Utilizing the fourth wire in the headlight connection on Gladiators that have it.

[billfraley]

****** 1/30/22 edited to make a few corrections based on later posts in the thread.

I tried to search for this but came up empty. This is the reason I am creating this thread.

I replaced my headlights with a different set of aftermarket LEDs. While looking at some options for wiring the Halos, I learned that more recent Jeep Wranglers and I assume all Gladiators already have the fourth wire in the headlight harness.(appears tobe 21 and up JL and JT model years that include the 4th wire)

Based on this I decided to pin the same connection on the aftermarket headlight harness and connect the halo lead from the aftermarket headlight to that pin. It worked without any additional actions. However, the halo lights would stay on for 60 seconds after shutting the vehicle. This bothered me.

I went into to JScan and turned on the signature lighting options. Unfortunately, I did not take a screenshot of the settings. Basically there is are left front, right front and signature lighting present options. After setting all of these to present or active, the Halos work exactly as OEM halos.

In summary, connecting to the factory pin in the headlight harness and enabling the OEM settings for the Halo allow you to have working halo lighting without using a fuse tap and running the wiring Back to the fuse panel. The halos will function as OEM or as always on with ignition. To get OEM behavior it requires some BCM changes.

I wish I did a better job of documenting everything. Even so, I think it is good info for others to be able to find in a search.

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[coastiej171]

I have heard of this “4th pin/wire” but never investigated it to far. I had the OEM halogens and switched to Audexen LEDs that are very similar to factory leds. I haven’t hooked up the halos specifically because I didn’t want to tap into an “ignition on” wire. Do you have any more info on this OEM 4th wire? Is it under the hood where the new leds connect? Color of wire?

 

[ecidiego]

I have heard of this “4th pin/wire” but never investigated it to far. I had the OEM halogens and switched to Audexen LEDs that are very similar to factory leds. I haven’t hooked up the halos specifically because I didn’t want to tap into an “ignition on” wire. Do you have any more info on this OEM 4th wire? Is it under the hood where the new leds connect? Color of wire?

Look at your headlight connector. 4 wires = you have it. 3 = you don't. 2021+ gassers have them halogen or LED. Diesels just need a short harness passenger side if they came with halogens.

 

[coastiej171]

@ecidiego gotcha, thanks. I’ll have to get under the hood and check it out when it’s not zero degrees here ?

 

[billfraley]

I have heard of this “4th pin/wire” but never investigated it to far. I had the OEM halogens and switched to Audexen LEDs that are very similar to factory leds. I haven’t hooked up the halos specifically because I didn’t want to tap into an “ignition on” wire. Do you have any more info on this OEM 4th wire? Is it under the hood where the new leds connect? Color of wire?

If you look at your headlight connector, at the headlight, there should be a brown wire that isn’t pinned on the aftermarket headlight side.

I used this connection to power the Halos. In my case, the aftermarket headlight had a harness adapter between the headlight and the existing car harness. This harness adapter is where the leads for the Halo and Turn signal connections existed on the headlights I installed. Yours may be different. So, I just added the pin on the adapter side.

 

[coastiej171]

If you look at your headlight connector, at the headlight, there should be a brown wire that isn’t pinned on the aftermarket headlight side.

I used this connection to power the Halos. In my case, the aftermarket headlight had a harness adapter between the headlight and the existing car harness. This harness adapter is where the leads for the Halo and Turn signal connections existed on the headlights I installed. Yours may be different. So, I just added the pin on the adapter side.

awesome, thanks for the info

 

[Klicht87]

I tried to search for this but came up empty. This is the reason I am creating this thread.

I replaced my headlights with a different set of aftermarket LEDs. While looking at some options for wiring the Halos, I learned that more recent Jeep Wranglers and I assume all Gladiators already have the fourth wire in the headlight harness.

Based on this I decided to pin the same connection on the aftermarket headlight harness and connect the halo lead from the aftermarket headlight to that pin. It worked without any additional actions. However, the halo lights would stay on for 60 seconds after shutting the vehicle. This bothered me.

I went into to JScan and turned on the signature lighting options. Unfortunately, I did not take a screenshot of the settings. Basically there is are left front, right front and signature lighting present options. After setting all of these to present or active, the Halos work exactly as OEM halos.

