Headlight wiring with phantom lights

[macc]

I’m in the middle of adding some phantom headlights in my 63. Like Steelman I used mid 90’s GM headlights and mounted them in the fenders. My question is on how to wire these up? I have the original plugs that came with the GM headlights they have 2 wires each. And the 63 has 2 wires for the high beams and 3 wires for the low beams. That I can tell from my book. Now what do I connect to what? 🤨

[RivNut]

The two wire original has one ground wire and one power wire.  Power is either on or off. On is brights, off is off.

 

The three wire original has one ground wire, and two power wires for a two filament bulb. Low beam only with one wire and high beam with the other.  The high beam filament goes on and off, the low beam stays on constantantly. 

 

Apparently your new lamps have one ground wire for each and one power wire for each.  Wiring them depends on what you want from them.  Do you want the lows to stay on when the highs are on or do you just want highs or lows, neither on at the same time.

 

I would look at your wiring diagram and identify the ground wires.  Then identity the wire for the low beams and connect the new low beam lamp.  Then do the same to the high beam lamp.  When your lights are on, the low beams will be on constantly. When you hit the dimmer switch, the high beams will come on and the low beams will remain on as they always are. You just won't have a high beam element in the low beam lamp.

 

Study the wiring diagram and think about the originals work then how the lamps work.  Then apply that knowledge to the new lamps.

[macc]

Ok yeah that seems pretty straight forward. Thanks that helps out a lot. I like the idea of having the low beams on while the high beams are on. The more visibility the better especially with these fine California roads! I th8nk I’ll go that route. Thanks again 

[jsgun]

I'd consider wiring in some relays to get the load off the light switch. This diagram is for the style the Riv has, but can be modified for newer lights.

 

[steelman]

10 hours ago, macc said:

Ok yeah that seems pretty straight forward. Thanks that helps out a lot. I like the idea of having the low beams on while the high beams are on. The more visibility the better especially with these fine California roads! I th8nk I’ll go that route. Thanks again 

That is why I added the Painlees 4 on Bright relay. It will send power to both, or all 4 lights at the same time. Go back and read my original post. It is mentioned there.