this post has nothing to do with Roger Brown, only the harness he sells.

i ordered this harness 2/10/06, and received it 2/13. my first impressions, aside from the "made in tawian" printed on the label, was that the connectors seemed a little...cheap. i'm talking about the connectors that connect directly the the headlight bulbs. the wires/terminals inside them are just not what i would expect from a product that has been praised all over yotatech. despite my first impressions, i installed it the same afternoon that i received it. installation was not bad at all, very simple plug and play.

i installed it when it was still daylight outside, so i could not compare the light output right away. that night when driving, i did not notice a difference. the next day i check the voltages again with and without the new harness. the new harness supplied .9 volts more than the original wiring. 10.9 volts with original wiring, 11.8 with the new harness. my battery was putting out 12.6v at the time of testing.

according to the math on Roger's website (although i'm not sure i did it right), i received a 30% light output increase - (11.8/10.9)^3.4 ~ 1.30. well, thats 30% more light that my eyes didn't pick up on.

after exchanging messages with some other yotatech members, i decided to remove this today, 2/16.

again, i don't blame this on Roger himself, only the harness.

maybe because of the fact i have a 98, the stock wiring is not bad enough to require an upgraded harness. others claim this is the best mod they've done.

this is only my experience, use it as you will.

 

I noticed on my harness, the conector that plugs into the bulb had a wire loose. The wire was the ground wire and it completely came out of the connector. I couldnt believe how cheap it was. Most of the wires coming out of the connetors felt as they were about to fall out. I would of thought that the wire would be "fixed" into the connectors. I am afraid of something burning up/causing a fire(maybe a little over reaction). As for performance, I really do not know. I am going to have to get a multimeter so i can make a statement with proof. My brain wants to think that the harness made my lights much better, but that may just me wanting to think something that is not. I'll definately post again when I have numerical results.

 

As others have posted, here is my experience.

1. I actually had this put in by my buddy that owns an Al & Ed's audio shop. He kept commenting during the install that this was not safe and he would not be held responsible for any potential damage. I said that I trusted this harness as many others have chimed in on how good it has worked.
2. After it was put in, I had to leave immediately so we didn't get to test out the voltage output. It was not dark yet but close enought that I turned on the lights. A few minutes later, I smell a burning smell and as dusk turns to dark, my lights are not working; WTF...
3. I pull over and check the headlights and no light is shining. I try the high-beams and these work but the burning smell just gets worse. I decide to turn off the lights and just get home. (BTW, this was Saturday night and missed partying due to the inoperability of my lights so I'm really pissed.)
4. I PM and e-mail Roger and he responds with "how to fix it." First, I don't understand half of what he's telling me and I start doubting I bought the right harness. After discussions w/ one of the moderators on this board, I realize that I do have the right harness but it is not working.
5. I bring it on Monday to my trusty mechanic and he tells me that this harness is dangerous b/c it is not protected properly and that it looks like a cheap Asian manufacture. I tell him no way b/c Roger makes his own harness. Also, my mechanic shows me that the resistor that came w/ the harness is melted and tells me that using this can risk an electrical system problem. I tell him take it out. This is not worth it.
6. I ask Roger about who made the harness but all I get is "send it back and let me look at it." Roger was extremely helpful throughout this process so I'm not bashing him; however, this harness does not look like it was a worthwhile mod and Daniel Stern's opinion on this harness although more technical than mine, is spot on.

 

eeek...I hope this isnt a common occurance. I just installed the harness.

 

Just so others considering this mod know, here's another recent post by Nic:

NOTE: THIS IS THE SAME TYPE HARNESS GARRETT IS OFFERING FOR SALE, BUT NOT THE SAME ITEM

After receiving the harness in the mail yesterday, I installed it to see what it would do. The harness appears to work fine and it actually gave me at least 2 more volts according to the multimeter. Unfortunately, I have not seen a big increase in light output-maybe some but not much. Perhaps my lights need to be upgraded too. I don't care to do that at the moment. Mine is as above-for an H4 switched ground system. If anyone wants it, let me know. I will also let someone have it for $35.00 shipped.

 

If you want to return the harness, I can take a look at what happened to it and will gladly repair it at no charge.

It seems that some of the later model trucks may need more current in the high beam indicator light circuit than the older trucks do (which is what the harness was originally designed to handle). I will be ordering some upgraded parts to increase the current/power handling capacity of the "black box/resistor" component to support even a dead short across it indefinitely. Depending on the actual size of the upgraded resistors I am getting, it may be possible to unsolder and replace the one resistor in the black box, or it may require unsoldering the two diodes and soldering them to the new resistor with a heat shrink tube over the assembly for protection. More details as the parts arrive and hope to offer this as both a field upgrade kit and also with the harness pre-wired.

I will also be offering an upgraded 40 amp relay for folks wanting to run higher wattage headlights, like the 130 watt units. The current 30 amp relays will comfortably handle 100 watt bulbs, and while a pair of 130 watt bulbs pull less than 30 amps, you are pushing the relay pretty hard. The 40 amp relays will provide the same current margin w/ 130 watt bulbs as the 30 amp units do with 100 watt bulbs. Likewise, the bigger relays will be offered both as a field upgrade kit or with the relays pre-installed in the harness. I've been testing the 40 amp relays for a month or two now and they seem to be working fine with my 100 watt bulbs.

I've been running this harness in my truck and my VW for 3-4 years now and they both have worked great (other than the time I accidentally soaked the relays with water when I had them mounted upside down ). Once dried out and mounted upright, that problem was solved. No problems with connectors or wiring, still seeing the improved light pattern (more even light, less bright/dark spots) and also have not had a single combo switch glitch that I used to get every few months before the relays.

 

Its been about 2 weeks since I installed this harness. I thought everything went great, the output was greater and I was satisfied.

Today, on the interstate at around 11:00 pm. my headlamps went out and I smelled burning plastic. We dont have lit highways here, so it was pitch black. The only thing that was keeping me inbetween the ditches was the oncoming traffic's lights.

I pulled over and popped the hood and smelled burning plastic. I grabbed one of the wires(or a bundle of them in shrink wrap) and it was verrrry warm. So I grabbed my toolbox and grabbed the dykes (sp) and starting cutting the wires off. I plugged the old ones back in and everything was back to normal. I have not emailed roger about this yet. I will let him know definately and keep you guys updated.

 

Likely, you need the heavy duty resistor for the black box. Some vehicles seem to pull more current through the high beam indicator/low beam circuit. I have an ungraded resistor in stock now if you want to try it out. All you need to do is replace the existing resistor with the bigger one:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTr...#FineTuningTips

As noted, the upgraded resistor is capable of sustaining a short circuit across the high beam indicator/low beam circuit without overheating. Apparently in some of the newer vehicles, there is some additional load on that circuit that overloads the existing resistor beyond it's design limits. The upgraded resistor makes the circuit self-protecting as it limits the potential current in that circuit to safe levels. This high beam indicator circuit is a quirk of Toyota's design, they saved one wire by sharing the low beam power wire with the high beam indicator light. But it causes all sorts of issues with upgrading the headlight wiring, since you have a circuit where current needs to flow both directions at alternate times.

Here is a picture of the upgraded resistor box (old resistor above for comparison):



The larger resistor limits the maximum current to approx. 400 mA (with a short circuit across the power and ground leads) and the diodes are rated at 3 amps (3000 mA) so the whole unit is able to handle any condition that can be applied to it, at least in a 12 volt system.