Wiring my hella 500

[4 ace's]

ok so i put my hella lights on my jeep sat and still have to wire them up . i'm looking at the wiring digram and it shows the green wire going to the high beam wire . never did that before when i put lights on other trucks . have any of you guys wired it up different . want to be able to put them on with out the headlights on but with the stock fog's

 

[Corwyyn]

Just to be clear you are talking about the Hella 500 driving lights, right? I have my 500s wired as shown in the diagram, the only change I made was that I did not put a switch in the system so the ONLY time they will come on is with the high beams which makes sense as they are designed to augment the high beams for night time driving. If you want to have the option of running them at any time you can either a) run the green wire to a constant 12v source or b) connect the green wire to the side marker lights on the Jeep, that way they are available whenever the marker lights are on but will go off when the others are switched off. Only thing you might want to do is check your local laws on accessory lights to be sure you won't get a nice fine for running them like that.

 

[JeepJeepster]

You can run that wire anywhere that has 12volt. I had mine ran to the park lights for a while so that they had to be on before I could turn the lights on. That way I wouldnt accidentally leave them on or anything.

Currently they are ran to the bright lights though.

 

[ChiefRudy]

When i installed my lights I ran that Green wire right back to the Pos. side of the battery. I didn't want fiddle with my factory wiring.
I installed them over a year ago and I have no issues with my setup. If you leave them on though there won't be any dings going off. I left mine on once for 3 hours and my jeep started up no problem . I did that when I first installed them and I haven't done it since.

 

[kb0nly]

I just got done putting the wiring in for the pair of 500FF's that i am putting on. I used a TAPA-Fuse to connect to the left high beam circuit instead of tapping in on the back of the light. Just pull the fuse, plug in the tap, plug in the original fuse and then add a fuse for your added circuit. It doesn't require much amperage on the green wire as its only used to power the relay coil from the switch, less than an amp. I put in a 2 amp fuse on the tap because that's what Hella had in the inline fuse holder, but in all reality a 1 amp fuse would probably be plenty.

Nice looking bumper lightbar, you make it or buy it from someone?

 

[4 ace's]

thanks bought it here i was going to make one but just havn't had the time at work .

www.quadratec.com

 

[Uncle Krusty]

The bar looks GREAT! And it clears the factory driving lights too!

It doesn't look like it lined up with the factory Renegade light mounts, but were you still able to catch a fair amount of metal to mount the bar to?

I still haven't talked my wife into letting pull the front off her Limited and try something similar, but she did like the nice simple look of the bar on yours. Maybe someday... soon

UK

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Why not just wire them up the way they are ment to be wired?

 

[kb0nly]

thanks bought it here i was going to make one but just havn't had the time at work .

www.quadratec.com

Ahh ok, must be the KC 7400? I was looking at that one to see if i could fit it on the bumper on my 03', problem is its too wide to fit the flat area of the bumper on the first generation KJ. It's 31.5 inches of available width on the bumper and that 7400 is 34.5 inches wide. Thought maybe i could shave off a few inches but then i got a good deal on a brush guard instead.

 

[kb0nly]

Oh, and i don't know where you live but the reason for wiring the green wire to the high beam circuit is so the lights are only on with the high beams... Why you ask? LAW...

I know most states including here in MN, after doing some extensive research, have laws that you can only have a max of four forward facing lights uncovered, and aux driving lights have to be above a minimum of 16 inches and below a max of 42 inches, and they can only be on with the high beams and have to be off when meeting oncoming traffic.

That's why you wire it that way, so when you go to low beams they turn off, and back on when you go to high beams, that is if you have the switch on which is more of an enable switch then power switch, when its on and you flip to high beams then the Hella's come on. They have the wiring diagram like that to meet state laws.

 

[ChiefRudy]

Oh, and i don't know where you live but the reason for wiring the green wire to the high beam circuit is so the lights are only on with the high beams... Why you ask? LAW...

I know most states including here in MN, after doing some extensive research, have laws that you can only have a max of four forward facing lights uncovered, and aux driving lights have to be above a minimum of 16 inches and below a max of 42 inches, and they can only be on with the high beams and have to be off when meeting oncoming traffic.

That's why you wire it that way, so when you go to low beams they turn off, and back on when you go to high beams, that is if you have the switch on which is more of an enable switch then power switch, when its on and you flip to high beams then the Hella's come on. They have the wiring diagram like that to meet state laws.

I say screw the law! My state is the same way and I really didn't care. Mine are wired to work anytime and any way I want them to. My hellas are supposed to have covers on them too at all times while on the road. So I went out a bought a pair of Grille "covers" for them

 

[kb0nly]

I thought about it, but for the cost of one ticket i could buy a heck of a lot of goodies for the KJ.

 

[ChiefRudy]

I thought about it, but for the cost of one ticket i could buy a heck of a lot of goodies for the KJ.

To be honest I don't think 99% of the cops even know how the lights should be properly wired lol. Let alone care. but to each his own.

 

[kb0nly]

To be honest I don't think 99% of the cops even know how the lights should be properly wired lol. Let alone care. but to each his own.

Around here they do, especially the state patrol, they just love giving tickets for lighting violations.

A friend of mine got a $160 ticket for improperly aimed foglights, no kidding i saw the ticket. They were on there for months and none of the city cops stopped him, but the one night he was out on the road with them on and a state trooper saw him that was the end of it.

 

[ChiefRudy]

Around here they do, especially the state patrol, they just love giving tickets for lighting violations.

A friend of mine got a $160 ticket for improperly aimed foglights, no kidding i saw the ticket. They were on there for months and none of the city cops stopped him, but the one night he was out on the road with them on and a stpate trooper saw him that was the end of it.

'=
Well then my 1% of cops that know there stuff must be in your area .

 

[kb0nly]

'=
Well then my 1% of cops that know there stuff must be in your area .

Yep.. Before i put my lights on i talked to the state patrol, went over everything a half dozen times, and i even asked one officer that i know through a mutual friend if he would take a look at the finished install and tell me if anything is wrong.

 

[Boiler]

Before I installed my roof rack lights I emailed & phoned the government branch that had the road laws on the web for clarification, as the laws were pretty vague. They forwarded me to the state police who shuffled me from desk to desk, each one thanking me for caring about following the law, and each one saying they couldn't help me and I had to talk to someone else. Eventually a few people at once didn't respond and I said forget it and did it the way I wanted to do it...everything straight off the battery.

I only use the lights on backroads or offroad. I figured having them on the brights would be a PITA, as then you'd HAVE to use them with the brights.

 

[kb0nly]

I usually only need my extra lights when my brights aren't enough, so i didn't need the option to turn them on at other times, kinda defeats the purpose to run them without the brights anyway, i wanted more light, so why run the stock lights on low and the added lights, then the added lights are just making up for the high beams not being on without adding much additional light.

 

[Boiler]

My roof lights light up everything about 5x as bright...brights or low beam...It is like daytime.

My thought was that I could use them however I wanted, not just under certain rules.

 

[kb0nly]

Ahh well i don't have roof lights, just the two on the front so far.