hey all,

its been a while. im wanting to add my hi beams to work with my KCs behind the grill using an old school foot switch. the KCs are currently turned on and off with the foot switch via a relay. my question is, are our headlights using relays? has anyone tried to bypass the turn signal switch in lieu of a foot switch?

i live in an area with alot of hills and curves that are maneuvered better with both hands on wheel.

thanks.

 

I use left hand twist grip hand controls for operating the throttle and brake, so it's often difficult to switch highs/lows, as well as the switch below the headlight **** for my KC's behind the grille since both hands are pretty much always occupied. I honestly never really thought of an old-style foot switch. That would solve a lot of problems. Just the thought of that switch brings back memories! Heh. Great idea. Going to follow this one...

 

i really thought some of you would have an idea of how one would bypass the annoying turn signal hi beam switch and use a foot switch instead.

 

That's an idea

 

2006+ dont have mechanical relays. They utilize electrinically controlled transistors..i.e computer board.
I wouldn't suggest tapping or altering anything in the multifunction lever as it uses a canbus(multiplex) circuit that works off of resistance to complete each task. Changing things or adding wires will interfere with the rest of the switches functions and more.
These newer vehicles cannot be messed with much at all.

 

As 'dog says, TIPM on '06+ Rams. Now if it were an '02-'05 Ram then it'd be easy peasy lemon squeazy...

 

any thoughts on hard wiring the headlights separately through the foot switch. what i mean is to disconnect the headlights and rewire them separately through a relay, switch, battery. completely separate from the original wiring. the only thing that the original dash switch would function would be the parking lights. thoughts on that? would the truck have a fit with the lights being disconnected? i really hate the multifucnction lever as a hi beam switch. thanks.

 

100% isolated can be done for both hi's/Lo's. I wouln't cut or use anything with the stock harness! Use your own pigtals and such and leave stock wiring plugs unhooked and unused. You cannot do just hi's seperately as the ground wire is switched as well.

 

will the headlights require a relay?

 

yes, ofcourse they would. Anything with that amount of current draw always does.

I'd suggest you leave your stock wiring and headlights alone. I would either add 2 more KC lights and/or upgrade the bulbs to 100W along with the wiring. Your highbeams aren;t going to add much light over your KC's if you upgrade the bulbs. I have 100W bulbs and when i had halogens, the highbeams were a joke compared to the 100watters. They put out a ton more light!
If you add 2 more lights, you can aim 2 up higher and 2 down low and to the side to achieve great coverage and keep the use of your footswitch and not disturb your factory system at the same time.