Anybody use these yet?

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.p...sion-headlamp/

 

I installed a very similar kit in my '76 a few years ago.

I had a couple of sealed beam units with short life spans and decided to upgrade all four units.

It required some material removing from the back of the light pods for clearance of the wires and lamp harness, but nothing drastic.

I also found that when on full beam the overload device activated. So I upgraded to relays for the headlamps, which is a good move anyway as it drops the current that normally has to flow through the dash switch assembly.

Depending on the lamps you use, visibility will probably be improved.
I have pretty basic lamps at standard 55W but still noticed a difference.

I would recommend this if you want a stock looking set up but with improved maintenance ease and better performance.

 

I have used Hella Euro Halogens on my C3 since 1983 (still on car looking brand new)...all 4 lights. Mine are the true European lead Chrystal lense lights from back then that were illegal in the US and I am not sure if the Vision plus versions are exactly the same...they look similar with the Z beam cutoff in the lense designed not to blind on coming traffic.

I have 55/60 watt lows and 100 watt high beams (the highs are on a relay to remove the current draw from the headlight switch)...they are very bright when all 4 are on (blinding/portable daylight). i did not have to modify the headlight buckets for them to fit but the highs do not fit exactly like the sealed high beam headlight since they stick out very slightly from the bucket...I just did not fully tighten the chrome bezel around the high beam light with the screws....no problem all these years later.

I would strongly suggest LED bulbs today which are 3X brighter than a halogen, take only 30 watts, run very cool, and offer very white intense light. i just installed my first LED high beam bulbs on my 2008 Chrysler 300 which uses the high beam as a DRL and these bulbs are incredible(I have HID lows on the Chrysler and the LED highs make the HID's look weak). Buy good quality LEDS (mine were $90/pair) but I needed CANBUS compatible and anti flicker technology for the Chrysler which uses the Mercedes electrical type system. You should not have any issues with beam scatter with the hella lense since the lense should control the beam pattern suffficiently since the lense on the hella's is precisely designed for this purpose. If you use halogen bulbs, they will be terrific as well. The Hella Halogens will be a BIG upgrade over sealed beams either way. Don't buy cheap crap lenses since the lense is the most important element in headlight optic design. The only reason I continue to use halogen bulbs on the C3 is that I do not drive the car very much at night...rarely.

I am in the process of converting all my DD cars that do not have HID's all ready to LEDS:

2010 C6Z06 fog light
2012 Lexus IS350 F Sport-High beams and Foglights

Hope that helps!

 

I'm going to do the relay bypass thing. No issue there.
Just wondering about headlight upgrades that require no cutting/hacking.

 

Yes it does.

 

you should not have to do any major hacking/cutting with the Hellas...maybe minor trimming...very minor

 

Just have to do the high beams-And the material is potmetal - so it's easy to trim up.

I did it nice and neat w/ a holesaw-





This is all that's needed to be removed-

 

when i did the conversion back in 1983, I did not want to touch the OEM high beam bucket if I could avoid it...which is why I described how the High beam Hellas fit on my C3 with zero modification...As Richard says though, any trimming if you so choose is easy and minor.

 

I'd like led lights but haven't seen any that replace the 5 in bulbs. But I have the halogen lights and I highly recommend the Daniel Stern wiring system, well worth the efffort.

 

The LED bulb technology has really accelerated in the last 6 months. I was not thrilled until recently with most of the offerings but after extensive research and searching, I hit upon the High beam LED's for my 300 that are really something...superior to the halogen 65watt high beam bulb. After th e install of these LED's, I bought multiple sets for my other cars as I described above. I think Halogens days are numbered if the technology continues at the current pace.......

 

Not trying to hijack the thread Big2Bird. Have you looked at these? Any problems with this setup?

http://www.speeddirect.com/index.php...mance-lighting

 

I had not seen that. I have the stuff to make my own harness for free.
As for their lamps, I don't know.
They say they will melt the stock harness, so that's out for me.

 

Buy the Hella lights separately, with or without halogen bulbs, and with your own wiring with relay for the high beams only, you should be able to do the whole conversion for about $200 for 4 lights. My relay is only on the high beams, the low beams are on the stock wiring and headlight switch.....on the car since 1983 with no issues.

 

Interesting approach. I'm waiting on my Dan Stern kit now and thought about doing it this way just to simplify this mod. Glad to know if I do go this route someone else has done it with success.

 

Jw speaker do a high / low LED, it's the best 5.75" high/low light on the market. No high beam only option that I'm aware of yet though.

 

Yep- make your own!!!

I went w/ the 80/100w for the lows and 100w on the highs.- so I did add another relay.

Everything else on my car is LED-but still not sold on the headlights-yet...

Originally when I did the headlight conversion in the mid eighties- I got a hold of some Hella's that had the parking lights in them from a Euro conversion M-B. I didn't have to mod at all. However the ones I bought a few years ago - the back of the Hella was big!!!



Got some nice ceramic connectors- Made in the USA (on left China's finest)

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12GU (white/blue/black wire)



4GU from the starter power the "front" of the car- fans/electric headlight motor/lights /horns





I don't like the idea of ALL the lights shutting down at one- I fused each headlight and running real Bosch Relays

 

The stern stuff makes getting quality components easy and building the harness is a cake walk. If I can wire it just about anyone can.
i used 100watt aircraft lights, the don't have a high hour rating and I rarely need them but when I do they are instant daylight.
Still when a good 4 light system comes out I will look into it. But I'm not giving up much believe me.

 

Cibie H1/H4 headlights, Osram 70/65 watt Bilux H4 bulbs and Narva 55 watt Range Power 50 H1 bulbs

Daniel Stern Lighting Headlamp Relay Installation Kit

 

Hey Kid. Long time, eh?

How do you like that set up? Any drastic cutting involved? DOT approved?

 

How about no for using LED bulbs for the headlights. This has been discussed ad nauseam.