Hella 4000's

[4Wheelin]

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

 

[Sinjin]

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.

 

[leebo]

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. : )

 

[4Wheelin]

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

 

[leebo]

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.

 

[4Wheelin]

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]

 

[leebo]

Dead Link Removed

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

 

[mattadams]

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.

 

[Sinjin]

"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]

 

[rock883]

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.

 

[4Wheelin]

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

 

[mattadams]

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.

 

[leebo]

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. : )

 

[mattadams]

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?

 

[mattadams]

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

 

[leebo]

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]

 

[mattadams]

ROFL. That's great . 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 .

 

[Sinjin]

LMAO!!!

 

[leebo]

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.

 

[EB Bauer]

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