BajaNomad - 100 watt halogen Hellas vs. stock, at night: SEE THEM WORKING!

100 watt halogen Hellas vs. stock, at night: SEE THEM WORKING!

David K - 6-27-2009 at 10:40 PM

Well... I decided to document the view of these 8" Hella 4000 halogen, 100 watt pencil beams as compared to just stock headlights (which are quite good)...

Here are the results!

First, the lights:

Now, the garage door: LOW BEAM

HIGH BEAM

HELLA 4000 PENCIL BEAM

NOW, some street location photos:

LOW BEAM

HIGH BEAM

HELLAS

Near the end of that street:

LOW

HIGH

HELLAS

The end of the street:

LOW

HIGH

HELLAS

An open field, below parking lot:

LOW

HIGH

HELLAS

and finally, through some trees to a levee in the background:

LOW BEAM

HIGH BEAM

HELLA 4000

Well, you sure can see more of what's out there with extra lighting! IF I get HID conversions done, I will repeat the shots. From my earlier experience with the Kragen HIDs, the light was very different than the halogens... just like daylight with colors easily seen!

David K - 6-27-2009 at 10:43 PM

Only with the Hellas on can you see the levee in the last series of 3 photos.

BajaWarrior - 6-27-2009 at 10:49 PM

David, too bad you won't be using them in Baja, you know, with that "don't drive at night" guideline... :tumble:

Paulina - 6-27-2009 at 10:55 PM

David,

:!:

I was going to tease you that your Toyota looks to clean to be a baja rig! We hardly ever wash the baja dirt off of our truck. Not only is a good protective coating but I can go rub against it when I'm feeling homesick.

I do have to admit that B.W.'s comment did make me smile.

Congrats on your new toys. I wish I had some.

P<*)))>{

David K - 6-27-2009 at 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paulina
David,

:!:

Congrats on your new toys. I wish I had some.

P<*)))>{

Is this better? (Laguna Salada mud, 2006... lost the mud flaps out there!)

DSCN0026r.JPG - 33kB

David K - 6-27-2009 at 11:17 PM

Some mud we get when we cross from the Baja peninsula out to Shell Island! What can I say, silver is a good color to hide the dirt! :light:

[Edited on 6-28-2009 by David K]

Bajaboy - 6-27-2009 at 11:27 PM

So DK-according to so many here...not me....don't drive at night...if you follow that advice then why do you need the lights?...besides the cool factor :cool:

Thanks for taking the time to illustrate...

[Edited on 6-28-2009 by Bajaboy]

David K - 6-28-2009 at 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajaboy
So DK-according to so many here...not me....don't drive at night...if you follow that advice then why do you need the lights?...besides the cool factor :cool:

Thanks for taking the time to illustrate...

[Edited on 6-28-2009 by Bajaboy]

NOT for HIGHWAY DRIVING... for fun driving around the desert at night, here in the USA or in Baja. Also for off pavement driving to your camp site, if after dark. You see a whole different place at night... when the desert comes alive!

BAJABAILADOR - 6-28-2009 at 07:04 AM

David,What happen to the chinito HID's?
I run 3 of those Hellas on my truck,two driving with one pencil in the middle.They have worked out great,wish I had HIDs though.
RICK

rpleger - 6-28-2009 at 07:38 AM

Thanks ... very informative....

Curt63 - 6-28-2009 at 08:23 AM

Good post

I like the dirty version better!

Bob H - 6-28-2009 at 08:33 AM

NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo.... yet another thread on LIGHTS! This is killing me!... Bob H

David K - 6-28-2009 at 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BAJABAILADOR
David,What happen to the chinito HID's?
I run 3 of those Hellas on my truck,two driving with one pencil in the middle.They have worked out great,wish I had HIDs though.
RICK

See my thread called 'Cheap HIDs'... as I posted as soon as we got back from our New Years Baja trip (Finding a lost mission), I posted that the Gonzaga Bay and Las Animas Bay roads did them in... the plastic (ABS) housing cracked on both of them... they are not 'Baja Proven'!

