help installing my Hella 700FFs

[JonBishop]

so i got a set of Hella 700FF

so im jus looking at the install instrucktions.....

and the dont look very clear....

do i have to hook them up the high bean/fog light wires?
and if i i'd like to hook them up the fog lights if possible...

jus need alil guidance threw the wiring process:emb:

 

[alrock]

Couple of things. . . .

1) moving this to the general Hummer section as wiring is pretty universal. Tech Library is more of a How To instructional section vs. a How do I do it section?

2) So, are these lights that you are going to mount to a brushguard or something like that? Generally, you'll have an independent switch for these, in part as they are often not street legal so you don't want to tie them into a switch for use on the street.

 

[alrock]

This pic may help

Lights have a ground wire and a power wire
Relays manage power, as a Switch cannot take the high amperage required to power lights. Relays have four wires

1. Ground wire to chassis (#85)
2. 12V power wire to battery (#30)
3. 12V power wire from switch (#86)
4. 12V power wire to light (#87)

Switches connect/disconnect power and have three wires

1. Ground wire to chassis
2. 12V incoming power wire. This can be from battery, from a switched source (like windows), from an always on source (like 12V accessory sockets)
3. 12V outgoing power wire to switch

Switch
First, find a place for your switch (and find a switch). Many H3 owners use the blanks by the wiper control. Bigunit has the part # for the OEM switch.
Second, find a ground. I recommend running a wire to the firewall by the steering column. There are a few ground points in that area used by the factory
Third, find incoming power. I recommend tapping into the 12V accessory socket right next to where your switch will be

Relay
First, find a place to mount the relay. A good place is on the firewall inside the cab, using the studs in the firewall by the steering column
Second, run a ground. Use the same ground location as you used for the switch
Third, find power. You can't use the same power as you used for the switch as the lights draw a lot of current. I recommend buying an "Add A Fuse" at Auto Zone, putting it in an empty spot in the fuse box under the hood, and run the power back through the firewall to the relay
Fourth, run one power line to the front where the lights will be. You can then split that one line into two for the two lights

Lights
First, find a ground. You might run it back to where the fuse box is grounded
Second, use the power from the relay.

Firewall
I found it easier to drill a new hole in the firewall and run my wires through there. Be sure to drill a big enough hole to use a rubber grommet (pick it up at Ace Hardware) and seal the hole afterwards with RTV sealant. To gain better access to drilling for the firewall, remove the knee bolster.


Of course, I should ask - did these lights come with a wiring harness or do you need to start from scratch? What was included?

 

[JonBishop]

ooo no prob, didnt know, sorry.....

ya i plan on mounting to the brushgaurd i have, but im trying to figure out the wiring part..... i originally wanted to make them jus a switch to turn on/off even with the truck off an everything, is that possible?.... what the instructions are telling me i need to connect a wire to my high beams and when my high beams are on i can switch them on, only problem is with my HID kit my high beams arent working due to needing an aditional relay harness.... i jus want to see if theres a way to wire them up to the fog lights and still get the same power output?....

 

[alrock]

You should be able to use the fog light switch to also turn on these lights, but as stated before I think there's a significant disadvantage to that setup. Through the fusebox you have available both switched power and unswitched power, so you can have them turn off with the truck if you want or you can have them stay on even with no key in the ignition.

Since you do have a wiring harness that can make things easier, though I prefer just to do my own. BTW, you don't have to use their switch, or relay, or wiring, or you can use as much of it or as little of it as you want.

For some reason I'm now thinking it's not as easy as I just said to tie into the fogs, but maybe it is. Essentially, you would use the power wire to the fogs (or from the fog light switch) to be the power wire to your relay. You would tap into the power wire for the fogs and run it to the switch (#86). That way you don't have to worry about too much power going through the fog light wires, burning anything up or diminished power to the fog lights.

 

[alrock]

One disadvantage, from an AZ law perspective, is that you can only have four lights on the front of a vehicle. Two headlights, two driving or fog lights. Of course CA law might be a bit different but I suspect that if you had these on with headlights and fogs you might be asking for a ticket.

