i bought my FF200 chrome kit from www.rallylights.com. The total was $133.95 including shipping. That also included the wiring harness.

the mounting bracket from mini-madness:

http://www.mini-madness.com/index.as...ROD&ProdID=183

I just got everything today, but they shipped me the wrong lights (ARGGHH!!!). I'll have to wait until next monday before they will reship the correct ones to me.

 

By the way, the cheapest price I found on the Hella FF200 MINI kit was $265... a very good deal at http://www.buyautotruckaccessories.c...driving-lamps/

 

If you're not in a rush - eBay has to be the cheapest. I picked up the Hella kit for $169 brackets included. BTW these brackets are almost twice the thickness of the OEM and provide a very solid mount. There is another NAM'er here that got his kit for even less then I.......... $129 + shipping I think.

The mini-madness brackets are also very nice, or at least the ones I used on another light install I did
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64852&highlight=driving+light+install they came with the kit I bought, but not much else did. So you can get an idea on how to make your own wiring harness and the likes from the same link.

As far as switched or non-switched, wire with or without the high beams let me give you my .02 cents.....

If the light has a solid cover and you are planning on using it, then I'd install a switch in line. If not then I prefer to wire them direct. It's much simpler and no need to run a wire into the cabin.

What/where to get the signal from to trigger the relay: Well, there is at least one owner I know that was stopped by the Police for running too many forward facing lights and no it wasn't me. I wire to the high beams, just like the OEM kit and my state calls for, but that's just me.

I don't recall my kit coming with a switch, but if you are so inclined; I recommend Radio Shack. Large assortment of varying sizes, colors and styles, lighted and non, momentary on or........ well you get the idea

 

Okay Guys,
The Hella Comet 200 kit is making me feel like an idiot. I looked at the instructions, your posts and our car ('04MCS) and I can't figure out where the wires go. I have not started the install because I need to upgrade the hardware- but can someone please post step-by step instructions and pictures? I know the wires have to come to the passengers side corner of the hood- do they then run all the way to the back of the car? Any help much appreciated!

Paul.

 

Hey Paul,

Glad to see you managed to pick these up!

Ok, the wires do not have to run up the passenger side of the car, if my memory serves me right - they only recommended that you run them up the left side.

In the thread titled Another driving light install I showed where I ran them over to the Driver's side. IMHO, I think this is a much better routing for the wires and a better location to mount the relay. The run to the power source is very short so everything can be kept very neat.

Here's the link https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64852&highlight=
driving+light+install

I'm working tonight but I'd be happy to try and put something more detailed together tomorrow. I was thinking about rewiring mine to match the way we did my son's, I like it that much.

 

Thanks! I guess I really need to know where to hook the wires into- what color goes where, etc. I'll check out the post you linked to...

Paul.

 

The more pics the merrier! :D I'm still waiting on my MINI, and planning on getting the FF200s, so I'm looking forward to having as much information as possible.

 

Any chance of those extra pics? Keen to get the install done!

 

Opps sorry Paul, I got involved in a few other projects...........

But you're in luck - I've got some time tomorrow during the day and I'll see what I can whip up for everyone.

 

Here is the update:

I decided to simplify my install and clean up the relay placement. If you've got the kit, you already know that the main power & ground come encased in a long run of plastic and that the relay has individual inputs for each light; 1 for the brown & blue wires (hot & ground). Literally this is a real pain in the back to have to run 4 wires for the lights and this long run for the relay.

I combined the individual lights into a single run to the relay and moved the relay over to the Driver's side. Took lots of wire out of the loop and that crazy run behind the fluid reservoirs and ABS module.

Some basic stuff about the kit: They use blue, brown and lime green as the driving light wires and standard red and black for the main power and ground for the relay. The blue wire is the ground for the lights and the brown is the power from the relay. The lime green is the trigger to tell the relay when to close/open - in my application based on the highbeam's power signal.