Josh fixed them with fiberglass... but last weekend he really surprised me with these Hella metal lamps!

I am researching HID conversions for these Hellas with H1 bulbs... I WILL let everyone here know what I find out or get!

bajalou - 6-28-2009 at 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajaboy
So DK-according to so many here...not me....don't drive at night...if you follow that advice then why do you need the lights?...besides the cool factor :cool:

Thanks for taking the time to illustrate...

[Edited on 6-28-2009 by Bajaboy]

If you've ever had a friend come walking to your place sometime after dark telling you that his wife, dog and vehicle are 25 miles out in the desert up a sand wash and he needs help, you'll know why some of us put on GOOD lighting.

David K - 6-28-2009 at 10:18 AM

Yah, I gotta be doing something when I am in Baja... sitting around the campfire drinking beer is okay for a while, but when you can turn the night into day and go four wheeling... well sir, that's living life to the max! :lol:

Ken Cooke - 6-28-2009 at 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Yah, I gotta be doing something when I am in Baja... sitting around the campfire drinking beer is okay for a while, but when you can turn the night into day and go four wheeling... well sir, that's living life to the max! :lol:

I like having dinner early at Mission Santa Maria, and then, 4 wheeling by moonlight with the lights all lit up, doing the technical rock crawls in the darkness. That's my idea of entertainment!!

David K - 6-28-2009 at 07:44 PM

Any photos Ken? Mision Santa Maria's walls lit up at night would be awesome! Maybe see some ghosts??

Paulina - 6-28-2009 at 08:20 PM

I kind of like trying to find places in the dark, then turning my lights on when I think I'm there to see if I made it.

I've tried it twice. Once from our place in Bahia to the cow grave yard and the other time to the Las Flores jail.

We made it both times.

Just for fun.

P<*)))>{

Good times...

Ken Cooke - 6-28-2009 at 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Any photos Ken? Mision Santa Maria's walls lit up at night would be awesome! Maybe see some ghosts??

Hardcore Jeeping in Bahia de los Angeles.LOL

Extreme 4 wheeling in El Rosario!!LOOK OUT!

The "Neal Johns" Pole Line Road!! :bounce:

"We Came To 'Wheel!!"

Isaias - Nomad CG's Brother-in-law in Canyon Enmedio

Bill Cue of JustRuns 4WD Club in Basketball Canyon.

Basketball Canyon

Parque Constitucion pictured from the San Felipe Desert.

Pacifico - 6-28-2009 at 10:58 PM

David,
I have 4 of the 4000's and 4 of the 4000 compacts on my car. All have been converted to HID with conversion kits off of E-Bay. As you know, they are awesome! The kits are fairly cheap for converting them - they are usually like $25 with $50 shipping. I guess they gotta make their money somewhere! These kits are good for 2 lights. By converting them yourself versus buying a HID Hella 4000, you save hundreds of dollars! I've had no problems with them yet and no bad ballasts. One last thing - I recommend having 2 euros as well as 2 pencils beams. Try adding 2 euros David - they will really "fill" things in!
:bounce:

Taking a break in Calamajue.......

[Edited on 6-29-2009 by Pacifico]

David K - 6-29-2009 at 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacifico
David,
I have 4 of the 4000's and 4 of the 4000 compacts on my car. All have been converted to HID with conversion kits off of E-Bay. As you know, they are awesome! The kits are fairly cheap for converting them - they are usually like $25 with $50 shipping. I guess they gotta make their money somewhere! These kits are good for 2 lights. By converting them yourself versus buying a HID Hella 4000, you save hundreds of dollars! I've had no problems with them yet and no bad ballasts. One last thing - I recommend having 2 euros as well as 2 pencils beams. Try adding 2 euros David - they will really "fill" things in!
:bounce:

Taking a break in Calamajue.......

[Edited on 6-29-2009 by Pacifico]

Is there a brand name? I have been reading web info from 1Off Motorsports and Planet HID. Thank you!

Pacifico - 6-29-2009 at 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

Taking a break in Calamajue.......

[Edited on 6-29-2009 by Pacifico]

Is there a brand name? I have been reading web info from 1Off Motorsports and Planet HID. Thank you!

