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

[basalt51]

Thanks again everyone. Yes I wired the lights themselves Maybe the (+) connection in the lights is shorting. I'll open them up again and electrical tape them. All the other connectors are not touching.
I tried another rely ($14 at napa :wow: , just looked in the book till we found one with 30, 85, 86, and 87 connectors) I was still blowing fuses. And it blows the fuse as soon as both the 30 and 87 are connected no matter what position the switch is in.

I'll check the light wires and then maybe try a 30 amp fuse.

 

[MYHUMVEE]

From personal experience (I spent an entire day scratching my head) for the same reasons you are. Screw the instructions, rewire the stupid things yourself, and just be careful. You don't need relays! They are just an extra switch. Use larger gage wire than what comes with the kit and put an extra inline fuse if you still feel unsure. You'll be fine.

 

[Lou]

Hella uses BLK wires for grounding of the lamp as well as to supplying power to the lamp(from 87) -- confirm that you have not inadvertantly connected the supply BLK(from 87) to ground.

Confirm your wiring at the switch. It is possible to wire it incorrectly, and still have it seem to be functioning correctly.

Use the relay. The switch that Hella included says that it is rated for 30A. Don't believe it. It will either crap-out prematurely, or provide enough of a voltage drop that the lights will not be as bright as they could be.

For the fuse .... 32V / 250V....doesn't matter -- just the current rating. A 15A fuse is enough for the 55W bulbs.

 

[90Pioneer]

From personal experience (I spent an entire day scratching my head) for the same reasons you are. Screw the instructions, rewire the stupid things yourself, and just be careful. You don't need relays! They are just an extra switch. Use larger gage wire than what comes with the kit and put an extra inline fuse if you still feel unsure. You'll be fine.

IMO, and in my experience, not using a relay with such a large draw would be a great way to melt/ruin your switch. Also, most of the switches I've found aren't rated for more than 20 amps.

 

[basalt51]

Ok, turns out I was shorting the powr and ground wires IN the lights themselves. After realizing this, I also realized two of the connector covers Iout on the switch were liekly for the Power connector in the light. Taped tehm up and the lights go on, but they don't go off. Fabulous. Did I mention I hate electrical stuff? Guess my switch isn't wired properly now. I was hoping I'ld get to take the dash apart again

EDIT: oh yeah, thanks again for the help

Update - replaced the Relay, lights work. Woohoo!. All that just because I didn't cover the connector in the lights. I hate electrical crap!

 

[Chilly]

You don't need relays! They are just an extra switch. Use larger gage wire than what comes with the kit and put an extra inline fuse if you still feel unsure. You'll be fine.

HHHMMMM, well I guess that if you don't use relays you had better have a fire extinguisher ready. I have seen this happen and I would personnally NEVER install auxilary lighting without a relay. There is no need to bring that much amperage into your passenger compartment, not to mention best performance is going to be the shortest wiring from source to light. Less wiring means less resistance. You will still want to use an in-line fuse. Another tip, only use a higher amperage fuse than the equipment requires when it is an emergency, You could possibly overload your wiring.