Does anyone have any feedback on how bright these lights are compared to a Hella 500 or just in general?

Well ive never seen the 500's in action, but my 4000's kick ass, I dont care what Mr. Matt Adams has to say about PIAA, Hellas fit my pocketbook, look great, perform great, and have an outstanding reputation in the lighting community. Seems to me everyone on THIS board is all on PIAA's nutts, you go to other boards they are bashing PIAA, not Hella. Ohh well, maybe we should write Consumers Digest and have them do research to figure out which is better, I bet in the end, it would be very close.
OK im ready for my bashing now.

You know with all of the light questions as of late I'm thinking that they need they're own forum. Who do you think is the mod???? I can say this the Hella's are a good light for the price but has several downfalls too. I'm not sure about the 4000's but I don't like the plastic case on them. I also HATE the install. I also can say that my next pair will be of Piaa brand. It looks like Mr. Matt Adams has converted another to the dark side. : )

Ok sounds good and I am sold, but does anyone know if they will fit on my light bar?

I'm not 100% sure but I'll put $100 on yes. I wouldn't worry about them fitting at all. Let us know how they turn out.


ps....good luck on the install.

I already have wires ran for my old 500's and I was just at the Hella website and I was looking at these Rallye 1000 FF's, they are a Xenon light and on the test there, they look like they light up ALOT!! Does anyone know where I can get a pair of these??

[Edited by 4Wheelin on 09-18-2000 at 06:23 PM]

http://www.4wheelparts.com/product2.asp?imseqn=613&occlass=HELLA&cat=LIG

they also sell Piaa lights as well as other Hella lights.

holy cow... someone calling me "Mr. Matt Adams" LOL, doesn't seem right... Sinjin, I've been on a few other boards where they trash talk PIAA's frequently, but I haven't met one person yet (not even any locals) who have anything other then PIAA's who will put up or shut up, and I've tried. My Hellas experience is not good and I don't hide that. Even to quote Sinjin who is the hella fan here... "it takes a rocket scientest to wire these things" or something like that. But to each his own, money does have a lot to do with it so I can't blame people for purchasing Hella's, they are cheap (not inexpensive... cheap). No experience with the 4000's, sorry.

"but I haven't met one person yet (not even any locals) who have anything other then PIAA's who will put up or shut up, and I've tried"
WOW, when did turning your lights on become an Olympic competition?
Well, here in Texas, Hellas reign king, that was definetly obvious at this weekends Poker run. Yes the 4000's were difficult to wire, mainly because i had no experience with lighting and connecting to your high beam and all that crap before, but geez people, dont act like it cant be done or it's rocket science, if you can read and follow instructions its not hard to figure out. Oh yaaa the 4000's do not use any plastic and are not cheap.

One more thing, i really dont care about this light debate, its not like I'm sponsored by them or anything, I think its just funny how people jump on a bandwagon just because they think someone is a Explorer god.



[Edited by Sinjin[PEZ] on 09-18-2000 at 09:15 PM]

Yeah I would have to go for the PIAA's also. I had the 500's...HAD...but I never got them wired right and they were a pain to try to wire, the give you some wires, and some connectors, and say here ya go have fun. But PIAA, they have clip in harnesses, and the only thing you have to really do is figure out where to mount the switch, plug the wires in, run the power and ground to the battery, and the remote to the battery or remote lead on stereo and thats it, very simple. The only thing I don't like with the PIAA's is the Ion Crystal thing. I am not a big fan of this, I wish they weren't yellow, but just plain old white instead. Matt, do es PIAA make some sort of different lens for these? I wish I would have gone with the 80 XT's or something like that w/ a white light, but its too late now. I just have to figure out how to get the nut from coming loose on the light mount stud. I can't turn them on until I fix this because they are amied down. But I would definately buy PIAA's again if I had another carparts.com coupon and knew exactly what the Ion Crystal thing was. But other than that I like em. I may change the lens to driving though to get more light out.

I have a few more questions:
-Is that the price for both Hella's or just one? because if it is then I will buy them separatly because I already have all the wiring and stuff ran.
-How are the 40 Series PIAA'a because they are more of my price range and can I put a higher watt bulb in them?
-What's a Euro beam and a cornering beam?
- I also need a place that has the Rallye 1000 Xenon lights.
Thanks,
Ryan

ok, the 520's only come with an ion crystal lens. I don't know of another lens that will fit though you can check the dimensions of some of the other lights like the 40 round series, see if its approximately the same. You could make it work if you could. I kind of like the yellow light at times, but other times I like the white light produced by the 80 XT's (I have both mounted up front so I can be choosy).
The 40 series are the low-end PIAA, which I equate to a high-end other brand. They are a good light and I see them around town. I almost put a set on mine but they were back-ordered so I ended up with one more set of 80's (ah well). As for putting a higher wattage bulb in there, I'll find out for you.

