Very interesting read.

I've probably driven more miles behind proper eCode lenses than I have with US spec plastic lamps.
When I bought my 240, I drove it for a year before I made the switch. I stayed away from the DJAuto lamps, since they were expensive and weren't available from FCP. I learned a little German, and hunted ebay.de before I settled on this set:

These were OEM, in excellent condition, and I had no issues with fitment or quality. I've never owned a set of DJAuto lamps, but can't imagine they'd be that much poorer, and considering I paid approx. $350 shipped to Canada, FCP is likely a good deal. I also took the opportunity, since the side corner lights were cracked, to purchase new all clear lenses.


The car looked excellent!

Anyway, it also was a day and night difference. I also learned a little when I installed them, and I also used a relay kit from Daniel Stern as from the beginning I planned to run overwattage bulbs. Overwattage bulbs will compensate a little for voltage variations, and I was very pleased with my choice of 100wH/90wL H4s.
Here are some photos from the install in the 240:



As you can see, it's VERY tight near the battery. I have small hands and changing a bulb was so challenging I gave up and pulled the headlight. I would've pulled the battery instead, but I had the headlight socket on hand, and not he battery terminal, and I didn't want to go back inside and get it. lol.
I also had a problem. Spend the money and go for a marine fuse holder. I had problems with wet fuses and often had to open the fuse holder, blow it out, dry the fuse, and put it back in. I realized this was because I had hooked my fuse up near the switching box in the front left of the engine bay - These relays are actually on a metal bracket that spaces them out maybe a half inch. The fuse holder was almost as if it were made to slot between them and the fender. THIS WAS A MISTAKE. the reason those are spaced out like that is because water comes down through that area off the fender/hood. So don't put it right there!
I also ran it in such a way that I still had all the stock wiring attached. This was useful when I sold the car as I just unhooked the old lamps, cut the wiring to the switch at the firewall, and removed the ground wire. It was out in ten minutes and the old headlamps were plugged right back in. I never had any problems with bulb failure lamps or anything like that.
I was so pleased that after I sold the car, I found a set of excellent eCodes for the 940 while I searched for the right car. When I found a 940 estate in Oregon I liked, it came with the euro lamps already, and I sold my spare DJ Auto I had already purchased. Interestingly enough, my 940 was all OEM Volvo/Bosch except for the lenses, so I had a friend in Italy send me some excellent used Volvo OEM glass. Again, can't speak on fitment differences, but here's something you might find interesting... The glass is different. OEM 940 euro spec glass on the right, DJ auto reproduction on the left:


Reproduction:

OEM:


Reproduction:


OEM:


The big difference is the fluting in the glass at the top of the Volvo marked glass, and I'm not sure why or if it matters...


Here's the 940 with the euro lamps:


And here's the beam. Keep in mind this is with OEM housings and reflectors and JUST DJ Auto glass. not oem glass.


As you can see, the cutoff is far far sharper. This is of course low beam, and the 240 is similar in cutoff. It's worthwhile because you're throwing more light down the road.

The 940 also has the E-Code lamps and relays as well. It also has an extra set of relays for the fogs, as well as the fact it's got dual high beam lamps.
I was fairly happy with the light output but when one finally popped off (it was six years old) I replaced both H4's with a set of 130wH/100wL lights. This combined with the inner highbeams on the top really do make it incredible. I made the mistake of walking uphill towards the car with all highs on and it was like walking into the sun. :P In fact I came around a corner and had a cop in a parked car late one night turn on his emergency lights quickly because he was being badly dazzled. Obviously, it's not for use in the city on high. But I've never had a real problem with being flashed with the higher wattage bulbs on low. the few times I have been and flashed back it's been attributed to being on a hill, and most drivers when they get the sunspots from the highs probably regret flashing me.
FWIW, here's the 940 with low beams on and one fog burnt out.

The additional highbeams, which many people with aftermarket lamps don't connect, are at the top above the lower portion integrated fogs. I really appreciate having them, and am very tempted to put an even higher wattage bulb there so they can double as driving lights... 160w should be okay, I think. Again, not using it in urban areas unless it's extremely late in suburbia.

Finally, for reference this is an up close shot of my Euro-spec 245 from Germany, as originally fitted:



Frankly, once you go e-spec, you'll never go back. The plastic lamps are complete and utter garbage, and regardless of the relay kit's claims and actual performance, if you want to run a higher wattage bulb and not melt down the interior switch, this is the way to do it.