Mine were Xentec - here is the link to where I got mine:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/XENON-HID-HEAD-LIGHT-CONVERSI...

Very happy with their fast shipping! By the way, the Hella 4000's need the H1 bulb. As far as the color temperature - I thought that mine were 5000K. I see that they are offering 4300K and 6000K, and up. If you go too high, then the light gets bluish or purple and not the bright white. I would go with the 4300K or 6000K.....

David K - 6-29-2009 at 10:03 AM

Hi Pacifico.. thank you very much for the link... Tell me please how they are installed... I have Hella 4000 metals. Does the HID bulb just clip in? Where does the ballast go?

tripledigitken - 6-29-2009 at 10:17 AM

Very good suggestion to have both pencil and wide beam.

Pacifico - 6-29-2009 at 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
Hi Pacifico.. thank you very much for the link... Tell me please how they are installed... I have Hella 4000 metals. Does the HID bulb just clip in? Where does the ballast go?

The bulbs are the easy part - take out the old ones and the new HID bulbs slide in and are held in place by a wire clip. You then need to drill a hole in the back of the light housing where the wires will come out to the ballast. I think I drilled a 1/2" hole and then filed it out bigger to about 5/8" for the rubber grommet. This may vary depending upon the grommet size that comes with your kit. Then you need to mount the ballast box. Buy the weld on brackets and weld them to your new bumper that you had made! (You will have to get your bumper re-chromed / powder-coated again!) Then the lights plug into the ballast and you need to connect your positive and negative wires. If you get the weld on brackets, you may as well weld on 4 since you will have to re-finish your bumper - you'll be glad you welded on 4 and not 2 when you add more lights! Just use the lights to check your spacing to make sure there is enough room... Here is a link to the brackets - there are several kinds:
http://www.kartek.com/Product/Fabrication/HIDTabs.html
The one shown in the picture is a combo for the light and ballast box. They also sell just the light tabs and ballast box mounts separate. I used 2 of the mounts that hold 2 ballast boxes together. I like that new combo mount though!
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!

Lee - 6-29-2009 at 11:59 AM

David, anyone,

Did you change the headlights and fog lamps? Maybe I missed that.

David K - 6-29-2009 at 03:28 PM

No Lee... the stock Toyota headlights are very good... the stock fog lights also offer up-close wide lighting for corners...

The purpose of the additional lighting is to add HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE (HID/Xenon) lights to give total 'daylight' to the area in front of my truck for OFF HIGHWAY driving. When the Kragen/ Chinese made HID plastic housing cracked after several miles on the road to Gonzaga last January... I knew being 'cheap' was the wrong avenue to take... But, I couldn't resist as HID lights are usually $400 or more.

Now, I have metal housing Hella halogen lights which put bright light way out in front of my truck... as my photos show, above.

I am investigating converting the 100 watt H1 halogen bulb to a 35 watt HID bulb, that produces more light (~150 watts worth) at closer to true daytime color (5,000 K) for 1/3 the power.

David K - 6-29-2009 at 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacifico

Quote:

Thank you for those details! I am not going to weld onto the light bar and have it re-chromed... So, that may eliminate the really cheap eBay bulbs. One of the other companies has what looks like tiny ballast that may not need to get welded... so I will check.

Drilling a hole in the lamp isn't something I would want to do, either... But, That may be a necessary evil?

Thank you very much Pacifico!!!

tripledigitken - 6-29-2009 at 03:57 PM

Pacifico,

Why couldn't the ballasts be installed in the engine compartment are other location further away than the light support bar? I have HID's mounted on my motorcycle and there wasn't any requirement for them to be right next to the lights. I just ran the wire back and mounted the ballasts under the seat, out of sight.

Ken

David K - 6-29-2009 at 04:01 PM

Thanks for asking that Ken!

Pacifico - 6-29-2009 at 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
Pacifico,

Why couldn't the ballasts be installed in the engine compartment are other location further away than the light support bar? I have HID's mounted on my motorcycle and there wasn't any requirement for them to be right next to the lights. I just ran the wire back and mounted the ballasts under the seat, out of sight.

