[jalex77]

Originally Posted by rajeshsundaram

@ph03n!x
The hella red grills should give you a good tone which is quite good for citys as well as highway drivings. You can get in touch with Johnson of Hella to get more suggestion. PM me for his phone number.

Did you get your Hellas? I went through the thread and I myself was thinking about getting a pair for my Alto as well. So many people with so many lights on their cars to throw you off the road on the roads. I evaded disaster many times and its getting tougher each day.

I yet have to decide about the models. I have short listed the Rallye700FF, the Rallye 1000FF and the Rallye3000. I guess the 3000 will be too big with the 222mm diameter. The 1000FF and the 700FF are both smaller at 186mm. And I am thinking of using H2 or H3 100w bulbs.

[jalex77]

Anyone has any idea about someone in Cochin who can fit the Hellas for me on my Alto? I will be getting the Hellas through a cousin next month probably.

[rajeshsundaram]

Finally the Hella 500 FFs were installed in my Alto just before Diwali. I must say, the lamps make a good driving companion on the highways, in the nights. By specs each doom is equipped with a H3 55w halogen bulb, and the light beam produced is - spot on.

When driving from Dharmapuri to Omalur, the Hellas performed really better and the night vision coverage was much, much better.The Hella 500 FFs complimented my Philips Rally H4 100/90 headlight bulbs nicely. The beam projects upto 100 feet, and the sweet spot is from 40 to 60 feet. Happy with Hella now.

Shot and edited a video on Diwali and Yesterday. The video covers the brief "how it looks on a Alto?" section, then the "in the night" sections. I've swapped the audio track with youtube's license free audio track. Hope it makes the video watchable and enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I did not get a good companion to help me shoot the videos during night driving. So no video about the night driving performance. But the attached video will show you the static performance. You will notice in the video, that either the props in the video are moving, while camera is static or vice-versa. One man show!

Pics are posted as reply below... for some reason, Inline attachment doesnt seem to work proper for me (am using Opera).

And here is the video

YouTube - Hella 500 ff

-Rajesh

Here is the unboxing thread - for the unboxing fans!
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...-lights-2.html

[rajeshsundaram]

Here are the photos .. shot with my mobile camera. So it was enhanced in Photoshop later.








With protective covers...


The headlamp relay and 500ff relay...


- Rajesh

[rajeshsundaram]

Originally Posted by jalex77

Did you get your Hellas? I went through the thread and I myself was thinking about getting a pair for my Alto as well. So many people with so many lights on their cars to throw you off the road on the roads. I evaded disaster many times and its getting tougher each day.

I yet have to decide about the models. I have short listed the Rallye700FF, the Rallye 1000FF and the Rallye3000. I guess the 3000 will be too big with the 222mm diameter. The 1000FF and the 700FF are both smaller at 186mm. And I am thinking of using H2 or H3 100w bulbs.

Here is how it looks on my Alto..
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...o-w-video.html

I think 700FF is the right size for your Alto.

Originally Posted by jagan0677

Bump. Can we see post-installation photos?

Cheers
Jagan

Here they are :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...o-w-video.html



- Rajesh

[coolclouds]

If you don't mind, what was the total cost including installation?

[rajeshsundaram]

@coolclouds

Unfortunately, I bought that lamps from Haute Car Zone, for the MRP of Rs.5000. Later fellow bhpians revealed that i was ripped off by HCZ. Looks like the 500 FF is available around Rs.4K in the market.

The fitting cost (done with a local electrician) is Rs.450, includes clamps, welding and labour.

[lilMonSter]

Hi, could you also please post some pictures of the mounts which you had fabricated. i've mounted a pair of 200ff's on my alto with metal brackets which i had fabricated but i'm getting a little bounce| Swaying motion in the beam of the hellas. They seem to keep bouncing over uneven surfaces. may be i could copy your mounts if they dont have any room for movement or bouncing of the aux lights.

cheers.

[Ragul]

I am curious after seeing so many lamps mounted like this - aren't you guys scared of damaging them if you bump into something? They will be the first to make contact before the bumper hits anything. @4000+ they are quiet expensive to destroy.

--Ragul

[raghu230506]

Rajesh,

what was the reason you got them fitted, was lighting provided by OE on ALTO not sufficient? OE fittings are enough as long as you drive at safer speeds.

Won't you blind people on highways?

Regards
Raghu

[jalex77]

Originally Posted by rajeshsundaram

Here are the photos .. shot with my mobile camera. So it was enhanced in Photoshop later.


