Hella 500 130 Watt bulb???

[A10MileHusker]

So a couple weeks ago I bought some 130 watt bulbs for my Hella 500's. Worked for about an hour and then lights out. I had the old hella wiring so I thought, why not upgrade, so i bought the newer wiring harness and still, worked for an hour or so and nothing. I have a 30 amp fuse in there and it still will not hold the lights. Is 100 watt the highest I can go? I know a guy did an HID swap and didn't have any problems but then again, that has ballasts to reduce the amount of power going to the bulbs. Any ideas?

Thought I should add, that the wiring harness I have uses the normal ATO fuses.

Any suggestions to get these 130 watt bulbs working? Thanks guys!

Doug

 

[riceandpho]

maybe theres a short in the harness, i would make a custom harness, and use a relay on each light, also 30amp atc fuse on each, also the wires should be 14gauge minimum, also check the connections too, maybe something got loose or corroded.

 

[Ron Helmuth]

30 minute timer clearly...

I do think the heat buildup in such a small lamp encasement is the issue, but honestly I am just guessing. Makes some sense does it not?

Let us know what you find out?

If you have any way to measure the heat at 10/15/20 minutes I would be "Hella curious":biggrin2:

 

[arjan]

130W divided by 12V is just over 10A for each bulb. A 30A fuse should do the trick.
If you run 14 gauge wiring for each light, then your wiring should be properly sized also. 14 gauge wire is rated for 15A.

A quick way to check if your wiring is sized right, is to measure the voltage at the battery, then the fuse, then at the light.
If it drop significantly between the fuse and at the light, you'd want to upgrade your wiring.