Ryan.....did you try the link I posted. It should take you right to the Ralley1000 page. If not give me a yell. As for the wires, you'll be fine using the wires from the 500 for just about any Hella light. I'm not sure if they can hold the "juice" from other brands though. I'll thank Mr. Matt Adams for that one.

ps....you were right with the Piaa 110watt bulbs in with the wires. I've since put the 50watt bulb back in and rewired the system. I kept some of the wire as a prize to myself. I'll so it to you sometime. : )

WOOHOO, I was right on something! I'm sending the same bulbs to 4wheelin, so hopefully it'll destroy his Hella's as well, LOL j/k. I'd be interested ins eeing what it did... did they work for a while and then just blow up or just flick the switch, fizzle and burn stuff up? How did the lenses take it?

4wheelin - got an answer for you. Yes, you can upgrade the bulbs in the 40's, but you won't want to go over 85 watts. The part numbers you could put in are 13085, 13485 or 15485

I guess it does happen every now and then huh matt???

Damage report on installing 110watt bulbs in Hella's
1. Blown relay #3
2. Blown relay #4(upgraded relay)
3. Melted switch
4. Melted wire running from lights to switch.
5. Made me and half the guys at 4wheelparts laugh

On the good side though the lens did handle the light though. Granted it was only on for about a minute each time though. I'm still thinking on putting the Hella's under the truck. What do you think???

I wouldn't suggest putting the upgraded bulbs from matt into the 500's though. I'm sure it would have melted the caseing if it could of been left on for long enough. That's what we were shooting for by the way. : )

[Edited by leebo on 09-19-2000 at 09:22 AM]

ROFL. That's great :D. I can see why they laughed, but I did warn you! If anyone says "are those PIAA 110 watt bulbs REALLY more powerful then the 55 watters that hella gives out?" you can say "uhhh YEAH!!!" 4wheelin - I decided not to send you the 110 watt bulbs, they would do no good, as leebo already described. if you had the hellas that use 100 watt bulbs maybe... but I don't want to blow your relays and wiring :).

LMAO!!!

Now you can see why I haven't sent you the money yet huh matt. In fact besides the case and lense the only thing that held up was the bulb made by Piaa. It did provide some funny times for all(including me). After about 5 minutes or so I said screw this and started to look into the Piaa 80's. I still like the way the Warn lights look, but without hearing any feedback or seeing them in action I'm going to pass on them. The really sad thing is I'm happier with the Baja fog lights I have mounted in my bumper and the Baja driving light I've got on top of the bumper over the Hella's. Go fig....50 for a pair of Hella's or 60 for a better set of Baja's.

Who knew????
No you didn't know matt. :P

I must say Piaa rocks. So easy to install. To bad mine got jacked. So in my haste got some of the Hella 500's. I wish I had never did. I told myself they were just temporary though. The funny thing is that they are very hard to hook up. The instructions would be better if they did tell you "here's some wires, have fun" The instructions make no sence. THey tell you to hook up wires that arn't even there and most of it is in spanish or french. The only problem I have had with them is the mounting brackets. I can't get them tight for crap. I will tighten the hell out of them and give 5 mins on a trail and they will either be pointing to heaven or hell. I would save for the Piaa's.

Matt: I have a question for you. When you mounted your lights on the stock roof rack did you take out that center plastic piece or did you just drill strait through? The only poeple that I can find that makes light bars is CARR I don't like their set up all due to the fact that you have to mount it to the rain rails. My Explorer doesn't have them. I also saw that you have a differnt light bar. Which one do you have and where can I find it. I am all about lights. The only time I can hit the trails is at night. any suggestions for a light bar other than the CARR? maybe even a roof rack that will say about 12 on the rack? thanks

EB - I just drilled straight through. I had to use some dang big washers on the other side because I could just tighten and tighten and all it would do is squish the plastic. I had a carr roof rack, for about 5 minutes :). Found out you had to order the "gutterless mount kit" for like an extra $40, which required drilled of course, and you could only put 4 lights up there. No thanks. I bought a conferr roof rack which is more then just a light bar, but quite a bit more expensive. As you can tell in the pictures what I had to do was get 6 light mounts, put 4 in front and 2 to the side, but they stuck out enough that the lights I have to the side practically face forward if I aim them that way. There's room up there for a good 12-15 lights :). I figure 4 on the front, 4 on the back, and you could easily get 6 lights on either side. Other people would laugh at you after a comment like wanting 12 lights on the roof... not vegas. Vegas understands your lighting needs. Vegas understands that lots of lights are cool. Vegas understands that there is no maximum amount of lights on ones vehicle, and the more the better.