Attachment 457681
Attachment 457682
Attachment 457683
Attachment 457684
Attachment 457685

With protective covers...
Attachment 457686

The headlamp relay and 500ff relay...
Attachment 457687

- Rajesh

How are the brackets fitted? Is it welded? If it is where is the exact point to weld it? Or have you fitted it on the bumper with metal inserts? Could you please share the info and post some close shots of the job that has been done? I'm confused and I am wondering of cutting away the portion of the bumper where you fit MGA fog lamps and get the Hellas to fit in there. I guess it would look nice and really light up the road better without bothering oncoming coming traffic too much.

I am attaching an image about my idea

[rajeshsundaram]

Originally Posted by lilMonSter

Hi, could you also please post some pictures of the mounts which you had fabricated. i've mounted a pair of 200ff's on my alto with metal brackets which i had fabricated but i'm getting a little bounce| Swaying motion in the beam of the hellas. They seem to keep bouncing over uneven surfaces. may be i could copy your mounts if they dont have any room for movement or bouncing of the aux lights.

cheers.

Even my 500ff's bounce to some extent,thankfully not like crazy. I did not like the way the chennai elecctrician and tinkerer did the job. They welded the clamp!

I gotta consult with my mechanic in my home town to come up with a good clamp design.Untill then I will keep the current setup.

Originally Posted by Ragul

I am curious after seeing so many lamps mounted like this - aren't you guys scared of damaging them if you bump into something? They will be the first to make contact before the bumper hits anything. @4000+ they are quiet expensive to destroy.

--Ragul

Ragul.. you are right. If such bumps happens.. they are the first to take the hit. But then, not all cars keep bumping on walls or other objects. Also they act as a indirect speed-governors, making you to drive even more carefully.

Originally Posted by raghu230506

Rajesh,

what was the reason you got them fitted, was lighting provided by OE on ALTO not sufficient? OE fittings are enough as long as you drive at safer speeds.

Won't you blind people on highways?

Regards
Raghu

Raghu, OE fittings are good enough to drive in the city, but not on highways. Ask any of our bhpians who frequently drive on the highways at night..most will agree to this.

I usually drive to my home town - Erode, in the nights through the Chennai - Krishnagiri - Omalur - Erode highway route. With the OE 60/55w lighting it was pathetic to drive, as they don't give good illumination beyond 20 feet. When going at 100 km/hr the OE 60/55 was hopeless. After upgrading to 100/90 the illumination is much better. The reason I fitted those hella's are - to illuminate the path ahead even better. The high beams cover a wide range, and these Hella's help to illuminate the center.

And the video above was shot with Handycam in Automatic exposure mode. So the lights appear as if they will blind anyone. But in real, they are actually not! Though my 100/90 headlamps may be a bit tough to look at, the hella's are perfectly non-blinding.


And finally the answer to your question..

"Won't you blind people on highways?"

No, I always drive responsibly. And the hella's are focused in such a way that they illumate the path ahead and they do not point straight into the people's face who come from opposite direction.

Originally Posted by jalex77

How are the brackets fitted? Is it welded? If it is where is the exact point to weld it? Or have you fitted it on the bumper with metal inserts? Could you please share the info and post some close shots of the job that has been done? I'm confused and I am wondering of cutting away the portion of the bumper where you fit MGA fog lamps and get the Hellas to fit in there. I guess it would look nice and really light up the road better without bothering oncoming coming traffic too much.

I am attaching an image about my idea

Jalex77 : Yes they were welded. I quite did not like that anyway. I may redo them again. But as of now, they are welded to the frame just behind the bumper.

For you alto, I'd not sugest to cut the MGA fog lamps area in bumper. That is bit lower and the chances of getting your Hella's hit with road obstacles, road-side platforms are very high!

[challa]

Another best way of fixing the Hellas is to fix it to the Crash guard , there will be no issues of welding and dewelding inthis case, i will try to put a pic of my car i had done this setup

[jalex77]

Originally Posted by rajeshsundaram

Jalex77 : Yes they were welded. I quite did not like that anyway. I may redo them again. But as of now, they are welded to the frame just behind the bumper.

For you alto, I'd not sugest to cut the MGA fog lamps area in bumper. That is bit lower and the chances of getting your Hella's hit with road obstacles, road-side platforms are very high!

Well I will be extremely careful not to hit them anywhere. I cant even imagine damaging something so valuable and I just dont let anyone and everyone to drive my car as well.

I had a similar set up on my previous 1994 model 800 and the way it lighted up the road was great. I had cut off a portion of the bumper and the auxiliaries were fitted tight in the opening made and it solved the issue of vibrations. The lights never bounced even a wee bit.

[rajeshsundaram]

Originally Posted by jalex77

Well I will be extremely careful not to hit them anywhere.

Great! then your Alto will look like those Subaru's Impreza's (with the big aux lamps inside the front lower bumper) You may need to do some R&D to make the custom clamps, fitments and a good technician to do the job.