Hella 500 Issue

Hello all,
I have 3 Hella 500 driving lights installed on my Avid light bar that were working fine until today. I don't use them much, so I periodically test if they still function correctly.

So, today I was installing some new door speakers & after I flipped the light switch out of habit. All the lights came on as usual. I started fiddling with my stereo for awhile & forgot to turn them off.

Well, I have been putting off changing the crappy Hella switch to an OEM fog light switch for months, & I decided to do it today. However, before starting the swap I looked at the switch & it was on, but the lights were off.

Toggling the switch did nothing. I checked all the wiring & fuses, but i did not see any exposed wire or blown fuses. I can hear the relay clicking when I flip the switch, but still get nothing from the lights. I completed the switch change witht the same results; clicking relay with no lights. Any ideas?

 

Swap out the fuse even if it looks OK.

 

I had a problem with mine aswell......turns out that the wire that sends power to the lights was disconnected.....the switch itself was still recieving power though, so it would light up with no light being turned on

 

The inline fuse on the power wire did have a little melted solder stuck to the side even though the fuse looked intact. I'll change it tomorrow morning. Thanks.

 

Let us know what you find.

 

I have a question. I am going to change the light switch to OEM. any where i can find the wiring diagram for it? Please help.

 

Changing the fuse did not have any effect. Any other possibilities? I don't really want to remove everything to go over it with a fine toothed comb. Maybe if they were light force or piaa.

 

Check your switch with a volt meter and see if it's even passing voltage when toggeled. Rule that out.

 

The switch seems to work fine. I can hear the relay tripping when I flip the switch.

 

Well, I finally had time to go through the wiring & fix the problem. All the wires looked fine & everything tested ok until I got to the battery power wire. It looked fine on the outside, so I replaced the inline fuse connection, but still nothing. To get the lights on again I just replaced the power wire & used the new fuse. It seems that the wire broke somewhere inside the insulation. Weird because there were no hard bends & plenty of slack.

 

Yep those fuse holders are only stout enough to handle two lights, anything more than that and the fuse holder will melt and not make contact on the fuse. I beat my head against a wall about this too. Installed a fuse/fuse holder for each pair and it has been fine since.

 

Well shit. Should I replace the power wire with 12 gauge to match the new inline fuse?

 

I would assume increasing the gauge would allow you to run one fuse, however I haven't tried any of that.

Edit: if you try it, make sure you are doing the ground as well.

 

Can you check the switch?
What kind of switch you use?
I have seen the switch melt down internal.

 

Dude, I think you missed a few posts.