R32 headlight issues

[GTSBoy]

Good stuff. There had to be a better way than bodging in shitty switches.

Now you just have to keep in mind that when you don't have one headlight working, it's just as likely to be the switch needing some love as it is a blown globe!

[OO Dan OO]

On 2/4/2023 at 5:39 PM, GTSBoy said:

You need to keep the 3 circuits separate. You either need a double pole and single pole switch, or a triple pole switch.

My headlights are working. My high beam dash light is always on. If I turn the High beam on or off there is no difference. Are there separate high beam bulbs? Are they the inner bulbs on the light?

[GTSBoy]

Yes. The low and high circuits are completely separate, but that switching is done at the column switch.

The binnacle switch has left, right (headlights) and parkers. The left circuit is switched back and forth between low and high beam, at the column switch. Ditto the right.

The low beams are the projectors. The high beams are the plain globes in reflectors inboard of the projectors. They are not supposed to be on at the same time**.

So, I would suggest that you have a problem in your column switch also. Or, possibly someone had f**ked with your wiring, in an attempt to have the low beams stay on when you go to high beams, without doing it properly (as described in my footnote below). The consequences of not doing it properly will cause too much current to be drawn through the switches, which could certainly lead to the binnacle switch running hot and causing the damage you had in there.

** FWIW, you could alter the wiring so that the lows stay on with the highs. This would require some relay and diode logic down at the front of the car so that the low beam relays (added, not stock) pull in when low beam is selected, and also when high beam is selected. This would just be a link between the high and low wires coming down to the front of the lights from the column switch, with a diode in it so that the low side does not also run the high side, but the high side can run the low side.