ship Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 I know this topic has been discussed previously, but I can't seem to find the info while searching in the journal/forum. Can you tell me what LED's you bought, and I seem to remember that added adapters were possibly needed(?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 I bought a brand called Truc lites. Expensive but great. Back in the day they had short cords out of the back of the bulb. I had to extend the cords so they wouldn't get hung up on the body of the car as the light pod rotates up and down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted November 30, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted November 30, 2023 (edited) 13 hours ago, DAVES89 said: I bought a brand called Truc lites. Expensive but great. Back in the day they had short cords out of the back of the bulb. I had to extend the cords so they wouldn't get hung up on the body of the car as the light pod rotates up and down. Thanks, Dave. Edited November 30, 2023 by ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted December 4, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted December 4, 2023 I installed LED lights, had no issue with short cords. When I push the lights button on the dash, the pods go up and headlights shine no problem. But when I push the lights button to disengage the headlights the pods do not go down (lights do go off, though). I thought you guys found a remedy for this, and if so, what was it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 I use a relay harness that Ronnie picked out years ago from Amazon. Maybe he will post what it was. What bulbs did you go with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 This is the harness I ordered from Amazon in 2014. It has doubled in price since then. I never did use it. I sold it a long time ago to Dave or someone else on the forum. There might be something similar on Amazon now that is better and maybe cheaper. Amazon.com: Octane Lighting H4 100w Ceramic Fused PnP Heavy Duty Automotive Wiring Harness Headlight Foglight Booster Relay 12v : Automotive 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted December 5, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted December 5, 2023 This is the adapter I purchased from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTo2NzI2NDIxNDg1NTQ1NzAzOjE3MDE4MTIwMDM6c3BfbXRmOjIwMDA4ODY1OTEwMjA2MTo6MDo6&url=%2FPolarity-Converter-Negative-Harness-Reversed%2Fdp%2FB07YKTRB8F%2Fref%3Dsr_1_59_sspa%3Fcrid%3D1N7EUU9WRICVJ%26keywords%3Dh4%2Bled%2Badapter%26qid%3D1701812003%26sprefix%3Dh4%2Bled%2Bad%2Caps%2C92%26sr%3D8-59-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY%26psc%3D1 I expect delivery Dec 10. Will let you folks know if works in allowing the headlights to descend when turned off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 5, 2023 Share Posted December 5, 2023 I hope it works. I have to admit, I don't understand what it's intended to do or how it does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted December 5, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted December 5, 2023 1 hour ago, Ronnie said: I hope it works. I have to admit, I don't understand what it's intended to do or how it does it. Me neither!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 (edited) Common problem with LED's which is being solved by a voltage booster harness for high power or brighter conventional headlights. The headlight door must see ground when the lights are turned off or the door won't close. Designed to let you know a light is burned out and encourage you to repair it. LED's are diodes which prevent a ground path much like a check valve does for water. The booster harness has enough of a ground path through the activation side of the relays to allow the voltage to bleed off and the doors will close. The harness is plug and play so it is convenient rather than adding a path to ground some other way or cutting and grounding the offending wire in the door module harness. Edited December 6, 2023 by 2seater 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted December 6, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted December 6, 2023 2seater, thanks for the info. It's now making some logical sense to me. Hopefully, the harnesses I've purchased will be the answer to allowing the lights to close. I will report back once they arrive, and I complete their installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 6 hours ago, ship said: Me neither!! How did you decide on those boxes that you ordered? Maybe a better option for your '91 model? The price is certainly reasonable compared to a harness with relays. The description for them is confusing to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 It will be interesting to see what those boxes do. There are two types of headlight activation schemes, one is switched positive, which the Reatta uses, the other is switched ground, sort of the way our injectors work. I do not know if the 91 may use a different scheme than earlier years. There are certainly many little things that are different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted December 6, 2023 Topic Author Share Posted December 6, 2023 7 hours ago, Ronnie said: How did you decide on those boxes that you ordered? Maybe a better option for your '91 model? The price is certainly reasonable compared to a harness with relays. The description for them is confusing to me. Based on their description, they seem to accomplish the same result as the example harness you provided, Ronnie. It's totally a shot in the dark, though. We'll see once they arrive and I get them installed. I will report back. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted February 4 Topic Author Share Posted February 4 I intend to finish my project of replacing my headlights with LEDs. But, due to the continued cold weather and no heat in the car storage igloo, I don't expect to get back at it until at least April. I will report back at around that time. I haven't forgotten because it is one of my own pet peeves when people do not report back. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 7 Topic Author Share Posted March 7 On 12/6/2023 at 12:24 AM, Ronnie said: How did you decide on those boxes that you ordered? Maybe a better option for your '91 model? The price is certainly reasonable compared to a harness with relays. The description for them is confusing to me. Well, I worked on the headlights yesterday (3/6) and included the boxes you see above. They didn't cause the headlight doors to close. I did in fact attach each ground wire to the car frame but no dice, so I removed them. For now, I will keep the LED headlights on the car as they are sooo much brighter than the originals. At my age (coming up on 75 in May), the brighter at night the better! When the weather gets warmer around here, I will possibly look into the issue further. I will tell you that having to manually close the headlight doors after using the LED lights at night is not a big deal breaker to me...just a tad inconvenient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 8 Topic Author Share Posted March 8 On second thought, when the weather gets warmer here, I might investigate/tackle this project again. The more I thought about it, I really don't want it to be half**s. In the meantime, I will consult the electrical section of the factory service manual...good bedtime reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 2 hours ago, ship said: On second thought, when the weather gets warmer here, I might investigate/tackle this project again. The more I thought about it, I really don't want it to be half**s. In the meantime, I will consult the electrical section of the factory service manual...good bedtime reading. I think your '91 already has a factory installed relay to protect the headlight switch from overload so you don't have to install a harness unless your really want to. DS_Porter came up with an easy solution to the problem of doors not closing that only requires one wire to be cut at the headlight door control module and grounded. Once you do that the headlight door module will work normally with the LED lights installed. Here is a link to the discussion on the AACA about how to do it. Headlight retract/shutoff issue re-post - Buick Reatta - Antique Automobile Club of America - Discussion Forums (aaca.org) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 8 Topic Author Share Posted March 8 (edited) Ronnie, thanks a bunch for your help. I read the info on the AACA forum. "Sicknickclassics" mentioned D-Lumina H4 9003 Canbus Decoder Anti Flicker Harness further in the topic, so I went on Amazon and bought it. Hopefully it will solve the headlight close problem without me having to cut/past any wires. It gets delivered on 3/12. Thanks again... Edited March 8 by ship 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ship Posted March 13 Topic Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Because I didn't want to cut and ground one of the headlight wires as mentioned in previous threads, I bought the H4 9003 Canbus Decoder (noted above) and installed one of them to the drivers side LED headlight harness. I didn't have to install the other one to the passenger side since the current harness for this side is actually a spur from the main headlight harness. The decoders do come as a pair, so I now have an extra. The LED headlights now go up and down as they are supposed to. Yea!! I want to thank everyone for your help and guidance. Edited March 13 by ship 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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