PIAA Lighting Questions

I am having trouble deciding between the PIAA 80 Race Series and the PIAA 80 XT Series. I like the Race Series because they are larger, by a little over an inch, but am having trouble finding places that carry them and am also unclear on what I need to buy with them, they are only sold individually, not as a kit. It looks to me as though the price of the XT kit is about $250 and the Race are about $130 each.

Any advice will be apreciated,

Kevin

 

[Gofast]

Mini Vegas?

I'm doing the same thing. Call 4 wheel parts and they should give you the part numbers for the wiring Kit and the individual lights. I pick mine up on Monday.

Good Luck

 

[mattadams]

Kevin - wow have you come to the right place, LOL. The 80 XT's are sold as a set because they are smaller. The 80 Racing, with the two bulbs and the wiring harness would never fit in one box . The lamps have to purchased in pairs with a wiring harness as well. The wiring harness is BIG. The relay is the biggest relay I've ever seen! I've got part numbers if you need them. You'll probably end up spending about $350 on a set of PIAA 80 Racing's once you purchase the lamps and the wiring harness, etc. FYI, the 80 racing have two switches so you can wire it two ways. one is you can wire it into your headlights (comes with detailed instructions and adapters, etc.) so that you have a dual-switch operation. One switch is a dual-mode, that means its off and on. The other switch is a tri-mode, that means that the middle is off, then you have with lights or standalone (so you can say switch it one way and the lights will only come on when your lights are on, and the other switch determines hi beam or low beam... or you can have it switched in the other position and the lights will come on regardless of whether your headlights are on - once again determined by the other switch whether they are on hi-beam or lo-beam). Now the other way you can hook them up is with a single-switch, using the tri-mode switch only. This is wired into a fuse as opposed to headlights, and the way this works is middle position is off, up is hi-beam, down is lo-beam, pretty straight forward. The wiring harness has great instructions and tells you how to do everything I've already mentioned. The 80 XT are more straight forward, one switch, one way of hooking up the switch .

By the way, I have one set of 80 Pro Racing and 4 sets of 80 XT's... imagine my switches! I use the 80 XT's using the single-switch operation I described earlier... and I'm using the other switch that came with it for my PIAA 520's.

 

[mattadams]

the part numbers for the wiring harness for the 80 pro's are as follows -
22050 - standard wiring harness
22150 - upgraded wiring harness, this is the one I have but htey are similar. The 22050 is for up to 135 watts and the 22150 is for up to 150 watts. The guages of the wire and the heavy-dutiness of the relay is all that's different.

 

[Sinjin]

WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST SAY??!! SWITCH THIS??STANDALONE WHO??
LMAO

fyi, im thinking about going with PIAAS, this whole arguement of who is better is giving me stress. At least i know ill get free tech support with Matt around. I'll wait and see how powerful Gofast' lights are.

...wait what the hell did I just say?


[Edited by Sinjin[PEZ] on 09-20-2000 at 02:43 PM]

 

[kevinh]

Well, I am now leaning towards the XTs. I don't really need the tri mode ability, and at 30% cheaper the XTs will probably be more than enough for me. So now the question is where to buy them. Any thoughts?

Kevin

 

[mattadams]

ok I"ll explain it simpler.

Way #1 of hooking up 80 Racings -
You can have it set up so they either come on by themselves, or with your headlights. You can adjust whether they are hi-beam or lo-beam.

Way #2 of hooking up 80 Racings -
You can have them come on with hi-beam or lo-beam, regardless of whether your lights are on.

That easier? .

Kevin - the 80 XT's are actually brighter I think, but they don't stretch down the road as much. They are bigger which is cool though!

 

[kevinh]

So let me get this straight, the 80 XTs are cheaper, brighter and easier to hook up than the racing ones?

Kevin

 

[Sinjin]

i understood it the first time, if i can wire Hella lights, I can understand anything.

 

[mattadams]

the 80 XT's are brighter, but don't go as far down the road. Cheaper, yes. There smaller, easier to hook up, yes. The difference is the 80 racing are designed as a racing light. They are dual-mode (hi-beam/lo-beam), and are higher wattage. The reason I say the 80 XT's are bright is because they light up the area right in front of you better, which is what I need it for usually. LIke I said, the 80 pro racing's are designed to be used when your going 40 miles an hour and need to see way down the road...

 

[leebo]

Is wiring a light that powerful to your headlights legal???
I thought a light with that many watts was made for trail use only. Did I miss something....are these also driving lights????

 

[mattadams]

you'd have to check your local laws... but what you would normally do fi you weren't off-road would be to set the three-position switch to the middle/off position, so even if your headlights come on, the 80's won't come on unless you switch them to lo-beam or hi-beam.

 

[flyguy]

Im thinking of putting on some lights... hey... where do you put all your switches? You must look like the Delorean on Back to the Future... Anyways... I dont think I wanna spend 300 bucks a pop on lights... I like PIAA though... but if I have to get cheaper lights I shall... what do you guys suggest for lights? Hmm

nick

 

[mattadams]

If you don't want to spend a ton but still want PIAA's, get a set of the PIAA 40's... there about $100-125 if I remember right, and still a pretty darn good light!

 

[flyguy]

Okay... so what do the 40s do? Also.. for 100 bucks.. do they come in a "set" or is that per light?

nick

 

[mattadams]

ALl PIAA lights are in sets except for the 80 Racing series. The 40's come in fog, driving, both rectangular and circular... they use 55 watt bulbs and can be ugpraded up to 85 watt bulbs. That also includes the switch, harness, and relay.

 

[flyguy]

55?! What do you do with a 55 what bulb? I think my interior lights are stronger than that.

 

[mattadams]

LOL well put it this way... you can upgrade to 85. PIAA makes a superwhite 85 watt bulb which is the highest wattage superwhite bulb they currently make. I have those exact bulbs (the 85 watt superwhite bulbs) in my PIAA 80 XT's (designed as 120 watt lamps) and they produce as much if not more then the stock 120 watt bulbs. And that, in my lamp, is 385,000 candlepower, which is a ton of candlepower. Not saying you'll get 385,000 candlepower out of the piaa 40's, but I'd say you'd get at least 200,000 after upgrading to the PIAA superwhite bulbs. FYI, the superwhite bulb replacements (H3's) run about $60 I think.

 

[flyguy]

Are those the same bulbs you use for headlights? Hmmm... I have a set of PIAAs for headlights... the they are not all that bright... brighter but not... WOW those are bright!

nick

 

[mattadams]

no completely different bulb. The headlights are either 9004 or 9007, the replacement bulb for the PIAA 40's and PIAA 80's (and lots of other PIAA lights) are the H3's... they are in my mind a lot better because they are not dual mode... they also are quite a bit smaller.