called vendor that sold me the lights. said that BOTH the high and low beam connectors on an H4 connector should be hot when the dimmer switch is set to high beams.
...now thoroughly confused, as all internet information i've found is unanimous in that the dimmer switches provides power to EITHER the low beam prong on the H4 connector or the high beam, but never both.
so now i have to first sort out how it should be and then sort out if it is wired that way or not. "...one step forward..."
and on the box it says, "Plug and Play!". yea, right.