Again, I left the original headlamp connectors on the 240 unmodified since I knew I'd be selling it some day, and was glad I did. Running a single wire to the interior switch, and utilizing the connector in the silver box on the front left inside fender area and letting that switching box do the high/low switch work was a great decision, just watch your fuse placement. Finally, as said on Daniel Stern's site, careful thought and thoughtful care is required. I had both bulbs blow at idle on the 240 because I accidentally wired it incorrectly and it caused a voltage spike. Getting shattered glass out of those lenses is a PITA, and driving down a mountain road at 1am @ ~20km/h with just parking lights and the light of the full moon was a uhm... 'an experience'

Hi Tony,

Last year I replaced the entire headlight assembly including the yellowed lenses on my 93 244 now with 297K miles. I used the DJ Auto units from FCP. Although your title covers the headlamp relay mod, for the purposes of this discusssion, I had to include the DJ headlamp change as well.

FYI, I was not impressed with their construction, except I suppose they are worth the $250 or so. I ran my power directly off the alternator, with fuses and separate relays for high and low beams but not separate relays for each headlamp. I believe there's a long thread concerning my installation and questions that is archived.

Finally my wife brought the light-meter home from work and the info below reflects the readings I obtained. Although there were lots of eccentricities in my study, I suppose it's still not difficult to conclude that the DJ's are putting out a lot more light. I wouldn't consider this a particularly scientific study, but nonetheless some more food for thought. At the time of my testing, my voltmeter (with the lights on) read 12.7v. Both cars were tested at idle. Obviously, I'd have to take a slew of additional readings at different distances and positions to better compare the light distribution, but.................

Light Meter Readings – 10-08-10 at 2’+/- & 20’+/- Readings in footcandles


93 Green Wagon stock lights not much yellowing

2’ LBR 440 LBL 450
20’ LBR 26 LBL 24

2’ HBR 1007 HBL 910
20’ HBR 36 HBL 39
53 @ roughly CL

93 Red Sedan 1 yr old DJ Auto lamps

2’ LBR 2400 LBL 2500
20’ LBR 57 LBL 52

2’ HBR 1950 HBL 2100
20’ only CL measurement = 172

LBR – low beam right
LBL – low beam left
HBR – high…….

I've done the conversion: Euroheadlights (Cibie/Volvo) with higher wattage bulbs, Dan Stern's H4 high-temp sockets, but with my own wiring, fuses and relays wired directly to the battery; and like you, I installed inidividual relays on each side for each filament (4 relays).



I never did a right-left comparison test, though, but I'm happy with my results.

However, there's a very good additional reason if you have a later-model year 240. It appears that these last years used a new placement of a headlight relay, located inside the center console (behind the center vents) -- and the connector plug to it tends to melt from too much amperage/heat, breaking the contact and causing the headlights to fail.

Perhaps you've already noticed some posts on this forum relating to this? There have even been pictures of the burned/melted plug posted here.

By having current for the headlights through the custom wiring, only a slight amount of current (just enough to drive the relays) actually flows through that vulnerable OEM plug and relay, thus virtually eliminating this possible (and somewhat too frequent) failure of the headlight system.

If all you want is more usable light down the road, trash the DOT lights and get a set of Euros. Regardless of the amount of volts sent to the bulb, the DOT light pattern will diffuse the light and negate the brighter bulb.

Especially when visibility is poor, rain/snow/fog, the DOT lights send too much light up in the air where looking for geese at night is not your normal problem. The Euro lenses have a flat cutoff, so almost no light goes above hood height, except on the right side where it lights up traffic signs and pedestrians (and deer). The Euros also send more light farther down the road, which is where you want it when you exceed 30mph with low beams. High beams turn into daylight driving conditions :)

This is with the same bulbs and wiring you use in a stock 240.

Klaus
--
Always willing to listen, just not able to take direction.

How did you wire these, exactly? Terminal to relay to headlamp?

What connectors did you use to the headlamp bulbs?

What are these "printed circuits" you mention?

Did you test with the engine running?

-Ryan

Daniel Stern probably has made a good buck convincing people to install an "upgrade" which is often utterly useless. While he may not be telling any lies, he might be neglecting the rest of the story.

