Hella 500 for $40, good deal?

[pmrowczynski]

With the sticky on mounting Hella's to the bumper via L-Brackets, to seeing a few favorable reviews (and of course being a cheap ass), I went looking for some Hella's.

Amazon has them for $47 ($40 + $6.45 shipping)here

And the same seller is offering them for $40 on eBay here

So far, this looks like the best price by far but...

1. Where do you mount the switches?
2. Did you hack into any of the existing wiring (e.g. hi beams) instead of switches?
3. 100W w/o problems?
4. HID potential?
5. Are the "clear covers" worth it at $12 ea, or any alternatives?

 

[4runr30]

With the sticky on mounting Hella's to the bumper via L-Brackets, to seeing a few favorable reviews (and of course being a cheap ass), I went looking for some Hella's.

Amazon has them for $47 ($40 + $6.45 shipping)here

And the same seller is offering them for $40 on eBay here

So far, this looks like the best price by far but...

1. Where do you mount the switches?
2. Did you hack into any of the existing wiring (e.g. hi beams) instead of switches?
3. 100W w/o problems?
4. HID potential?
5. Are the "clear covers" worth it at $12 ea, or any alternatives?

1. I have always mounted the switches in the stock dash plug locations. I used Toyota fog switches this time around for a cleaner look.
2. I never hacked into the stock wiring because I always wanted the lights to be hot with a switch. It isnt hard to tap into the high beams though.
3. I have wanted to do this mod for awhile. People I have talked to dont think it would be a big problem. Just dont excede the wire's rated use.
4. Ive never used the clear shields and havent had a problem with cracks or rock chips. Having said that I will prob get a chip tomorrow. :bigok: $47 is a pretty good deal if they are new. They usually sell for around $70 off the shelf at autoparts stores.

 

[Jordan Petry]

This writeup may help,

http://4runners.org/writeups/hella500/index.html

 

[pmrowczynski]

Thanks! Got them in and mounted up in a couple of free hours I had after work:

1. Since I did the fog light rewire (tied to an IGN source) I tapped the same line for the (+) in for the switch running the greenish/blue wire through the firewall
2. Grounded the GND wire on the switch inside the car
3. Ran the yellow trigger wire back to the relay

The above required no cutting or slicing holes into anything. There is already a small hole in the rubber grommet for some stiff wire thingy (I think hood release) on the driver side firewall. Can pull through the wires for 1 and 3 through.

The rocker switch (since I have an LTD/Rear Air/etc.) can't go anywhere in the stock location as they're all taken. However, it does fit pretty snugly into the fuse panel on the left side. The only concern may be opening that fuse panel in the future as there's no real easy place to put your fingers in and pull

Grounded it off of the bull bar bar (mounted to the frame)

The only issue I have now is the cluster of wires (+ Power) which need to run back to the relay/battery. Might do a wireloom, or might do electrical tape, but either way, it's looking ghetto right now.

One weird thing though... I did turn it off once at the switch and the lights stayed on. Even when disconnecting the ground/trigger wire into the relay, the lights stayed on. Only when I disconnected the power did the lights go off. Probably a bad relay, but just "weird" with a new component.