To combine the individual lights into one wire run I used the inline splice method - with a wire strippers cut into the insulation in two places about an inch a part. Then taking a utility knife remove the insulation between the two cuts. Wrap the other bare wire around this area and then secure with heat shrink or elec tape. I did this for both the blue and brown wires:





Once I had those combined I wrapped them with elec tape and loosely secured them with wire ties to the other wire run under the hood insulation.

I then determined the location for the relay. My 02 had a post and nut not being used on the driver's side under the cowl area I chose that as my mounting point. My son's didn't and we had to drill a mount hole.




You then have to do a reverse run of the wires and play with them to get the proper length for the new wire loom. I used the rubber grommet to thread my wire loom out of the engine compartment.

3 wires make up the loom at this point - brown, green and the relay ground black. As you work back towards the lights you will incorporate the blue wire into the loom. Like on the other sets I've installed I choose the relay ground to be the post by the hinge and the light ground (blue wire) to be the hood post:








Two people will make the process of wrapping the wires a lot easier. You will need a little tension on the wires while you're wrapping them to make it look somewhat professional - I didn't have a helper today so cut me some slack on the wrap

Just play with the wrapping as you work your way back and drop out the lime green wire somewhere behind the headlight. From there the lime green wire will follow the existing headlight wires around to the stock connector end. On my 02 the highbeam light wire is the large gauge yellow wire w/ the green stripe. I used the standard blue splice connector to make this connection:



I tip on using these type connectors - use a pliers to push the metal tab down into the wires and then close the plastic cap. If you end up having any problems with the Driving lights coming on; I'll bet that this connector is the problem so check it before you wrap it with elec tape.

Here is how I connected the wires to the relay:

Pin #87 = Brown wire to driving lights
Pin # 86 = Lime Green wire from the highbeams
Pin #85 = Black wire from chassis ground
Pin #30 = Red from fuse block

Hopefully this and the other thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...+light+install will help but if you need any thing let me know and I'll see what I can do.

 

Thanks for the great write up and pictures smokey4.

I really want these and the instructions will help.

I was searching around the web and found them for $109.96 at:

www.classicgarage.com/ff200lampkit.html

These of course do not include the mounting brackets.

 

No problem glad to help.

I just sent a full scale trace of the mounting brackets to a guy in NY that was wanting to fab up his own pair. With a handle like "aeroturbine" I'm guessing you're an A&P???? If so, you should be able to fab some or have a sheetmetal buddy make some out of some SS laying around the hangar.

Let me know and I'll be more then happy to mail you a copy.

 

Pretty good guess. I started out as an A&P on B-707's and 727's, but haven't turned wrenches in a while. Moved into aircraft records and now manage that department for an airline.

I would love to get the template. I'm sure I can get one of our mechanics to fab it for me.

 

I started out as a repair guy then moved into flying but still love to leave knuckle skin on an engine every once in awhile Of course then the labor rate goes up

Not a problem send my a mailing address via PM and I'll get it out this weekend. But the one thing is - no laughing! I'm not a drafts man and I don't play around with CAD programs either But it's not bad.

 

Done! Thanks for all the help guys- especially Smokey 4. It wasn't as much difficult as fiddly- the instructions weren't very helpful, and the positive tab not fitting onto the positive bolt in the fuse box was a PITA. But they're on- looking good and ready to light up the night.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

okay, so I did my hella FF200 install today. The whole process was pretty painless. The only difficult part was trying to run the switch wiring through the firewall. I have a problem now. Maybe someone here can help me out.

I didn't tap into the OEM highbeams for my install. I just want my Hellas to be independent of the highs (btw, i also don't plan on driving w/ the ff200 on w/o the high beams either. I just want to option of switching them on independently . After I wired everything together, my new FF200s are not coming on. Did I do something wrong in my install? I bought one of those Radio Shack rocker illuminated switch. I'm guessing my lights not working could be either of these problem:

1. I'm not tapping into my OEM highbeams.
2. the wiring connection to my switch is wrong. (the wiring harness I got my rallylights.com came with a switch.) I chose to not use their switch and bough my own from radioshack. The wiring on their switch has 3 wires. (blue, yellow, black). I'm guessing the Black is the ground? But I'm not sure what the other 2 are. My radio shack rocker switch also has 3 prongs for the wires. It calls for a Ground, Power, Relay. How can I check which wires corresponds to which color on the switch that came w/ my wiring harness?

