Boomslang loom

So the led headlights on my 90 failed the mot due to not throwing a proper beam

I fitted standard lights and they arent as bright as the leds and been looking at boomslang looms

Paddocks list two, the more expensive one just seems to be waterproof

Read bad reports about some ,which ones are to avoid and which ones are good ?

Thanks

chrisstdt said:

So the led headlights on my 90 failed the mot due to not throwing a proper beam

I fitted standard lights and they arent as bright as the leds and been looking at boomslang looms

Paddocks list two, the more expensive one just seems to be waterproof

Read bad reports about some ,which ones are to avoid and which ones are good ?

Thanks

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I bought a cheap one off ebay and it was atrocious. Buy the original as cheap can mean the cable is not rated for the load.

chrisstdt said:

So the led headlights on my 90 failed the mot due to not throwing a proper beam
I fitted standard lights and they arent as bright as the leds and been looking at boomslang looms
<snip>

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Not throwing a proper beam suggests the lenses are wrong or they are badly aligned, rather than 'just dim' ?
Employing a relay to feed power through a fatter cable will make them a little 'brighter' (not a lot) and will remove the strain from the standard column switches, but won't correct missalignment/beam issues.

miktdish said:

Not throwing a proper beam suggests the lenses are wrong or they are badly aligned, rather than 'just dim' ?
Employing a relay to feed power through a fatter cable will make them a little 'brighter' (not a lot)
and will remove the strain from the standard column switches, but won't correct missalignment/beam issues.

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The old leds weren't throwing a proper beam

It's the new standard halogen lights that aren't very bright

As above, only buy correct quality wiring components or make your own switch relayed wiring looms, it's quite easy. I have a Boomslang with Wipac Crystal lenses and Osram Nightbreaker H4's. Combined, they offer genuinely excellent nighttime driving...the full beam turns darkness into daylight. All this without over the top LED silliness and maintain a traditional LRD headlamp look.

chrisstdt said:

The old leds weren't throwing a proper beam
It's the new standard halogen lights that aren't very bright

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Sorry, didn't read your post correctly........

I don't think they had waterproof ones when I bought mine. Go waterproof. I've just had a look at they're not that much more expensive. The two relays sit inside the engine bay, just back from the headlight, get damp and the connectors corrode. That's what's happened to mine anyway and I'm now back on the normal LR set up

Here you go, four of the 12V-4P relays will be perfect (ebay 313741753800)
This will allow seperate feeds to both dipped and high beams, or you can use 2 of the 12V 5P relays and use 1 feed for both lamps, this means you need to run a wire across the engine bay to feed the lights on the other side.

The wires that run under the wing (to each headlamp) can be interrupted to provide the power to the relay and a new 10Amp rated wire run (via a fuse) to power the lights.
You have a spare main feed on the engine bay fuse box on a 300tdi or you can tap into the main feed for the heater plug relay.
Relays can be mounted on the wing inside the engine bay or (as i've seen) behind the headlamp shrouds next to the headlamp.
Everything works as normal, you turn on the headlights and the power fires the relay which switched enough power for tyhe bulb to be as bright as designed.

Don't forget you will need to pull the 'pink' relay.

miktdish said:

The wires that run under the wing (to each headlamp) can be interrupted to provide the power to the relay and a new 10Amp rated wire run (via a fuse) to power the lights.

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I used higher rated wire due to the amperage drop over the length from the battery.

But it was probably overkill.

Cheers

neilly said:

I used higher rated wire due to the amperage drop over the length from the battery.

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Bigger is always better but anything over 1.5mm isn't 'necessary' as the voltage drop will be less than 0.5V from one end of the car to the other.
1mm is fine across the engine bay and back.

I did not rate the boomslang loom. I bought one, began modifying it to go back to the battery and in the end gave up and never bothered fitting and wrote it off and a costly mistake. After beginning to modify I worked out that for the amount of cost and effort to modify it so it went from the battery for both power and earth and had the relays somewhere more protected than the front of the engine bay (as mentioned above at risk of getting wet and corrosion) I could buy quality parts and make my own from scratch.

If you do not have any wiring skills and are happy with the design and positioning of things on the boomslang then it is possibly slightly better than the original light circuit. But if you are going to go for an improvement you might as well do it properly rather than half heartedly in my opinion. It is not difficult or expensive to make you own that will be a far better solution.

dag019 said:

I did not rate the boomslang loom. I bought one, began modifying it to go back to the battery and in the end gave up and never bothered fitting and wrote it off and a costly mistake. After beginning to modify I worked out that for the amount of cost and effort to modify it so it went from the battery for both power and earth and had the relays somewhere more protected than the front of the engine bay (as mentioned above at risk of getting wet and corrosion) I could buy quality parts and make my own from scratch.

If you do not have any wiring skills and are happy with the design and positioning of things on the boomslang then it is possibly slightly better than the original light circuit. But if you are going to go for an improvement you might as well do it properly rather than half heartedly in my opinion. It is not difficult or expensive to make you own that will be a far better solution.

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Did you make your own in the end?

bluedog333 said:

Did you make your own in the end?

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I did not, I bought a couple of the connectors but life got in the way. It may get done as part of the rebuild after the fire, but my focus currently is getting it back up and running rather than modifying things.

I assume the leds were fitted to you original head light units and not stand alone unit .why not fit new led units if the standard bulb is too dim ,or convert you dim/dip circuit and add daylight running lamps .you can also mod the lighting harness from the switch to fit r elays

mystery said:

I assume the leds were fitted to you original head light units and not stand alone unit .why not fit new led units if the standard bulb is too dim ,or convert you dim/dip circuit and add daylight running lamps .you can also mod the lighting harness from the switch to fit rView attachment 252527elays

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I Don't mind fitting extra leds as the cars not standard anyway but after reading up on the boomslang loom I hoped fitting one would be enough to improve the lights

chrisstdt said:

I Don't mind fitting extra leds as the cars not standard anyway but after reading up on the boomslang loom I hoped fitting one would be enough to improve the lights

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It certainly improved mine until the water got in the relays.

I fitted one of the cheap 7 quid copy looms to my s2 a year or two back, still working, but the comments about them being cheap crap are pretty much on the button.

Just use crystal lens with H4s, I have with the standard loom. Works very well..

lynall said:

I fitted one of the cheap 7 quid copy looms to my s2 a year or two back, still working, but the comments about them being cheap crap are pretty much on the button.

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I am fairly sure I bought the one you linked to at the time

My Old Landy said:

I am fairly sure I bought the one you linked to at the time

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I have another for the defender, but to lazy to fit it!