Hella XL auxiliary low beams - wiring recommendation

A friend of mine has offered a good deal on the Hella XL auxiliary low beam lights for my '95 Previa. The Previa's high beams seem fine enough, but my low beams seem to be a bit weak, and when traffic on the two-lane freeways is just a bit too dense to use high beams much, but the low beams seem to be lacking at speeds near 55 (and that's pushing it), the auxiliary low beams seem to be the right thing. One such road in question is State Highway 33, which is two-lane, 65mph from Perkins to Coyle/Langston and then goes two four lanes, 70mph from Coyle/Langston to Guthrie. At Guthrie, I get on I-35 and usually traffic in my direction is thick enough that perhaps only the lead vehicle needs high beams; those farther back will usually not need them (nor be able to use them, such is their proximity to leading vehicles).

The question is (and perhaps I should ask Daniel Stern, who Knows These Things) is: Considering my Corolla leaves the low beams on when turning on the high beams, would it be acceptable for me to wire the Hell XLs such that when I turn on the high beams (headlamps are factory composite high/low using 9003-- driver's side is reyellowing after a polish/spray, the passenger side looks brand-new), that the auxiliary low beams stay on (even though they will be inboard of the high beams)? I do plan on making it so when I go to parking lamps or turn the lights off completely, that the auxiliary lows stay off until manually reactivated (and can only be activated when on a headlamp selection, not when just on parking lamps).

Ironically, I've been lessening the amount of driving I do to be able to afford these things!

If you can get a decent deal on a new pair of the XLs, jump on it; it's a shame they aren't made any more -- they're much more useful than fog lamps to many more drivers. From your description, the XLs would pretty much exactly meet your specific need.

I can't think of an objection to your idea to have the XLs remain lit with high beams. I don't exactly know where you are, but taking the highway and place names in your post(s) I am going to make a guess at Oklahoma, USA; from my reading of the Okla vehicle equipment codes, it doesn't appear the law would have any objection, either.

Regardless of the Hella XL, you still need to install a relayed harness kit.

Scheinwerfermann said:

If you can get a decent deal on a new pair of the XLs, jump on it; it's a shame they aren't made any more -- they're much more useful than fog lamps to many more drivers. From your description, the XLs would pretty much exactly meet your specific need.

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They're "NOS", although maybe the packaging is a bit shopworn (but it's what's inside that counts!). The package even contains a special aiming tool and all kinds of neat-o wiring.

I haven't looked at the bumper too closely, but I wonder if maybe it'd be suitable for a Carr Light Wing or something similar. The idea of drilling into my bumper is a bit scary!

I can't think of an objection to your idea to have the XLs remain lit with high beams. I don't exactly know where you are, but taking the highway and place names in your post(s) I am going to make a guess at Oklahoma, USA; from my reading of the Okla vehicle equipment codes, it doesn't appear the law would have any objection, either.

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http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=437652
http://www.oscn.net/applications/OCISWeb/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=82397
It's the "E. A motor vehicle may be equipped with not to exceed two auxiliary driving lamps mounted at a height of more than forty-two (42) inches from the ground. The auxiliary driving lamps may be used with lower beam headlamps or switch controlled in conjunction with the headlamps and may be used, at the discretion of the driver, with either low or high beam headlamps." that might be problematic. 42" seems to be fairly high off the ground (darnit, I guess I could measure where the center of the Previa headlamps are, but it seems 42" is higher than they are). Maybe they accidentally omitted a "not" (mounted at a height of not more than 42").

The hard part will be the wiring to get them to only latch on if currently on low beams, but not be released by the highs...

Wow, that's a really odd requirement (and the statute is an incoherent mess, not drawing the crucial distinction between aux low beams and aux high beams). A simple and very plausible explanation is a typographical error (omitted the "not" that belongs before the "more than forty-two (42) inches"). Another simple and very plausible explanation is legislation written by people who didn't know enough about what they were legislating and weren't talking to the other people legislating similar things -- OK's headlamp height mounting range is 22" to 54", same as the height range specified in Federal standard 108. The allowance you cite for a(ny) motor vehicle to be equipped with auxiliary driving lamps mounted at more than 42" above the ground raises the obvious question of where we're going to put these allowed driving lamps on something like an Acura NSX...on riser stalks???

I wouldn't worry about it. Yes, technically the Hella XLs meet OK's muddy definition of "driving lamp", but mounted appropriately to most any traffic policeman they'll register as "fog lamps".

The statutes appear to have been written by someone who majored in Political Science, not English, before attending law school, and then took his newly-printed J.D. to work for the State of Oklahoma. It's all nice and "legal-y" but without the coherence (or even cogence) it needs to have.

Overly wordy, short on actual technical information (no references to SAE standards, very few references to 49CFR 571.108, non-differentiation between auxiliary low or high beam lamps...)

Alaric Darconville said:

two auxiliary driving lamps mounted at a height of more than forty-two (42) inches from the ground.

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Maybe they were thinking about putting KC's on the roof. Yeehaw!

Out of curiosity, what sort of beam pattern did the Hella XL have?

irsa76 said:

Out of curiosity, what sort of beam pattern did the Hella XL have?

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According to Scheinwerfermann, "It's very much like the low beam pattern from a traditional US-spec low beam. There is no cutoff."

Supur-Lyte said:

According to Scheinwerfermann

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The SEARCH function? People actually USE that?