Can anyone help me troubleshoot my problem? I would really appreciate it. Otherwise, the Hella FF200s looks freaking awesome on my MCS!!!

thank you

 

Is your turn-on lead connected to anything? The relay won't allow the switch to turn the lights on unless it senses a 12V signal coming from the turn-on lead. It doesn't need to be connected to the high beams but it does need to be connected to something.

 

Ok, let me try to describe my wiring harness to clarify things. The connections for both lights are routed together and to the relay. There is a ground coming out of the relay. Another wire coming out of the relay if the wire for tapping into my highbeams (that's the one I didn't use, so I just taped the ends with some electrical tapes). The power wire coming out of the relay also has some doo-hickey that holds a 20a fuse. I ran that wire into the positive battery bolt next to my cold air intake. The last wire coming out of the relay is for the switch. (This wire actually consists of 3 smaller wires (Black, Blue, Yelllow). That's pretty much it. From looking at the harness, it looks pretty straightforward. I just can't figure why my lights are not coming on?

 

kapps,

I think I understood what you were telling me about tapping into a 12V signal. I guess I should just tap into my low beams as a source? Is the blue/white wire on a '04 MCS for the low beams?

thanks again

 

Paul - Glad things worked out, and you're very welcome. I'm guessing you mean the Hella provided instructions weren't very helpful - not mine

Tonester- Where is your switch in the circuit? What kapps said is 100% correct. The relay will not close and allow the power to go to the driving lights until it gets the trigger feed of 12volts.

Did they change the relay? You say "the wires coming out of the relay......" my relay had no wires hooked to it. It came with standard blade style connections on the base, but no preexisting wiring. I don't believe the fact that you used a different switch is the issue. I don't know for sure but I'm suspecting that your switch in incorrectly installed, that you've got it in the "red wire" circuit.

You need that wire, the one on your switch marked relay to be wired to pin #86 on the Hella relay.

 

Anyway to post the template for the mount brackets?

Good price. Are the lights chrome?

 

Smokey 4- your instructions saved my a$$! Wife and I went out to dinner last night- tried them on the way back- very bright. One thing I noticed is that the lense frames don't snap back into the housing as cleanly as I'd like on the bottom- but it isn't noticeable. I'll post some pics later.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

smokey4

the wiring harness that came w/ my hella ff200 kit from rallylights.com was a custome harness made by them. They've already wired everything for me to the relay, saving me some work. I will try to tap into the low beams today and see if this will fix my problem.

Blue/white is the correct wire for the low beams on a '04?

thanks

 

Mine do the same thing. I actually had one of the bottom's pop out when driving . The last time I put them back on, I tried to bend the plastic tab on the bottom out a little and it seems to be working.

 

Edited to insure clarity

Can't say for sure, the 04 is not home right now:

But on my 02 the driver's side is white w/green stripe and passenger side is white w/blue stripe. On the 05 the driver's side is Green w/white stripe and passenger side is white w/blue stripe.

On both cars the large gauge wire on the left side of the headlight connector is going to the low beam. See my photo showing the blue splice connector, and notice the white w/green wire making the 90 degree bends? That is the low beam and that is what I mean by left side of the connector.

But I gotta say, we're going through a lot of work to get these hooked up, when the folks that put it together for you did lots of work for you already. If all you're wanting is power for the switch - so that it can send it back to the relay.......... just tap into the fuse block in the left foot well.

I haven't looked at the bottom side of my lights, but I'll go check them out and make sure they're well secured.