Replacing non-fat lip "factory" Hella lights with LED pods?

[Rushthezeppelin]

Factory Hellas have very cracked glass and are probably not long for this world, especially with the offroading I do. So I guess a couple of questions on this. First of all does the relay (that is apparently not in the fuse box since this was a port of entry mod from my research) installed for these work for a LED pod or would I basically need to take the existing wiring and hook that into the relay that would come with an LED pod (I'm thinking I would probably use a flood but not sure)? Second of all since the relay isn't in the fuse box how do I convert this to where I can run it with my high beams? They currently switch off with high beams.

Tangentially I was also wondering about getting a set of yellow pods also to put in that slot and wondering if there is anyway to run them off my light stalk fog selection. That one I think currently does absolutely nothing on my 98.

 

[Rushthezeppelin]

Okay well on the second part. I double checked and I guess the middle position doesn't have a fog lamp symbol on it but it does actually turn on the side markers and the parking lights so I guess there's that (seriously what is the point of that mode?). I wouldn't mind having it for also turning on some amber lights though since I never really use it.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Replacing non-fat lip "factory" Hella lights with LED pods?

Those wire harnesses were known to be wired incorrectly and cause a parasitic draw on your battery.

Easy to figure out if yours s bad is to pull the relay out of the socket with your lights off. If you hear a klick as you unplug the relay from the socket it means yours is wired wrong. Swapping the two red wires in the socket will fix the issue.

To run those lights with high beam you will need to rewire them. Right now it’s setup that the power from the low beam is what energizes the relay.

I replaced my old Hellas with tractor utility lights from Blazer. I’m very happy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[phattyduck]

LED light pods (at least, anything in a normal price/size range) use much less power than the original halogen lights. The original wiring (gauge/fuse/relay) is fine. Make sure you verify/fix the possible wiring issue mentioned above.

-Charlie

 

[Rushthezeppelin]

LED light pods (at least, anything in a normal price/size range) use much less power than the original halogen lights. The original wiring (gauge/fuse/relay) is fine. Make sure you verify/fix the possible wiring issue mentioned above.

-Charlie

I checked and it appears that this is all working up to snuff, didn't hear any clicking from the relay when pulling it (was probably the first time it had been pulled since the install and it was a bear to get out, hit it with some dielectric grease before putting it back in). I think I'll go ahead and order up those lights then. Anyone have any ideas though on how to uncouple it from my brights? Also how do I test which leads are positive on the Hella harnesses (I plan to splice the lights into those harnesses) Could I just take a multimeter and test each lead to ground for current?