Ken

This was something that I looked into when I did my lights. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but everything that I read advised to not cut the wires and extend them. Some people said that they ran into trouble trying to extend them. If I remember right, Hella even advised to not cut the wires and extend them. I'm no expert on the subject by any means. I think that is a great idea to hide the ballasts if you can. I would be interested to know what happens if you extend them - please post if you do!

There are also several manufacturers that have the lights with internal ballasts. These are really cool and save space. However, I am trying to stick with talking about converting Hella 4000's versus buying new lights (in David's case).

TMW - 6-30-2009 at 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacifico

Quote:

I would guess the reason Hella advised not extending the wires was due to the added voltage drop that would occur. However if it were a problem use larger wire size.

tripledigitken - 6-30-2009 at 09:39 AM

Pacifico,

My installation didn't require me lengthening the connection to the ballasts. Can't address the issue of voltage drop, etc.

The internal ballast units are now available for motorcyle installations as well. Very nice looking units. I would have definitely gone that route as my installation with the remotes was a PITA.

Worth the trouble for the extra light though!

Ken

Baja12valve - 6-30-2009 at 01:47 PM

I run and have been running airplane landing lights for years. 250 watts each @ 13 volts . Obscene amounts of draw, but obscene amount of light.

Pacifico - 6-30-2009 at 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Baja12valve
I run and have been running airplane landing lights for years. 250 watts each @ 13 volts . Obscene amounts of draw, but obscene amount of light.

Obscene amounts of draw for sure!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the formula is: Watts divided by volts = amps.

So, here are a few examples of amps pulled:
100 watt Hella /12 volts = 8.33 amps.
250 watt aircraft landing light / 13 volts = 19.23 amps.
35 watt HID / 12 volts = 2.91 amps.

The HIDs are much easier on your electrical system. It would be interesting to compare lumens and see what is the brightest. The bright white light of the HIDs is hard to beat. After using HIDs, everything else looks yellow...

Pacifico - 6-30-2009 at 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken
Pacifico,

My installation didn't require me lengthening the connection to the ballasts. Can't address the issue of voltage drop, etc.

The internal ballast units are now available for motorcyle installations as well. Very nice looking units. I would have definitely gone that route as my installation with the remotes was a PITA.

Worth the trouble for the extra light though!

Ken

Ken,
Yours must have come with long wires on them? A lot of the kits come with like 12" - 15" of a pre-made wire harness. The internal ballasts are the ticket (if you have the cash)!!!

bajalou - 6-30-2009 at 09:18 PM

I went out last inght for a little while.

Here is headlight - high beam

And headlight and one 35w HID

Baja12valve - 7-1-2009 at 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pacifico

Obscene amounts of draw for sure!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the formula is: Watts divided by volts = amps.

So, here are a few examples of amps pulled:
100 watt Hella /12 volts = 8.33 amps.
250 watt aircraft landing light / 13 volts = 19.23 amps.
35 watt HID / 12 volts = 2.91 amps.

The HIDs are much easier on your electrical system. It would be interesting to compare lumens and see what is the brightest. The bright white light of the HIDs is hard to beat. After using HIDs, everything else looks yellow...

You are right, the draw is big, but I have a 150 amp alternator and it seems to handle the load well. I have had them installed against the old style 500,000 candlepower pencil beam lights, each, and they overrode them so strong you couldn't tell if they were on or off. I promise you, these things are one step away from lethal. I have put them on every 4x4 I have owned, never any problems.

Barry A. - 7-1-2009 at 09:38 PM

40 years ago we were running "aircraft landing lights" on our off-road vehicles, and never had a problem. They were flat beams that really lit up the night. You did not want to run them when you wern't moving pretty good tho------got realy hot, and would drain your battery quickly when just idleing the engine.

Barry

bajalou - 7-1-2009 at 10:36 PM

That's one of the reasons I like the HIDs. I can turn the motor off and can't see any drop in light.

David K - 7-2-2009 at 07:29 AM

HIDs are also cool to the touch... The 100 watt halogens are HOT...