In summary, connecting to the factory pin in the headlight harness and enabling the OEM settings for the Halo allow you to have working halo lighting without using a fuse tap and running the wiring Back to the fuse panel. The halos will function as OEM or as always on with ignition. To get OEM behavior it requires some BCM changes.

I wish I did a better job of documenting everything. Even so, I think it is good info for others to be able to find in a search.

How do you like those headlights? I've been eyeing those for a while but I'm still on the fence with spending the extra money on the Oracles.

 

[billfraley]

How do you like those headlights? I've been eyeing those for a while but I'm still on the fence with spending the extra money on the Oracles.

I like them so far. They feel well made and the cutoff on the beam is pretty sharp. Also, they have cooling fans that you can hear running if you listen closely.

I had the Kiwi 9s before and they started having intermittent startup issues. The Kiwis only had heat fins. The low beam would not light up until I flashed the high beams. I was able to return for a full refund and I chose these to replace them.

I hope they last longer than the Kiwi 9s did.

There are two reasons I chose these.

First, they are full housings with an adjustment knob. Many of the other options, including Kiwi 9, have springs on the three mounting screws and I wanted to avoid that. What I mean by full housing is that the housing is just like OEM and not just a thin headlight that mounts in the OEM location.

Second, I wanted a headlight with Turn signal switchback functionality.

I have no desire to spend the money that Oracle is asking for their headlights. I am just not convinced they are worth it. Same goes for the Rough Country headlights.

 

[Klicht87]

I like them so far. They feel well made and the cutoff on the beam is pretty sharp. Also, they have cooling fans that you can hear running if you listen closely.

I had the Kiwi 9s before and they started having intermittent startup issues. The Kiwis only had heat fins. The low beam would not light up until I flashed the high beams. I was able to return for a full refund and I chose these to replace them.

I hope they last longer than the Kiwi 9s did.

There are two reasons I chose these.

First, they are full housings with an adjustment knob. Many of the other options, including Kiwi 9, have springs on the three mounting screws and I wanted to avoid that. What I mean by full housing is that the housing is just like OEM and not just a thin headlight that mounts in the OEM location.

Second, I wanted a headlight with Turn signal switchback functionality.

I have no desire to spend the money that Oracle is asking for their headlights. I am just not convinced they are worth it. Same goes for the Rough Country headlights.

Thank you for the info. Much appreciated. I completely understand what you are talking about for full housing. I noticed many just seem to be universal and not vehicle specific. I also like how they are different. I don't see many aftermarket headlights on JTs where I live so it's hard to see what they actually look like.

 

[OHJeeper]

I have heard of this “4th pin/wire” but never investigated it to far. Do you have any more info on this OEM 4th wire? Is it under the hood where the new leds connect? Color of wire?

Go here: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/mis-matched-lighting.64906/post-1066451

 

[OHJeeper]

It's the harness directly connected to the headlights. On the passenger side the easiest way to access it is by removing the air box (on the gasser)

 

[billfraley]

Go here: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/mis-matched-lighting.64906/post-1066451

That is great info. I wish I had found that by searching before I installed these. I basically had to figure it out by trial and error. So that pin 5 is configurable in the BCM as “Signature” lighting.

Also, to me that wire looked light brown, but it’s definitely beige looking at the picture you posted in that other thread.

Maybe we should include your info in this thread as a definitive thread for this wire and functionality?

 

[OHJeeper]

Maybe we should include your info in this thread as a definitive thread for this wire and functionality?

Go for it! No pride of ownership here, you're welcome to cut and paste all of it here.

 

[AstroZombie]

This is great info!! posts like this are the reason I join my vehicle specific forums!!

 

[billfraley]

This is copied from the post linked by OHJeeper:
It's true. I just wired up some SS5's and wanted the backlights to come on when the halos did. I searched around and found some information:

I confirmed that pin #5, labeled as "RIGHT FRONT PARK LAMP DRIVER" is the feed to the halo, which is a misleading label to me.

It's the beige (almost orange) wire with the orange stripe (looks pink here)

Basically, it's a 12V ignition-switched lead.

Also, it is separately controlled by the BCM, in the C1 harness, also Pin #5 incidentally:

So, if you don't have factory halos with the 4-pin harness, you could always hack the BCM harness and tap into these leads (PIN 5 for passenger, PIN 7 for driver), then use Tazer or JScan to enable these outputs. There are detailed write-ups on the JL forum on how to tap into these BCM outputs.

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