Hella 7" Conversion Lights with Relay and Xenon Upgrade

[78 Chevyrado]

Since I put my driving lights on, the old silver-star sealed beams looked kinda lame from the outside and inside of the truck.

I went today and bought the Hella "Vision Plus" DOT 7" conversion light.  They're Hella PN#002395301 and sold individually.  They DO come with a stock type halogen HB2 bulb included, but I wanted to go Xenon, so I did. I bought the Xenon HB2 Bulbs for the headlights, and also bought a pair of Xenon H3 bulbs for the Driving lights.  Might as well do it all...lol

Here's what I started with:



Opening up the Boxes, here's what the New Lenses look like up close.  They Felt Good in my hands and I notice that the glass has WAY less texture than the sealed beams has, making them a lot clearer.  They just look GOOD.



The dust seal really makes it look clean and neat.





The lens itself is a lot flatter than the old sealed beams.  I have a comparison farther down the page.



Here's the new Lenses with the Xenon Bulbs swapped in.





And Here's the Driving Lights

Stock Bulb


Xenon Bulb

[78 Chevyrado]

Here's the comparison Between the shape of the two lights.  




Here's the installed comparison.

Hella

Sealed Beam


Hella

Sealed Beam


Here's how they look installed from the backside.  


Nothing on the truck had to be changed whatsoever.  The old headlight connector goes right on there and the procedure is exactly the same as if you installed another sealed beam.

The dust boot on the back of the headlight fit the hole in the core support perfectly, just like it was made for my truck.  Looks neater too.


Here they are all installed





Here they are lit up in the daylight.
This is the low beams



Here's the high beams with the driving light on too.  The light coming from all four lights matches in color and brightness.




So far I'm very happy with the fit and finish of these lights.  They fit the headlight buckets and retainer ring actually a little tighter then the sealed beams.  The old lights didn't vibrate, but I could move them if I wanted to.


I haven't put the relay upgrade on the headlights yet, but I have the stuff for it.  I may do that tomorrow.  I want to see how they are without it first.

[78 Chevyrado]

Here's the night time pics I have so far.   I have all the lights aimed pretty good right now.  I can see a lot farther and I can't see the faces of any oncoming drivers so I'm getting there.  I think I may raise them a tad more.  Between the high beams and the driving lights, I'm very happy.   I actually feel safer driving at night (deer).

I'll tell ya now these pics are crappy.  I took em with the camera, but its SO automatic, you can't change certain setting on your own.  

Here's the basic Beam Pattern on a wall.  It has a LOT better upper-beam cut off than the old lights did.  My old ones kinds looked like smudges, with no real cut off, just a fizzle..lol



-----------------------

Various pics with the lights at different settings.

In the woods

Low Beams


High Beams


High Beams with Driving Lights


-----------------------

In the garage

Low Beams


High Beams


High Beams with Driving Lights



I also LOVE that the high beams aren't way off in useless out-space.  On my old ones, the high beams weren't that good because of how they were aimed.  When I had the low-beams where I wanted them, the highs were like twice as high as they should have been and way off to the left.  I hated that.

I like them so far.  We'll see when the relays are all done up.

I'll add a few pics after the relays are done here.

[Layne]

Kenny, You think I can do this to my truck? Meaning, do I need a relay or to upgrade my stock light wiring? Looks real good!

[78 Chevyrado]

The bulbs for the hella headlights are 60w/55w, weather halogen or Xenon.  Stock is 55w/55w I think, so the low beams would be 5W over.  I'd venture to guess it would work with no relays over time, if all the wiring and connections are good.  It would be harder on the headlight switch for sure though.

  After seeing my fog lights on a relay compared to the headlights with no relay, They do need a relay.  They're awesome as is, but I want the most I can have...

[Grim 82]

NICE! You will love it even more when you run them off relays. I put a relay kit on my 82 w/ quad lights and it was one of the best upgrades I've done to the truck.

[beastie_3]

I have the same headlights, but with PIAA bulbs. So much better than stock, I installed the relay kit as well. I think that is a must have, regardless of what headlights anyone runs.

[78 Chevyrado]

I got the relay harness made up today.  Big difference.  I'm totally happy now!  

Here's the new stuff.  I just made it myself, Cost me about $20 all together.  I also didn't drill the hole to mout the relays, it was pre existing.  Don't mind the way it looks now, I ordered some of that wire loom stuff like the rest of the harness is covered with, I just didnt know what sizes to get until I was all done.  So before too long it'll look nice and neat and covered up.


Here's the wire Loom I ordered.  If the stuff is Quality, It's a GREAT deal!  6 sizes, 25ft. long each size, sizes are - 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 1".  all for like $33.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380257008985&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_3609wt_1039


Heres a couple of VS pics.

With Xenon Bulbs, but without the relay upgrade.  Notice the fog lights are whiter and brighter even though they all have the same bulb in them.



Here's now with the Xenon lights and relay upgrade.  Notice the headlights are the same color and brightness as the fog lights.  They're Bright now!  



More pics of the light beam Shape with the Relay Upgrade
Lows

High with Driving Lights



I also got a deal on these silverstar 1156 Bulbs for my backup lights.  They really made a difference!  I can see out the back window at night now.  I had been having some trouble because of the window tint, but these bout make up for it.  I recommend them!  Just look for a deal on them on ebay.  They're $20 a pair in the store, but I got my pair for $8 or so off Ebay.   Sorry for the crappy pics, just compare the backup lights to the color and brightness of the tag light, the old bulbs were real close to the tags lights brightness.




I been trying to think up a way to light things up in the rear for messing with the trailer, without having to leave the truck in reverse or mount a big light under the bumper.  I think I might put in a switch so I can turn the backup lights on independently.  And I'll use a switch that lights up real bright so I don't accidentally leave them on.

[bake74]

     looks great, thanks for posting so everyone can see the difference.

[beastie_3]

Looks good! I have a switch going to some aftermarket reverse lights that have h3 bulbs.

[cvbear]

Where did you mount the switch for the driving lights?  Do you have a pic of the switch?

[78 Chevyrado]

I don't have a pic, but I drilled a 1/2" hole in the lower dash to the left of the steering column.  Its about the same height as the parking brake release.

[bobcooter]

That's really slick. What exactly does the headlight relay do? Does it supply a little more juice or does it allow you to run the high and low beams together?

[beastie_3]

The power goes straight to the lights instead of going through the switch, then to the lights. Could melt the stock wires with upgraded headlights. It is still an improvement for stock headlights too.

[Jim Rockford]

Yea the stock headlight switch and wiring is a big resistance in the system, Relays work great even with stock bulbs. Far as the hella headlights, They rock I have installed em in just about everything I have owned with sealed beams.