Since about the first time Edison threw the switch, it's been well documented that increasing the supply voltage of an incandescent lamp will increase the lighting efficacy of that lamp. Even a small increase in voltage will cause a perceivable increase in the amount of light produced by a lamp. The drawback of increasing lamp supply voltage is that it DECREASES lamp life in a very nonlinear manner.

Some facts:

1/ All things being equal, there IS less of a voltage drop on 10AWG wire than on 16AWG wire.

2/ BUT, a conductor would have to be HUNDREDS of feet longer than the lighting circuits in a Volvo 240 to make a noticeable difference between the voltage drop on the stock wiring as compared to 10AWG.

3/ A Volvo 240 ALREADY has a lighting relay in place - two of them, as a matter of fact.

Although, I have installed lighting relays in other cars in order to preserve over-tasked main lighting switches, I think that in a 240 the claims of arriving at some manner of lighting Nirvana by installing a lighting relay "upgrade" are more often the result of exercising corroded, compromised electrical connections while installing the "upgrade" than of the additional hardware put in place.

So, before you go installing an "upgrade" in a 240, go through the lighting system methodically disconnecting/connecting each terminal. If you want to do the full monte, hit the connections with a dab of DeoxIt (the only contact cleaner I've found which is worthy of the name) and a schmear of anti-oxidant grease.

These thoughts pertain to a STOCK lighting system; if you want to go to those uber wattage lamps which are illegal, but readily available, perhaps you do need some welding cable feeding the headlights.


Rich

I've done a quad-relay setup for several sets of E-codes, never for stock lamps though. Thus, not all of this will apply, but the voltage readings are interesting.

The harness I create starts with 10 gauge wire to a block of two fuses. I start right at the battery hot, same place the "terminal block" is connected. (In one case I installed a larger fuse block fed by a #4 wire from the starter--but there was a killer stereo involved!) Each fuse feeds the hot supplies on two relays, which I mount to the angled edge of the core support, at the very top, near the radiator opening in the engine bay. I route the wire across the car to the passenger side in front of the radiator, along the same path that the hood release takes, inside a piece of fuel line. The OEM light feeds energize the relays (natch). I also create new grounds for the headlights and I think this makes a difference. The difference is notable in voltage even with the car off, but the big difference for me was the voltage reading with the car running at night with the radio on, cabin fan blowing and AC energized. At idle I had 13.2 volts at both sides. Raising the idle brought the voltage up to 14.something, can't recall, and it was easy to see the output of the lights increase on a dark driveway. My own car, which has E-codes, but I've never gotten around to doing the relay setup (rrrrr!) shows 12.5 volts at the lights with the same things on (100 amp alternator) but only went up to 13-ish when revved. Other things: Find a car with the single, large, rectangular headlights in the boneyards and grab some rubber booted plugs. These will seal nicely against the big rubber boots on the back of the e-codes. Check different cars. Certain years of 280z's have 14 gauge leads, most seem to be 16. On my car I found that this and creating new, clean grounds increased the voltage at the lights....until I can get around to doing the relay setup. IMHO, the light output is visible, but I have the advantage of having some rural roads nearby that are pitch black at night. Makes aiming the lights easier too.

My question would be, did you check the brightness difference when the electrical system is loaded up? Turn on the a/c and wipers and then check it out. There might be a bigger difference then, but even so, it might be hard to see it.
--
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid

Tony, though Stern says to get the power at its source (the alternator, not battery), on a 240 Volvo I would take it where you did, given the pros and cons* of Volvo's particular wiring scheme.

But I would not trust my eyes to compare a left and right headlamp. Measuring the voltage right at the lamp terminals will tell the truth.

Remember, as Stern likes to point out, the power (brightness) varies as the square of the voltage, so little increases can make bigger differences in luminosity. Your existing wiring (all the way through the BFWS) is probably still in pretty good shape, if the improvement isn't striking.

*cons to wiring at the alternator: Need to protect wiring from vibration and large flex between moving engine part and fixed body destination. Volvo has made this transition in the high-strand-count battery cables.

pros to wiring at fender-mounted bus: Better protection for wire termination to battery and clear of acid area.

(I haven't done this mod but I have thought about it some...)
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Deer season for easily totaled bricks is here.

Well, I never thought the relay swap was going to yield more light, just take a possible electrical load off wiring and switches.