Hella 500FF HID

[ItsMeKO3]

I'm planning on getting up some HID's for my lows, fogs, and Hellas (Undecided about my highs...?) I know I'm going to get a relay for my lows and fogs, but my question is will I need a relay for the Hellas as well? Or will the existing relay they are already wired with work? I don't want them to strobe. Thanks guys.

[superacerc]

As long as the relay is big enough you can run them all. Normally you'll find 30A relays in most parts stores or with the kits that come with the lights. Here's how to know how many amps you're drawing!! You have to use some maths. To figure out how many amps you draw you have to divide your watts by the voltage. Thats cause Volts x Amps drawn = Wattage. So the Hellas are 55W lights. You've got two of them . 110 / 13.8 = 7.97amps. If you have 4 55 watt lights you now have 220 / 13.8 = 15.94amps. Add two more and you've got 330 / 13.8 = 23.91amps. That's still under the 30amps so you're ok if the car is running.

Now think about those times you may turn the lights on when the motor isn't running. Instead of 13.8 volts you've got 12 or maybe even 11.8ish. 330 / 12 = 27.5amps still acceptable so I think you'll be just fine with the supplied 30A relay supplied with the lights. Just don't turn them on if your battery is getting low. Not only will it drain mighty fast but those wires/relays will be heating up. You could always wire two relays to come on with the same 2 wires if you were drawing more than 30.

Now for the wiring. I'm using 10 guage wire for my 4 lights. The kit supplies 12 or 14 gauge wire. That wiring is much too small to run 3 sets of lights. Go up to 10 or 8 guage.

I've got the 500FFs. They are definitely concentrated to one area as far as the light they throw. They throw a horizontal rectangular shaped slit of light. Not round like a spot. I'm going to add 2 more regular 500s to brighten up the surrounding area a bit more.

Have fun.

[ItsMeKO3]

Alright lol. Now bear with me as I'm not very good with all of this. I understand how to figure out how many amps I'll be drawing with the Hellas. I've only got 2 Hellas (1 set). Once converted to HID, they will each be 35W. So 70/13.8 = 5.07 amps. Therefore the existing relay that they are wired up with right now should be sufficient, correct? My lows, and fogs will be wired each with their own separate relay that I plan on buying when I order the HIDs.

[superacerc]

Yep, They come with a 30A relay and you're going to give them less load now so definitely fine. What is your process for switching them to HID. Wouldn't mind going that route if they would be brighter.

[ItsMeKO3]

Well from the pics I've seen and the reading I've been doing, they will def be brighter! I've got a couple write ups and videos saved that I'll use as a step by step when I get around to doing it. Here's a couple write ups:

This one has an older set of Hellas, so the casing is a bit different than the set I have.
http://www.yotatech.com/f131/hids-hella-500s-write-up-lots-pictures-202736/

This one has the newer version.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/79832-hella-500-hid-conversion-mount-behind-satoshi-how-w-pics.html\

The only major difference is the clip that holds the actual light bulb in.

[superacerc]

Looks nice. I'm definitely too lazy at the moment to put in the effort. I'll probably switch them out for the sylvania silverstar ultras though. Should get some extra light from those. They have direct replacement bulbs for them.

[ItsMeKO3]

Yea it should be pretty sweet, once I get around to it lol. I replaced the stock bulbs with the original Silverstars, because I couldn't find an H3 bulb in the Silverstar Ultras. They were a bit better, but then I tinted my Hellas to help hide them behind the grille. So now I need to make them brighter again lol.