Funny story. At one point I had 36 lights on my Explorer till they all got jacked. I was wheeling at a place called beaver town and it is right next to the air force base. From the freeway at night alls you can see is the mountain and I was driveing up and down the mountain haveing some fun. Now the funny part was that it was so dark you really couldn't see the mountain from the freeway. so someone called the base and reported a UFO flying outside of the base. I then hit a trail that took me striat to the base fence. YOu will never belive what was waiting for me. one tank, four hummers, and about 15 MP's with ar-15's ready to kill. Once I explained to them what I was doing and why I had so many lights, they then put one and two together and we all had a good laugh. so to make a long story short, be carefull with all your lights driveing at night near an air force base. Thanks for all the info.

Anyone used Warn lighting before?

Matt, that's scary that your referring to you truck in the third person. And Gerald says I need therapy. LOL
I found out why the Hella's I had were so easy to install. I got the ones that were FF - fast fit, which already has the connectors on the ends of the wires. The high dollar ones I haven't looked at, so I didn't know the differences. Still between the two, the PIAA's outshine the Hellas, but both were a breeze to install.

Such passion over lights! If you could only use those powers for good….

I have 4 Hella 500s. I have had two of them for well over a year and they still work perfect. The install was a snap. I don’t understand what all the fuss about how complicated the installation of Hellas are. I thought it was very straightforward.

As far as what light is better, that all depends on what you mean by better. I think everyone should buy the best lights they can afford. I haven’t seen any definitive studies that concluded one is better then the other. And until there is such a study, it’s simply personal preferences. Since I have only had experiences with Hella I wouldn’t want to speculate on IPAA much but I’m sure they are probably better. And I base that only on the fact they are much more expensive.

And as far as Hellas having a plastic back, that’s because plastic is less expensive to manufacture, is virtually corrosion proof, dent and scratch resistant and weighs less then metal backed lights. I acutely view plastic as a plus over metal in this case. Hellas are not cheap. Pro Comps are cheap. Hellas are well made, well respected in the off-road community and haven’t failed me yet. I’m sorry to hear about Matt’s bad experience with Hellas. I know it only takes one bad experience with a product to put a bitter taste in your mouth. So I certainly can’t blame him but I don’t think it’s fair to say Hellas are cheap.

Live long and prosper.

I've looked into buying them. I like the way they look alot. I also like the way you can switch from a wide beem to a spot with the remote. I also like the wireing harness. It looks easy to hook up as well as waterproof. BUT, I can't speak for the light that they put out. I'd like to see that one too to be honest with you. Give it a shot and yell back to us on the answer.

ps...I also like the fact that they use a h4 bulb rather than a h3 bulb like most the others.

I like the H4's as well. Just FYI my PIAA 80 Racing use an H4 bulb as well so you have a hi-beam/lo-beam. I saw some warns on a jeep the other day, looked at em. They didn't look cheap like hellas and pro comps but I wasn't overly impressed with their construction either. They are definately built to last though. The mounting on the set I saw was 4 seperate screws in a base that is screwed to whatever, then the base has one horizontal bolt that goes through the base, and aims the light/adjusts tensions, etc. Seems to be kind of a pain if you have to drill four holes in your bumper for each light but it would also provide a good base.

Very well said Cameron.
ALL HAIL MATT THE LIGHT GURU, he has 20 lights on his truck, he must be right!

I think Rod's being sarcastic... LOL

Rod brought to my attention that my humor remark was a making him look like a drunk. I would like clearify that Rod is not a drunk nor have I seen him drink large amounts of beer. I would also like to add that Rod is an avid church goer who deeply loves his Mother and Father as well as his lovely other Kel. Rod has brought fame to his neighborhood by activly painting the school house and cleaning the trash down at the park. One last thing I would like to add is Rod should be up for sainthood due to his kindness and respect to the elderly. Rod is an all around nice guy who will help out in a time of need. Way to go Rod. We all love you!

Paid for by the Rod for President 2000 campaign.



Old Message:
"Boy I've never seen Rod mad beofre.
He must be drunk again."

"No one likes a sloppy drunk" - Matthew to Lisa when Bill died on Newsradio

[Edited by kubben on 09-19-2000 at 02:12 PM]

From a line in a movie that escapes me...." Your mocking me."



Cameron, I would say these are rather expensive.

http://store5.yimg.com/I/cruiserconnection_1599_66405
4000 HID Euro Beam
LIHEL74801 $725.00each


[Edited by Goober on 09-19-2000 at 11:58 AM]

Matt-
Good call on not sending me the lights, I definitly would have fried something and been real pissed. I didn't know it would have done that kind of damage.
EB-
LMAO at the ufo story!!!! LOL!!

