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MG TD TF 1500 - Headlamp relay

I apologize for reposting this question, I searched and found this had been discussed. But as far as I could see, nobody had actually installed a relay in a MGTD for the headlamps.

I'm a little leery of installing one. Looking at the electrical diagram, I'm not sure how I could wire the relay to the headlamp section of the ignition switch correctly.

Has anybody done this in the real world and has instructions or advice? There are two switches that affect the headlamps; the main lighting switch and the dip switch. I assume that if I install the relay in line before the dip switch it will control both circuits.

But I'm not sure exactly how to wire a relay in to the lighting switch.

Help appreciated!
Geoff Baker

Geof,

I never bothered since the original headlight & dimmer switches are very heavy duty (heavier than most all the automotive relays I've disected) and a relay plus extra wiring are just that much more that can go bad.

JIM
Jim Northrup

I'm with Jim. But they are the Bee's Knees in an MGB.

(that was kind of poetic, if I do say so myself.)

However if you do want to wire one, simply interrupt the blue with white tracer (main beam) and blue with red tracer (dipped) wires behind the dash, after the switch. take two relays and run the brown power feed from the inspection socket to both relays. Then connect the blue with white to one relay, and the blue with red to the other relay so the relay is being energized from the switch, and it feeds the power to the headlamp through the existing wire. One of the advantages of the relay is that it brings power closer to the item being energized, but that is difficult to achieve in the TD due to the separate wings and the routing of the wiring harness. But if you broke open the wiring harness you could accomplish the same thing on the rail by the wiring harness.

warmly,
Dave
Dave Braun

This thread was discussed on 04/03/2011

MG TD TF 1500 index

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