighter headlights, a relay installed in the
head light circuit will greatly extend (up to 50%) the service
life of the headlight switch. The headlight switch in a
typical six -volt system passes 22 amps of heavy current
through the switch. In contrast, when a relay is installed
into the circuit, the amount of heavy current that passes
through the headlight switch is reduced to less than one
amp. |