-Are the Hella Xenon lamps HID?
-How does a city light work?
-Does anyone have experience with the Hella Model FF1000 Halogen 55W Driving with or without the City Light?
Thanks in advance.

No they are not HID's. If they were the price would be just a bit higher. What do you want to use the lights for??? Do you want a light to be used with your Hi-beams for driving or one just for the trail. There is a huge difference on the light you can buy for each as well as one you'll need. If only driving on the road in the city a light such as the Piaa 40's would work fine. You can also use that for extra light on the trail. But don't think you're going to blind matt with his 80's in any way shape or form. You don't need to go out and spend the 300 or so if you only need a $130 light.

Ryan,
Not sure about the Xenon bulbs.
They city lights option means the lamp has 2 bulbs, the main bulb, and the secondary buld that acts like a parking light, so basically "city lights" means that you could roll around town with them on. Might still get a ticket though.
Hope this help some.

Originally posted by Goober
Cameron, I would say these are rather expensive.

http://store5.yimg.com/I/cruiserconnection_1599_66405
4000 HID Euro Beam
LIHEL74801 $725.00each


I was referring to the Hella 4000 that cost about $260.00 for the pair as shown below.. Not the HIDs. I wish I could justify spending that kind of money on the 4000 HIDs.

http://www.performanceproducts.com/Catalog/HELLA/images/rallye4000.jpeg

I am looking for a brighter light than my 500's and better quality. But something thats not that expnesive, I am looking to spend around 150 at max. And I would add a higher watt bulb if needed and the lamp could handle it.

I myself would go with the Piaa 40's for that price range. Then add a higher watt bulb, maybe the superwhite type and you're set. As the "Light King Matt" said you can only go up to a 85watt bulb but that will outshine most of the Hella's I've seen for that price. If you're willing to spend about an extra 50 or so you can also upgrade to the 520 series which will give you great on and off the road lighting. http://www.4wheelparts.com/product2.asp?imseqn=629&occlass=PIAA&cat=LIG

The Hella 500 use a 55watt h3 bulb and that's about it(as I've proven). Where from what I can tell the 40's also use the 55watt h3. The 520 if I'm guessing would use a slightly higher bulb but can handle the higher watts if you do so after. This is where the thicker wires, metel case, and better lense come into play. You could go to an autoparts store for the wire, but why make two trips when one of them comes like that off the back???

Let us know what you end up doing.

ps....Matt, I don't want to hear it!!!

[Edited by leebo on 09-19-2000 at 01:52 PM]

My friend has the 520's and I was not impressed by them at all and the 40's are more of my price range. Can I put like a 100 watt bulb in them and not worry about damage? also How is their performance? Do they light up a good amount and are they bright? because I would like to put all PIAA on my car because it is higher quality.

Ryan - like I mentioned earlier. It's designed to handle up to an 85 watt. You could PROBABLY put in a 100-watt and not notice much, but if you put in an 85 watt superwhite bulb, which supposedly puts out the output of a 110 watt bulb, then its safer for the light, runs cooler and looks better :). I actually have the PIAA 80 XT's, which are 120 watts, and I put in 85 watt superwhite bulbs (not quite half the watts but close) and they produce as much probably more visible whiter light. That might be your best route to take if your going with the 40's. I don't know what superwhite H3 bulbs (the bulbs the PIAA 40's use) cost but any place that sells PIAA's should be able to help you out.

Sounds good to me. I am sold I am going with the 40 series and then going to put the 85 watt superwhite bulbs in later on. Thanks everyone for their help and input.

My solution to the Hella and Piaa debate.


http://content.communities.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=show_photo&ID_Community=1995EddieBauerExplorer&ID_Topic=2&ID_Message=8

Both lights are excellent. The Hella 4000's are very large and required some modification to the brush guard ( to move the mounting points towards the front of the car). I really like both lights, the Hella's Eurobeam lens provides a really nice combination of long range pencil beam and wide almost fog light beam up close. The Piaa's are just about the best fog going, and when combined w/ the driving light in the 90 pro xt, it's a tough combination to beat. The one drawback w/ the Hella's is that you have to buy a seperate wiring kit, the Piaa's come w/ a really good harness ready to install. The Hella's do run very hot, I have the 100w bulbs installed, I believe that they will accept a 130w bulb, however I would be leary of installing them. The instructions for the Hella's advise turning them off if you are stopped for any appreciable amount of time.

holy smokes, I didn't even know you could fit a PIAA 90 in that spot! Looks good!

Thanks, it did take some creative use of a sawzall. However I learned a valuable lesson - don't perform auto work while working out the kinks in your new sawzall (see airdam), however that's the only way I could mount them and be able to apply the stone guards.