Hella 500 HELP!!!!

[Darton]

I've spent the day wiring up my Hella 500's and now I've got a problem. As far as I can tell everything is wired correctly. When I flip the switch the fuse in the 12v wire blows? Why? I have the lights grounded, the 12v to the battery, the ground from the relay grounded, and the other wire from the relay ran inside to the switch. The switch also has a ground. The third prong on the switch goes to the 12v source. The instructions say to run that wire to the headlights for 12v but I ran it to the same place I ran my cb power. Any 12v should work for this (I assume). But that wire has an inline fuse and it blowes as soon as it gets power. Is this a wiring prob or is the relay possiably bad?? Help please!!

 

[dyogim]

the 12v to the battery,

Make sure you have the leads connected properly. #30 lead to the power source fused, #85 - ground, #86 - switch, #87 to the lights. If everything is connected properly, check to see if there are any exposed lines that is touching metal. I had one of the lines to the lights exposed because it got pinched and kept blowing a fuse.

 

[Darton]

Would this happen also if the lights themselves wern't grounded good?

 

[dyogim]

Don't think so but, not 100% sure. From my experiece, if I didn't have a good ground, the lights wouldn't turn on. I think it's something else, something is causing the set-up to draw too much power. Hence, blowing the fuse.

 

[climber-420]

you have a short somewhere

 

[Darton]

I've checked and rechecked none of the wires are shorting out.

 

[davegonz]

Here's a simple diagram you can use to help verify your setup.

Your switch might be wired incorrectly.

 

[Darton]

ok here'swhat I got.
Black fron relay goes to lights for power
Blue from each light is grounded
Blue fron relay is grounded
red from relay goes to battery this has the 20a fuse that hasn't blown
yellow from relay goes to on/off switch top blade
green wire goes from middle blade of switch to 12v in fuse box (this wire has the fuse that keeps blowing 5 of em so far)
black ground on bottom blade of switch goes to ground.

 

[Darton]

Ok i'm a DA. the wires were plugged into the back of the switch in reverse order. yellow, green, black should have been black, green yellow. All fixed now.

 

[dyogim]

I think you should locate a different 12V source. Is the 12V source you are tapping into approximately the same ga wire as the one coming from the switch, did you check the output of the 12V source? The switch does not require a lot of power, it only needs to send a signal to the relay to power the lights. And are the connections to the switch correct?


***edit*** looks like you solved it.

 

[davegonz]

Ok i'm a DA. the wires were plugged into the back of the switch in reverse order. yellow, green, black should have been black, green yellow. All fixed now.

:wings:

Yeah, I always have to triple check any electrical work I do. Something always goes wrong.

 

[92 red cummins]

are those hella 500's fog lights if so how bright are they?:smiley_drive:

 

[Keaster]

wheww

Glad to see I'm not the only one, I have three sets of Hella 500s on my 4runner and when I got them wired up I had the red wires going to the wrong terminal on the battery it took me a half hour to figure it out even though it was right in front of me. LOL