Hella 500's: wierd electrical problem...short?

I have had my Hella 500's (2 of them) for 2 years now, now issues at all.

I wired them with a relay, switched inside the truck. Power for the switch comes from my radio harness....relay powered right from battery.

I was driving overnight last night, used the lights, turning them on and off as oncoming traffic approached me...no problems.

Then 3 hours into my trip (it was about 4am) I went to turn them on, my truck had a severe misfire, my cruise control deactivated itself, my ABS, check gage and "Theft" lights started to blink. Kept backfiring for 2 seconds until I turned the lights off. Lights off, all was fine. Tried lights again a few minutes later, same issue. Scared the life outta me (middle of nowhere at 4am).

With lights off, no problems at all....Later in the morning I tried the lights again when I was near civilization, and everything worked fine.

Huh? Where do I start? I checked all connections, traced all wiring, all wiring is protected by wire loom, all connections are soldered solid, nothing frayed, nothing melted, harness is fused literally 2 inches from the battery.

Where do I start?

 

[corkey]

check the battery , it might have started going dead, with the extra draw from the lights, it would accentuate that problem by stealing the voltage from everything else,,
maybe check the alternator as well ,

 

[storlied]

Yup, sounds like a battery/alt issue. Test both.

Btw, just so you feel a little safer... I'm running 4 of them, with 100w bulbs in each. Plus two 55w fogs that come on automatically with the hella's.

If both alt and battery test good, you might need to look at grounding issues possibly.

 

[Crunchy]

Thanks guys.

I'm searching on how to test those, probably go to garage tomorrow to have them check.

Any way to check the alt while its still in the truck, or do I have to remove it and bring it in?

I'm 7 hours from home, and need to return Monday...hope I make it.

 

[storlied]

You can have it in or out of the vehicle, depends on how it's tested and what equipment the tech's have. Depending on which is going bad... you'll probably make it home.. like if the battery is dying... just be very very easy on the electronics so the alternator can power the absolutely needed things, but if your alternator is going out... you might end up getting stranded unless you have a battery with a huge reserve capacity, but even then you're playing a game of chance. Just becareful, if you can't get it figured out or fixed before you have to go home.. take precautions in case of an emergency.. we don't wanna hear about how you got stranded.

 

[corkey]

check the alternator in the truck is possible, yes, ,

star the Ex up, and let the idle settle,( with no inside things like stereo or heater fan on,)

once the idle has settled, hook a volt meter up to the battery , and than have somebody push the gas pedal a bit raising the rpm's, as it goes up , so should the voltage, to somewhere in the 14 volt range, or at east the high 13's, like 13.8 or 13.9, or as high as 14.4,
if it is doing that and sustains that when the rpm's are up, than the alternator is fine,

 

[Crunchy]

Just got back from the garage.

My starter was drawing so many amps, it killed my battery. My batt only had like 10v in it.

I have a new battery already, but need to wait until tomorrow to get a starter.

Now time to learn to install a starter.....any tips (v6 SOHC)?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[storlied]

That doesn't sound right at all.... even if that were the case... once the truck was started.. the alternator still should have kept a good charge on the battery.... unless the battery died because of the starter... in which case your truck was mainly running off the alternator....

 

[Crunchy]

unless the battery died because of the starter

Thats exactly what the mechanic said. Basically I was lucky my starter still started the truck, but sacrificed the battery in the process.

 

[storlied]

Weird.