Please help? My Head lights are very dim. I tested the voltage and its only 10V at the lights. I also tested the voltage at the light switch, 12.3V when the lights are off and 10.1V when I switch the lights on.

Hi in what condition is your battery and alternator, assuming it is all good check you lights fuse and the supply to the fuse.

if its an old 1200 (70s or 80s) the copper has probably corroded/aged, best to install a relay and use the original wiring as a trigger, with a fresh 12v supply straight from the battery to the lights

^^^Wise words there, and clean all electrical contacts to reduce resistance.

Clean earths especially the little ones in boot and heater too, mine had seperate.

If your like me I don't have a clue how to wire relays, so if some one could write a way how would be great! I need to wire demister.

Nige we're talking about dim watts here, not Dim witts

Hi guys. I have a 2002 model so i dont think its the wiring. The battery and altenator is still good. I did clean all wires, conections and fuses. Still have the same problem, only 10V at the lights

relay wiring diagram is on the relay... but they are universal,

basically think of it as two circuits, one is from pin 30 to pin 87.... this is power to the thing you want to power (lights in this case)

the other circuit is pin 85 to pin 86.... this is the switch on/off for power flow through the other circuit above... so you have power to a switch (like a toggle on the dash or your light switch) then to pin 85... this tells the relay to "switch" on when charged, that power to the relay needs an earth to flow - so you hook pin 86 to earth - a connection to the car body or battery


there are a few types of realy, the above is a basic 4 pole, the 5 pole relays have two types, one type switchs power from one thing to another i.e. low beam on one side and high beam on other (alternating power form 87 and 87a i think)

the other 5 pole type is just like a 4 pole but has two pins that power when relay is switched on (2 x 87), basically just providing two places to connect to (so you can power left/right headlight with one realy say)

nice one 1200rc !

pretty much

pin 30 = hook up to the head light wire ,either low or high beam
pin 87 = fuzed battery power ,run a 5mm or bigger wire to battery post with an inline fuze holder
pin 85 = earth this pin ,easyest way is to put a crimp on it and a bolt through it and the tab on the relay then bolt to the shell or other earthed part
pin 86 = the wire you cut that went to the head lights hooks on here and will just trigger the relay whyen you activate the headlight switch

hope thats easy to understand :D

cheers