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Why aren't my Hella 500's lighting up?

basalt51

basalt51

NAXJA Member #761
Location
Woodland, CA
Lets start this by saying I HATE electical stuff so assume I know nothing! I've got the relay set-up as the instructions say (double checked). I double checked the wiring in the lights themselves. The switch works and lights up and actuates the relay. Only thing I did different was wire the switch directly to the battery + terminal instead of the highbeams or parking lights because I want to control them at the switch. The lights are grounded to the - battery post. Everything else is grounded to the firewall. But No lights. I used the voltmeter/ohmmeter to check the relay (though I don't really know what I'm doing). The ohm meter would read zero with the switch off and it would register with the switch on. I also checked from the power at the relay to the ground for the lights and it would register also. Not sure what it all means. I tried to double check it all but I left the meter on and the battery is now dead.

:flamemad:
 
Don't know if it will make a difference but when i wired up my hellas instead of wiring them to the battery like u said u did to have control. I wired mine to the ignition fuse panel underneath your dash. That way the lights cut off when your ignition cuts off, will save your battery;-). And you can also control when they are on or off as long as your ignition is on, dont matter if your jeeps started.

Hope that helps u some,

Matt
 
mine are run straight from the battery to a switch and the ground goes back to the battery, so that is not the problem. recheck your grounds on the firewall that they are metal to metal and not metal to paint
 
The firewall ground is fine as everything grounded there actually works (relay/switch). I'm actually thinking I may run the light ground to the firewall instead of the battery to see what happens.

Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but when I started, I disconnected the negative terminal and EVERTHING on the jeep still worked. Thats not normal is it? Once I disconnected the (+) terminal everything shutdown.



EDIT: Well, this is why I hate electrical stuff...
Because I'm an idiot. The inline fuse from the battery to the relay was blown. I haven't found another one yet, but I'm hopeful that was the problem.
 
Last edited:
Looks like I'm blowing fuses as soon as I hook it up. Any ideas why that might be?

The fuse that was in the inline fuse was a 15amp fuse that said 250V on it. Does that mean 250 volts? The only 15 amp fuses I could find said 32V. Is that 32 volts? If so that might explain why I'm blowing all teh 32V fuses?
 
when i hooked mine up our idea was just to hook it up to the battery because i didnt like the idea of having to have low beams on to use them but after trying it a few ways and it not working we just went that way and the worked right off the bat.
 
i didnt use hella's instructions...they didnt look right to me....i ran a few wires to the relay alittle different... i hooked up the red power wire coming from the battery to #30 on the relay.....the wire coming from the lights to #87 on the relay.....the ground wire to #85 on the relay.......the yellow wire to the switch to #86 on the relay.....the other end of the yellow wire goes on the middle contact on the switch........the green wire goes on the supply contact on the switch and then to a power source......if u want the switch to light up hook up a wire to the ground contact on the switch and then just ground that wire to the vehicle......
 
njedgexj said:
i didnt use hella's instructions...they didnt look right to me....i ran a few wires to the relay alittle different... i hooked up the red power wire coming from the battery to #30 on the relay.....the wire coming from the lights to #87 on the relay.....the ground wire to #85 on the relay.......the yellow wire to the switch to #86 on the relay.....the other end of the yellow wire goes on the middle contact on the switch........the green wire goes on the supply contact on the switch and then to a power source......if u want the switch to light up hook up a wire to the ground contact on the switch and then just ground that wire to the vehicle......
Click to expand...

Sounds like their instructions exactly. Did you do anything different than this?

http://www.hella.com/produktion/HellaPortal/WebSite/Internet_usa/ProductsServices/PDF/Inst_450.pdf

Only thing I did differently was the green power for the switch runs to the battery. I can't figure out why I'm constantly blowing the fuses.
 
If the fuse is popping, then something is getting power in a way it doesn't like.

Check the wires GOING THROUGH the firewall - if they are shorting...that's way bad.

I wired up my 500's and haven't had a problem in over a year now...save for the fact the the switch wires were loose and one fell off once. A quick squeeze with the pliers and all was good.

...btw, I have 100 watt bulbs in mine - what a difference - WOW!

The next lighting upgrade you may want to consider is replacing your sealed beams with Sylvania Silverstar sealed beams - big increase in light from this plug-and-play swap. Cost me under $80 here in Canada.
 
no thats the way i wired them.....the instructions that came with my set where odd....i tried hella's way first and blew the fuse twice....then i just wired them up just like my other lights.....turned the switch on and nothing happend.....turns out i blew the relay.....once i changed the relay everything works good now......thats strange the fuse keeps blowing....i ran the green to a constant on power source also......u might wanna check the relay....
 
Thanks for the replies. The wires are not shorting through the firewall. How do I check the relay? DoI have to order another one from Hella or does Radioshack or something carry them?

I may try tapping into a different wire for the switch, though I'ld rather not.

Thanks again
 
radioshack should have them, or u can go to a car stereo install shop....they will definitly have them....
 
Nothing to do with the lights, but if you have a winch, you will also have to unhook the winch's negative(ground) cable as well as the negative terminal for your battery to be truely disconnected.
 
do you have to use the relays with the 500s? i just bought a pair from a guy and all he gave me was the lights themselves and the wires coming out of the back
 
try a 30 amp fuse inline to the battery, make sure all of the wiring isn't touching together or touching metal. especially when it goes through the firewall. also make sure no bare wires are touching eachother at the switch or even at the bulbs... you did take apart the lights and install the bulbs right? My 500's work perfect, I hooked them to the parking lights so I wouldn't leave them on and forget.
 
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