Let There Be Light!

[Kijona]

So I've been working on a little project for the last two weeks. I've always loved the way rally headlights looked, and always wanted to install some on my STi. I finally broke down and bought a light bar and some lights. Well, Amazon threw me a curve ball when they sent TWO pairs of Hella 700s (the round ones) when I only ordered a single pair. They let me keep them which was nice. 

That meant I had to decide where to put them. I was initially just planning on having 4 lights - 2 driving (basically auxiliary high beams) and 2 fogs (factory fog lights are worthless). There was JUST enough room to squeeze the extra set of 100's onto the right and left of the bar!

I ran 12ga wire to each individual light and 3 separate 40A relays, just for good measure. Though, I'm a bit concerned about current draw if I have all 4 driving lights on at once...that's 520 watts (each is 130w), which is 43 amps. Plus, that's best case scenario. If things start heating up, or there's a bottleneck somewhere, it might be pulling closer to 50.

I considered people who install 1000w+ stereo systems in their cars and have no problems, but then I realized that's not a constant draw.

Anyway, just something to ponder. Finally, pics!

(Click to make bigger)

[noworries]

Do bystanders laugh a lot???

[Janx101]

I'd drop the wattage back to 90 or 100 each and go for different colour temp maybe?... an extra 520 watts is a lot to put on a 12volt alternator. ...

Some car audio buffs add an extra battery to help with overall load and buffering the load!

[Kijona]

I'd drop the wattage back to 90 or 100 each and go for different colour temp maybe?... an extra 520 watts is a lot to put on a 12volt alternator. ...

Some car audio buffs add an extra battery to help with overall load and buffering the load!

I did some more research and found out that the stock alternator is 120 amps. So long as I don't run them while idling, it'll be fine.

I may convert the 700's to 55w HID.

[yamahonkawazuki]

This  going to be used  on highway? Interesting to :/ see what b shes like lit up

[Kijona]

This  going to be used  on highway? Interesting to :/ see what b shes like lit up

Not when other people are around.

(click to make bigger)


The two street signs (completely washed out) are about 150 yards away, and the building in the center of the pic is about 250 yards away.

Granted, the above pic is with a completely different set of lights. I ended up replacing the top two lights with Hella Rallye 4000 lights which are roughly 2" bigger in diameter, made out of metal (previous were plastic), and have better/deeper reflectors.

After I replaced those, a rock came up and broke the glass on one of the 550's (the square fog lights). I was never really all that pleased with the 550's so I ended up buying some PIAA 520 Ion Yellow fog lights. I liked them so much I ordered a matching set, only in "ATP" flavor, which is "All-Terrain Pattern". As it turns out, they're perfect for what I wanted which was some medium-range spill.

All of the lights are now converted to HID and were in the above pic. Less current draw (4.5A per lamp versus 11A with the 130W halogens) and about 30-40% brighter.

[yamahonkawazuki]

kijona my friend this is impressive. still blinding to oncoming traffic but youve got that covered. i had lights similar to this a few years back. had rigged a switch up which would kill them  when seen by oncoming vehicles. got any driving vids of the bus? ( subaru spelled backwards) preferrably at night or dusk. nother question, exhaust, stock or a fart can or?

[Kijona]

kijona my friend this is impressive. still blinding to oncoming traffic but youve got that covered. i had lights similar to this a few years back. had rigged a switch up which would kill them  when seen by oncoming vehicles. got any driving vids of the bus? ( subaru spelled backwards) preferrably at night or dusk. nother question, exhaust, stock or a fart can or?

I'll have to take a video of the lights some time. Might even do it tonight...not sure.

Exhaust is "optional stock" which means it's a factory option. It's a full cat-back system, but I didn't have to pay for it thankfully ($1000+ option). Here's what it sounds like inside the car with the windows up, merging onto the highway:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3vbXXXSXwtbYy1Wclk1U0VJNHc/view?usp=sharing

Also, fart can? Really Yama...I've got more respect for my car than that. =P

[Kijona]

Here's another STi with the same exhaust I have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cy9SGf_h1s

[yamahonkawazuki]

would hope you had more respect than that lol. am assuming yours is "slightly if not more than slightly tuned? 
. ive hear a fart can on an sti sounded bad as in not good lol. funniest thing ive seen a fart can on was a chevy astro. i had an 88 rx7 convertible. had one of those god awful things on it.  its exit was not 4ft from my ears. LOUD. even worse when she backfired

[Kijona]

would hope you had more respect than that lol. am assuming yours is "slightly if not more than slightly tuned? 
. ive hear a fart can on an sti sounded bad as in not good lol. funniest thing ive seen a fart can on was a chevy astro. i had an 88 rx7 convertible. had one of those god awful things on it.  its exit was not 4ft from my ears. LOUD. even worse when she backfired

Tuned yes. Also have a cold-air intake; it's not really doing anything other than allowing the BPV/BOV to be heard as well as the turbo whine.

Gotta love a Wankel.

[yamahonkawazuki]

no redline at all .  before i pulled that engine, still have its parts on my porch. she wasnt in a good mood. wasnt feeling well. took her out one last time, firend said as i went past she was shooting 4ft blue flames  out the can. fun thing was it the engine, could be pulled without a crane.

[Kijona]

As requested, Yama:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8K79g4svmX1dllDTFpyWkkwZHM/view?usp=sharing

Order (starting from the beginning of the video):

• Stock 35w HID headlights


• Everything off



• Stock headlights again



• Stock HIR high beams (35% more output than regular halogen bulbs)



• PIAA 520 Fog lights (55w HID conversion)



• PIAA 520 ATP (55w HID conversion)



• Hella 4000FF (55w HID conversion)



• Everything but stock HIDs off


• High beams again

It's hard to tell from the video (cell phone vid bleh), but just the Hella 4000's alone make the high beams and stock HIDs look dim. I was planning on turning everything back on but there were cars coming.

[Kijona]

Here's a few pics of the finished setup. I decided to swap the lenses on the center ATP for another set of fog lights. So, basically, it's 4 fog lights and 2 high-beams. This setup is pretty much what I was looking for; the ATP beams aren't wide enough and because they're so close to the ground, end up looking a bit weird. Fogs are better.

[Wagoneer]

Nice setup! I actually started out with 4 hella 500FF's on my ride with the stock 50w bulbs. Then I rewired it completely with heavier gauge wiring and ran 100w bulbs. That setup was great, but the pencil beams on the 500FF's didn't give me the flood that I wanted. Not to mention the power draw when all 4 were on was massive. At idle the lights would dim really badly.

Now I have LED combo bars. 20" in front with a 42" on the roof. These don't give me the distance that the Hella's gave me but I have 180deg of light in all directions in front of my car now. Already saved me from hitting wildlife many times, and with moose, bears, elk around where I live, you need all the light to the sides that you can get. And the power draw isn't even noticable, even at idle with both bars and my headlights/fogs on as well.

[Kijona]

Nice setup, Wagoneer. The 500/700 Hella series are pretty cheaply made in my opinion. The Rallye 4000's are considerably better, but the PIAAs are even better. It's just a shame that PIAA doesn't make anything bigger than a 6" light; if they did, that's what I'd have on top.

I'm going to fab a roof rack like yours out of ABS pipe and I'm still trying to decide if I want to build in a spot for an LED bar or use the 4 Hella 700's I have. I may put an LED bar on the rear for better visibility when backing up. I think the traditional round pod lights look better on the Subies; I've seen a few with the LED bar and it just looks kinda weird.