Hella 500 Wiring Problem

Yesterday I tried wiring up my hellas that i had converted to hid. They worked fine when I tested them just after converting. When I wired them into the truck they don't seem to be getting power. I've checked the connections countless times and cant find a problem, but there is obviously a big one. Any ideas?

 

How did you wire it? One wire for ground (to frame), and one power wire going to ballast?

Did you touch the ballast wire to the battery to see if it turns on before wiring to your truck?

 

I followed this guide exactly http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/li...nversion-mount-behind-satoshi-how-w-pics.html
at first the light on the switch lit up (otrattw switch) but it hasnt come back on. the power to the switch comes directly from the battery so i dont know why thats not getting power

 

yes, one from relay to ground, one from relay to ballasts, one from relay to switch, one from relay to battery. switch has direct power from battery, ground, and wire to relay. yes, the lights worked fine before wiring to the truck.

 

an assumption.

 

Is there an in-line fuse somewhere in there?

Also, what's triggering your relay?

Lastly, I wouldn't have wired direct battery power through the switch. That could be your problem, you might have overloaded the switch. Did it get hot, any terminals melted?

If you could put up a sketch of your wiring diagram, it would be helpful. As Brock said, using a test light to find out where you do and don't have power would help you out tremendously also. Test lights are cheap and available at any auto parts store.

 

I had the same problem when I converted my hellas to hid's. The converted hellas worked when I tested them (power straight from the battery), and the old wiring of my non-converted hellas worked. So it turned out that I was just getting a short that kept blowing fuses. Lilke said above check all ur grounds, make sure your connections aren't shorting (my 'butt connectors' were shorting-fixed after soldering them). Make sure your relay is not faulty.

Post up some diagrams btw may help to see what's up.

 

there are in-line fuses going from relay->battery and the battery->switch. The switch is fine, nothing melted or even got hot. ill get a sketch up in a bit

 

sorry if its blurry, dont have a scanner so its from my iphone. if it means anything (i dont think it should) i took a chunk out of the middle and reattached the ends between relay->battery and relay->lights because they were incredibly too long.

 

It looks like your wiring diagram is sound, so it's time to check and recheck all your connections and fuses.

Make sure your relay is rated for the correct amount of power, make sure nothing is crossed, connections are secure, wires are plugged into the relay in the correct spot, etc. Once again, a test light would help you determine where you actually have and don't have power.

Just a suggestion, there's nothing technically incorrect about your wiring diagram, but if you tap off of an existing circuit that's only hot when the truck is on, you can run that to the switch (leave out the in-line fuse because that base circuit is fuse protected). That way, you can't accidently leave the lights on, they'll shut off automatically when the truck is off.

 

the relay is from the wiring kit that came with the hellas and all the wires going into the relay were already plugged in when i got it, the hids are 55 watt so its the same as the hellas would be normally. i dont think ill have a problem leaving them on, kind of hard to forget something thats so bright so ill probably leave the inline. time to check everything again

 

also i noticed that the switch isnt lighting up, it has the direct power from the battery. and also im using these connectors http://image.moparmusclemagazine.co..._z+crimp_style_electrical_connector+wires.jpg maybe the wires arent getting a good connection? would these be better? http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/media/72h-outlined.jpg

 

Think your best bet would be getting a soldering iron kit. They are like 20 bucks are give you the best connections. Not hard to learn either

 

Maybe pick one of these up to check your grounds.

 

VV

Soldering and heat shrinking your connections will give you the best connection. If you're set on using those crimp on connectors, at least heat shrink the connection if they're going to be exposed to the elements.

You really need some way to check if power is getting through your circuitry. I would recommend getting yourself a test light. If you aren't even lighting up the switch, either the fuse is blown, the ground is bad, the connections are bad or you fried the switch.

 

so i went through everything and replaced all the connections with the cap kind. found a blown fuse in the green wire (battery->switch) and then found that the relay was shot. used some extra wire to connect the battery wire that goes into the relay to the wire from relay to lights. everything works perfectly, just need a new relay. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Glad you got it figured out. Enjoy the lights!

 

one more quick question about the switch: i have it so it works fine but the light stays on constantly, can i make it so that the light is only on when the lights are turned on?

 

Switch the wires on the switch. Keep the ground as ground, but switch the input and output wires and that should do it I believe.

 

Thanks! Everything works perfectly! Pics up sometime tomorrow on my build page. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/221697-wildcattacos-build.html