Replaced my 55w spotlight halogens with 100 watt ones today. It's nearly dark her, so i'm goin' out to try them now. Gonna put a roof rack up soon with four spots on also. You can never have enough lights!

 

I have a pair of Hella's mounted to my front bumper, and a few weeks back I swapped out the 55 watt bulbs for 100 watt hoping for better performance. I found that they really didn't give off that much more light, but the power draw is really bad. Next I'm gonna try some 100 watt Xenon bulbs. Supposedly they give off a lot more light and run cooler, so I don't have to worry about peeling the paint off my bumper when I'm parked. Hopefully you have better luck than I did with light output.

 

MNBOY, I was thinking about doing the same thing to my Hella 500s.
Is that what you have?

The 100 watt Xenon bulbs, are you going to try them in the Hella housings too?

Please let us know if they perform any better.

 

Sounds like a need for a wiring harness/relay upgrade. Go here

 

Yeah mnboy, i had pretty much the same result last night. THey are about 10% brighter but take longer to come on and off. Only a split second longer but it;s noticeable to me. May try the xenoon bulbs too. Have xenon replacement bulbs in the headlights and they're brill!

 

I'm not sure what model of Hella I have, they were bought new but second hand without boxes. I think they are the 500 series. I'll let you know as soon as I receive the Xenon bulbs and try them out.

 

From looking at your avatar, I'd say you have the 550s.

I ran those on my '90 truck I use to have.

The 500s are round like mine.
Basicaly the same lamp, only differently shaped.

 

I finally got the chance to install the 100 watt Xenon bulbs in my Hella lights today. I'm not sure the lights are all that much brighter, but the light is very white and does make a difference. There is still a large power draw but that is to be expected from 2 100 w bulbs. It seems like they are running cooler than the halogen bulbs also, which is good news for my plastic housings. I also did a headlight swap at the same time. New housings that will take a replaceable H4 bulb. I chose Xenon bulbs for these also, but went with a 55w/100w bulb hoping I don't forget to dim the high beams for oncoming cars. As a side note to any law enforcement people in my area that may happen to read this, I promise to only use my headlights in off road situations, just like it said in the instructions.

 

If you are not getting the full juice to your lights you are not getting the full out put. Check the wiring........heavier gauge and relays will get the needed power to the lamps.

 

The wiring is fine, and relays are only needed on high amperage applications where the switch can't handle the power draw. These lights draw less than 20 amps as a pair. I was stating my opinion, maybe not too clearly, that the hype and advertising (never believe ads) surrounding Xenon lighting had my hopes pretty high for these new lights. I think the 100w Xenon bulbs are a night and day difference (mind the pun) over the standard 55w halogen bulbs that came with my Hellas. With the 100w Hellas pointed toward the ground, and my 100w Xenon high beams out front I took a trip through the woods in back of my house tonight and seriously believe I could safely off-road at night with this setup. Now I just have to come up with a rear lighting setup that doesn't keep getting ripped off my bumper.