hi, just wired in a set of hella 500's and only one comes on! yes, the bulb is good and i'm getting juice on the hot wire to the lamp.

the switch has 3 terminals and i only connected the yellow wire that goes to the relay and the green that i spliced to the low beam. do i need to connect a ground to the switch, would that cause only one lamp to come on?

its the passanger one that comes on btw if it matters. i just don't get it.... i did a search but could not find anything, thanks.

 

sounds like the ground is bad to check run it right to the battery and double check your wiring http://www.4runners.org/image/hella5...auxfusebox.jpg

 

definitely check the ground. See if the other lamp can run off of that ground. if not then it is most likely the wire connections inside the lamp.

 

both lamps are grounded to the same spot and i did check inside the lamp and all looks good.

 

I would try swapping the lights or at least the bulb to see if the problem follows the light itself. It is also possible, though unlikely, that if your ground is bad that the one light could be grounding through the circuit and not the ground, this would depend on exactly how you have it wired though. I would also triple check all the connections, wiring trailers I have seen some crazy stuff that seemed to take forever to figure out but was so simple and basic I just had to walk away shaking my head.

 

bulb? sounds dumb, but the bulb may have blown or the filament may have broken from anything. Also you do have the blue wire to the lamp and the black wire to the bulb.?

 

I would switch the bulbs around to double check them.
and clean the ground contacts.

lighting is easy there are only 2 wires going the the bulb it is on or the other

 

oh i know! it prolly is a super simple 2 second fix!
i did swap in a known good bulb, that was the first thing i thought of. so i know its Not the bulb. yes, the blue is ground and the black is hot. pretty simple and clean in there, two wires, lights are brand new.

maybe i just hav a bad ground? i'll try to find a new ground...........

now about the switch, there are 3 terminals on it, i only have the green and yellow wire going to it. should i attach a ground to the third terminal? will that make a diff?

also, if i take the green wire and connect it to the battery vs. a low or high beam wire will that be ok? or will that be bypassing the relay or be dangerous in any way?

 

if i recall correctly, that green wire activates the relay to act as a stock safety feature. it should be tapped into your high-beams so you can only use your lights when you really need them, aka when your high-beams are on. now if youre like me and want to be able to use them any time, you can just find any other hot wire and splice into that. i chose to splice into a hot wire from one of my auxiliary jacks (cigarette lighters) so that the relay wont be getting power when the vehicle is off.

 

The lights should be wired in parallel, so if one is getting power (from the relay) the other one should be as well. Try checking the voltage at both lights and see if there is a difference between the two. And try applying power directly to the hot lead of the light that does not work and see if it works that way or not. If it does, there is a problem in the wiring between the relay and light, if it doesn't work, there is a problem inside the lamp, perhaps one of the internal connections or socket is bad.

 

thanks for all the help guys..........got home and went to work on it.
found out that then not even one came on. great. fuse was blown. why? i don't know. i dug around, changed the grounds, blew a few more fuses the took the lights apart and i think the two wires inside the lights were touching because once i moved them around things are fine. both lights light up and all is good. the ammount of light and brightness is ok, way better then just the headlights thats for sure but guess not as good as i expected? i don't know. drove around the city with them on and didn't get flashed even once, which i guess is good since i plan on using them on the freeways, back roads, etc (with no traffic or very light traffic) during the winter/fog/rain season.
oh the switch doesn't light up but oh well, details.

 

Check the voltage at the lamps under load. If if it not within 1/2 volt of the battery, you may still have some wiring issues or if no relay is in the system, add one:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...ryBeforeYouBuy

On the switch light, you likely need to add the 3rd wire for it. Typically those switches have 3 terminals, one for power (+12 volts), one for the load (or relay) and a 3rd one is a ground wire for the internal illumination. When the switch is turned on, power goes out the load contact to turn on the lights (or relay) and it also send power to the internal light, which needs the ground connection to complete the circuit.

 

thanks i'll check that. i do have a relay in the system.
i've noticed the switch has three terminals but i only have two wires (the yellow and green) going to it...........am i missing a wire there?

 

I think one should be for a light in the switch? Ground I think? Could be wrong.

 

you are correct the 3rd post on the switch is for the light in the switch and it is a ground that you should use.

usually if you don't have a relay hooked up and you have the switch grounded it will burn out the light in the switch real fast.

 

...or the switch itself, there is a reason for the relay.

 

no, no............i DO have the relay, always had. just the switch has one terminal with out a wire and does not light up.

 

If it is the swich that came with the lights it should be a lighted switch and should be marked on the back, I think something like - Earth - Load - Supply. THis is not the problem if one comes on though as the relay must be energized for any power to be sent to the lights.
If you have swaped bulbs and the problem did not follow then it almost has to be wiring.

PM if still having problems as I just completed the same instal on our project.

 

i still haven't had time to play with it and get the switch to light up.....went surfing instead.

but, when i get a chance this week i'll ground the third terminal on the switch and let you know how that works. what should i ground it to? just anything handly near by?