 

[JonBishop]

it came with everything needed for the whole install

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Lighting...s=448&t_pt=4242&t_pl=101941&t_pn=HLA010032801

^^^^ thats excatly what i have.

really you broke it down an made it seem alot easier for me... looks like ill be doing this on saturday
thank you alex:cheers:

 

[JonBishop]

so i think ill be running through the fusebox then, only reason i was thinking i needed to tie into the other light sources is because(me thinking stupid) my friend took his truck to a dealer an they installed his hella 500s and the only way to turn them on was to turn the highbeams on, then switch the hellas on with the switch that came with the lights.....
i didnt know i could jus have the power straight to the lights and not have to tie into anything else, so this is gonna be sweeetttt...

so i think i might be able to handle this project now....

one more quick question tho, how do i connect it to the fusebox?.... im really dumb with eletrical stuff im sorry hahaha

 

[JonBishop]

hold up, jus read the "add a fuse" from a auto parts store, and read the whole install run down too, i will be doing all of that i think i got it now!!! :woot:

thank you for the help alex:cheers:

 

[alrock]

If you really want to be slick, get this: http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...357844213&sr=8-2&keywords=blue+sea+fuse+block

This will make the wiring easier for this project and for future ones. I have this fuse block mounted on my firewall in the engine compartment. One power wire from the battery to this, and one ground wire from the chassis. All power and grounds for my accessories, including power and ground for relays, switches and components, run off this. Much easier to wire with something like this.

I waited until you "got" the rest of it before adding this twist. You can probably find this locally at a marine supply store if you're going to do it this weekend.

 

[JonBishop]

well i finally got around to puting my HID lights in my 700ff's.... was super easy, thought it was gonna be alil harder.... HID kit is a 55w 8000k

still havent installed them yet, will be soon tho, ill be doing a HID conversion on a pair of Hella Black Magic 1000's, i cant find any write ups on a 1000 HID conversion anywhere so ill have to figure it out, but itll be fun

 

[Fish]

One disadvantage, from an AZ law perspective, is that you can only have four lights on the front of a vehicle. Two headlights, two driving or fog lights. Of course CA law might be a bit different but I suspect that if you had these on with headlights and fogs you might be asking for a ticket.

When I had my H3 I had two off road lights on the brush guard. These lights had a low beam yellow fog light that wouldnt blind other drivers and a high beam off road light in each housing. I would use the low beam fog lights around town as "auxillary driving lights". I got pulled over once for what the cop said was using off road lights on the road, I explained to him about the dual bulbs in each and how I was using the low beams, he agreeed with me BUT there is a law here in CA that auxillary driving lights can only be mounted so high ( I forget the exact height) anything over that height is considered an off road light which you obviously cant use on the road. Mine were a couple inches too high...

 

[JonBishop]

I'm definatly not gonna use these around town, I don't wanna be known as the blinding man around town hahaha I'm jus gonna keep the covers on them and when it's dark out in the middle of nowhere or somewhere dark with no one around ill take off the covers and make daylight my overall plan is all 4(2-700FF,2-BM1000) on the brush guard then when I get my roof rack add 4 more 700FFs all HID converted

 

[JonBishop]

located all the spots on the brush guard still wating for my other HID set to convert the 1000s then ill get them wired up

 

[Expendable]

located all the spots on the brush guard still wating for my other HID set to convert the 1000s then ill get them wired up

you're not worried about restricting air flow into the engine bay?

 

[JonBishop]

ive thought about that, im thinking if i mount them alittle forward and i plan on doing a hood louver cut out and modifying the OEM louver for it..... open for suggestions on ways to make it flow better....

 

[Expendable]

quite honestly I don't know how well an H3's cooling system is. I've just read on various 4x4 sites/forums that some people have issues with lights blocking their grille.

I plan to put louvers on my crown victora. and plan to use these not sure how they will look on a Hummer but they look great on a crown vic.

http://www.hoodlouvers.com/

 

[JonBishop]

that is one sweet crown vic i must say.....

im trying to think if i mount a snorkel and do the hood louver mod it should give enough air flow, when i mounted the lights there i kinda kicked myself cuz right then i thought of the flow issue but im sure theres someother way to make it work.....

 

[Expendable]

I wish that Vic was mine. lol.

I would think that with a louver mod it would be cool enough but I honestly don't know. other thing to think about with louvers is when it rains. rain now has access to under the hood. is it going to hit any electronics, etc that can get damaged from water? also when you wash your Hummer.

another cool thing with louvers is not only does it help with cooling, it helps with aerodynamics. is it enough to make a noticable difference in term of aerodynamics? maybe, maybe not.