Anyone ever take one of these apart? I only have continuity between power and Hi beam when I pull on the lever, no continuity between power and Low or Hi when not pulled. This is a euro switch BTW. Thanks
Hi/Lo Switch
- Thread starter HB Chris
- Start date
Euro H1 Lo Beam Solution
I recently converted my Hella H4 Lo beams to Hella flat H1 with City Light as in the Euro configuration. These euro lenses fill the headlight grille more fully than the H4 which has a narrower diameter on the lens surface. When doing this in a U.S. car wired for the H4 Lo beam, you get either Lo beam or Hi beam but never both as there is no Hi beam filament in the now Lo beam only H1.
The solution was provided by Terry Conners who I now consider to be an electrical genius as well as a friend. The U.S. 72/73 Hi/Lo switch has five wires, one of which is for the horn which we will ignore. Looking at the back of the switch in the photo below, a jumper wire is needed between the Yellow terminal at 3:00 and the Yellow/White terminal at 6:00. This will activate the low beam relay (if you have added the worthwhile enhancement) whenever Hi beam is selected. Now all four lights will illuminate on Hi beam.
I elected to jump these two wires at the connector where the wires terminate near the fuse box (2nd photo). Yellow and Yellow/White are right next to each other, you will need two new barbed 6.3mm spade terminals to add the jumper wire here. To wire the City Light just tap into the front side marker light (be careful not to use the turn signal lead).
I would not do this upgrade without a low beam relay. Also, the US `74 is very different as Terry explained and the wiring and relays used are counterintuitive to say the least. I don't know if this will work on a 2800CS as BMW changed the wiring many times but if the switch has the same appearance and leads you could give it a try and report back.
I recently converted my Hella H4 Lo beams to Hella flat H1 with City Light as in the Euro configuration. These euro lenses fill the headlight grille more fully than the H4 which has a narrower diameter on the lens surface. When doing this in a U.S. car wired for the H4 Lo beam, you get either Lo beam or Hi beam but never both as there is no Hi beam filament in the now Lo beam only H1.
The solution was provided by Terry Conners who I now consider to be an electrical genius as well as a friend. The U.S. 72/73 Hi/Lo switch has five wires, one of which is for the horn which we will ignore. Looking at the back of the switch in the photo below, a jumper wire is needed between the Yellow terminal at 3:00 and the Yellow/White terminal at 6:00. This will activate the low beam relay (if you have added the worthwhile enhancement) whenever Hi beam is selected. Now all four lights will illuminate on Hi beam.
I elected to jump these two wires at the connector where the wires terminate near the fuse box (2nd photo). Yellow and Yellow/White are right next to each other, you will need two new barbed 6.3mm spade terminals to add the jumper wire here. To wire the City Light just tap into the front side marker light (be careful not to use the turn signal lead).
I would not do this upgrade without a low beam relay. Also, the US `74 is very different as Terry explained and the wiring and relays used are counterintuitive to say the least. I don't know if this will work on a 2800CS as BMW changed the wiring many times but if the switch has the same appearance and leads you could give it a try and report back.
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Cool project. I'll be interested to see how this plays out. I'd be willing to give this a whirl on my 2800 US spec, but need the city lights.
By the way Chris, there's some dust on those connectors. Time to detail the wiring harness!
By the way Chris, there's some dust on those connectors. Time to detail the wiring harness!
Glenn, I'll get right on it!
Just finished and it works great. Hardest part was getting the 5 spade connector apart to replace two spades, took me about ten minutes for that one step.
Just finished and it works great. Hardest part was getting the 5 spade connector apart to replace two spades, took me about ten minutes for that one step.