Wiring lightbar on 2018 Premium Outback

Adders35

New User
Joined
Oct 19, 2018
Messages
3
Location
NSW, Australia
Car Year
2018
Car Model
Outback
Transmission
CVT
I have a new (Australian) MY18 Outback Premium which is fitted with LED projector headlights which use a shutter to change between high and low beam. As I live in a rural area with lots of kangaroos and wombats I want to fit a light bar. Can any one help with where to connect the trigger wire for the light bar relay to the high beam shutter circuit? I have done a lot of probing with my test meter but cannot identify the right wire.:raz:
 
G'day Adders35
:welcome:
Unfortunately I know nothing about shutter style headlights. But as a thought, would tapping into the power going to the solenoid that controls the shutter be worth considering?

Just a guess, but if the solenoid has to be powered to open the shutter...

Personally I hate LEDs for low beam, the colour temperature of those things when they're coming towards you is horrible. They're awesome for flood/driving lights though.
 
Adders, my experience with the dreaded Subaru (and others) negative switching system is here:

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=6232

I finally got mine to work on our 2006 SG Forester by making it into an ersatz positive switch system (sort of).

What should have taken about 2 hours, took days, and about 1/2 tank of fuel while idling ...
 
Thank you for the replies. I am aware of the negative switching used by Subaru as have had several Outbacks previously. I have been looking for the wire that powers the high beam shutter (or earths the shutter) but with all the other wiring for headlight things such as levelling, steering responsive lights and DRL, I have not been able to identify the correct wire.
 
How hard is it to remove the entire light?
If not tooo hard, might be easier to figure out which wires appear to be going where , thus narrowing the options down. or is it just the one conglomeration of cable to the light and then splits off inside?

Perhaps ring around the wreckers for a smashed one? (there might be one, even if it is the latest model)
 
i would take it to a professional sparky mate ... lots of new subarus have Canbus so it can be tricky.... if you aint sure then let the pros do it
 
G'day & Welcome aboard [MENTION=16141]Adders35[/MENTION]

This is a first and I'm sure we'd all be interested in the answer!

I've checked over at subaruforester.org but can't find anything either. (not even sure if the MY'18 Foz has shutter style headlights)
 
Thank you for the replies. An update. I have made phone calls and sent emails all to no avail. Local auto elec: "bring the car in & we will see what we can do". Several Subaru aftermarket suppliers: "don't know, have not done one of this model yet" and "could not find where to connect to high beam so just wired the light bar separately". Subaru Aust would not or could not help, probably could not as their knowledge seems to be poor. My car has several fuses fitted that are additional to what the owner's manual shows and Subaru Aust could not say what these extra fuses do and told me that the manual was correct!
However I have determined that the "normal" position for the high beam shutter is up i.e. high beam, and it is negative switched to lower the shutter for low beam. Now to try and find the switching wire.
 
Adders, I eventually found the switching wires hidden under the headlight unit.

I then attached both positive and negative vampire connectors to these, then used these to drive two cascading relays. Not elegant, but it works.

When I'm at my PC tomorrow, I will try to find the relevant posts for you.

[EDIT]

All the relevant posts are referenced here:

https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showpost.php?p=87122&postcount=130

[end edit]
 
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[MENTION=16141]Adders35[/MENTION] good luck finding the switching wire! Unless you have some kind of inductive sensor I find that sticking a pin into the wire to take a reading works well ;-)
 
I found them in my SG by poking multimeter probes into the connector hidden beneath the headlight unit. Then switching the headlights OFF/Low/High to find which ones were active.
 
Hey forum, surfed in here and became a member to advise Adders and I have both successfully used the CAN M8 High beam interface to provide the trigger for our driving light / light bar relays.
Stinger in Ringwood, Melbourne and they will steer you to the right box of tricks.
Probably not allowed to post URLs and stuff but anyway, it works and saves a lot of time once you just know where to go.
Great little forum - lots of people getting out there :)

C8HIGHBEAM.jpg
 
Thanks for the tip & Welcome [MENTION=16414]Jock[/MENTION]
 
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