Adding a 3rd Hella 500 to pair - is it OK?

I recently installed a pair of Hella 500 lights on the front of the XJ. I think they look great, and they put out a lot of light. I measured things, and I could easily fit a third up front. They sell them as singles. My question is: can I just buy a single, and connect the hot wire to the hot wires of the other two, ground it, and call it good? Or, would it require heavier gauge wires, and/or other upgrades? The two on it came as a pair that were meant to go together. Will I have problems adding a third one?

Hey, I just installed a set of 3 Hella FF's on a buddy's deer repellant device equipped F350 and it looks just right. I'll get pics this weekend for ya.

Phil :canada:

as long as you have an inline fuse - it should be ok... the hella wiring harnesses are kinda skimpy on the wire - i would keep the logistics of it (the one with a relay right?) and just beef up the wire with a little thicker gauge... my 500's had like 17 or 16 gauge wiring i think?!

Yea the original wiring sucks, it's mega thin. And the seafoam green wire just looks silly. I rewired mine to 12awg, should be able to handle any bulb and load I can put them under. But 3 should be ok as long as you're pre-cautious

I would use bigger wire. I have the wiring harness that came with the pair and only the 2 lights hooked up and if I leave them on for more than 15 min., even driving on the highway, I get a nice burning smell coming through.

It seems that it would be ok if you wired it in parallel with the other 2 lights, which are wired in parallel to the relay. Each lamp is rated at 55 watts and 12 volts, which is a 4.58 amp current draw (55 watts / 12 volts), which is pretty substantial, so I would definately use some thicker wire. That being said the load of each of the lamp is 2 ohms (12 volts / 4.58 Amps), so it wouldn' be adding a large load to the system, and a parallel wiring will branch the same amount of current evenly to each lamp. An inline fuse also wouldn't be a bad idea just as a pre-caution as mentioned above.

jeepster_259 said:

I would use bigger wire. I have the wiring harness that came with the pair and only the 2 lights hooked up and if I leave them on for more than 15 min., even driving on the highway, I get a nice burning smell coming through.

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that aint good! i have a set of hellas and some 150 pro comps and they do them selves get physically hot - but if you are getting that plastic burning smell it could be the wires themselves getting so warm due to the light gauge provided wiring... i have a set of cibies with silverstar h4 bulbs wired into the factory harness and they were ok (i think i nominal 55 watt Hi / Low bulb) but once i upgraded the harness via the DIY post up(there is a link on here for building your own but Big off Road sells a complete kit) i got an almost 30% light output increase and the lights really make use of the well designed cibie housing... anyways it would be a great idea to bump up the gauge and i just can not remember if the hella harness came with an inline fuse so if not adding one is WELL worth it... eletrical surges stink, literally, and are no fun to clean up

yeah, it did come with an inline fuse. I don't use the lights a whole lot anyway for extended periods. I may upgrade the wires eventually, we'll see.