I'll have to give a review and the obligatory (but all-but-useless-but-everyone-loves-em) beamshots once they arrive (or, rather, once they're installed).

You know, I found a set of XLs years ago on Ebay, and if I remember correctly the beam is a very odd, almost isosceles right triangle with the right angle at the bottom right, but with a step in the hypotenuse side. Do you see the same beam pattern?

Not yet installed, sorry!

Since it was mentioned: I have never seen the Hella XL, but I do have a set of Cibie Booster Beams. Old Cibie catalogs show a beam pattern something like the flat fan shape of a fog, but with a center hot spot that reaches out. When I lit one up against a wall, I was surprised that the hot spot appeared triangular instead of being a standard round driving/pencil spot. I just shrugged until I lit the other one. Both have the same triangle for a hot spot. I thought about it and realized the idea is to reach out farther in my lane, while not blinding the oncoming driver in the other lane, so a properly oriented triangle makes sense the same way a european style headlight makes sense with its flat cutoff in the oncoming lane but rising cutoff in my own lane. Sort makes me think there may have been right traffic and left traffic versions, though it's so small that the shape probably doesn't make a huge difference.

No left-traffic aux low beams because of no jurisdictions with left traffic recognize the SAE standards. Japan came closest, but even in Japan they had their own standards, they didn't recognize US SAE ones.

Too bad. I like the auxiliary low or "mid beam" idea. But I guess low beams today are better than they were then those lights were made, so maybe the demand faded away.

I did plan it so I can swap the Series 95 Booster Beams to Series 95 or 95I yellow fogs for winter, with no wiring changes needed.

Hamilton Felix said:

Too bad. I like the auxiliary low or "mid beam" idea. But I guess low beams today are better than they were then those lights were made, so maybe the demand faded away.

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Don't you do most (all?) of your driving in a right-traffic jurisdiction? I guess if you wanted super-broad low-beam lighting, then a set LHT low beams mounted in buckets could act like that. You'd get much broader left-ward illumination, but oncoming traffic wouldn't like it. Might be great for a narrow trail, or for some nasty dirt road in the middle of nowhere...

I did plan it so I can swap the Series 95 Booster Beams to Series 95 or 95I yellow fogs for winter, with no wiring changes needed.

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It seems I saw the most fog in August/September, at least in Snohomish. It got EXTREMELY thick, too. I'd say just put in a *rear* fog lamp and don't swap front lights around...

That's a point. I do already have a good Z-beam style low beam that's nice in fog. But not being rear ended is a good thought. A rear fog would be good.

Hey, I could always do like my wife and wear selective yellow glasses, so my 4,200K HID projector low beams would seem like yellow fogs.

I'm experimenting with the Booster Beams. They illuminate the shoulders a bit more than the low beams, definitely a wider beam. They don't really reach much further in my lane, just adding a bit, but they add more in the oncoming lane, in that dark area just above the low beam cutoff before their own cutoff limits them so they don't blind oncoming cars. I think one reason they don't seem to add much range is that they add illumination in the foreground and that's beginning to work against me. The do have a center hotspot, but you can't aim them as if they were simply "driving lights you can leave on." Oncoming traffic would not appreciate that.

So many other things going on, so little time - I still need to get those Cibie 5-3/4" high beams mounted in the separate buckets. Working some extra hours in the shorter days and heavy rains of October bring home the point.

I *FINALLY* got them mounted, and mostly aimed!
Mounting was a huge pain-- I had to get some 1.25", 14ga. steel square tube, and using an angle grinder, cut off one side of it so it'd be more of a U with a 1.25" base and about 1" risers. I made two such 'brackets', each about 3.5" long, so they could go between the plastic overbumper and the actual metal part of the bumper.

I wired them with 14ga grounds directly to the battery terminal, and the supplied feed wires have been shortened considerably to reduce losses there. The relay itself has maybe 1ft of wire to the positive battery post.

I can tell by looking at the wall that the voltage they're getting is substantially higher than what the headlamps get (essentially, I can tell the factory headlamps are really starved for voltage compared to the Hella XLs).

The rocker switch the kit came with was set aside in favor of a DPDT lighted switch. Pressing up on the rocker switch is symbolic of "forward" and lights up a small telltale on the switch. Pressing down on it (past the center "off") is symbolic of "rearward" and lights a larger telltale. I figure the aux low beams don't need the large telltale like a rear fog lamp would need.

I *think* they're aimed well enough that they replicate (and are superior to) the original low-beam pattern-- they might be aimed just a TOUCH too high, though. The lights are inboard of the factory headlamps, and their centers are about 1.5" lower than those of the factory lamps, so their hotspots are well away from the factory lamps' hotspots when up close to the garage door, and it takes some distance back before they start overlapping a little bit. I *definitely* still need to find the level surface and a wall and all that to do it better, or find an optical beamsetter and someone with the patience to do the adjustment on them since they don't adjust like normal headlamps-- my rough-in aim means they're not ready for prime time.

Once I recover from the "ZOMG I drilled into my GOT-DANG BUMPER", I'll start work on finding and installing a GOOD rear fog lamp.

What I'm seeing with the Booster Beams is that aiming is a very narrow window between "annoying the traffic you meet or follow" and "only makes it brighter where I already have low beams." It's possible to gain a bit over just your low beams and still not have them too high, but you really have to get it right.

I'm looking forward to more experimenting in moderate fog.

Mine might end up coming down a little more-- it seems it doesn't do the immediately-in-front pool like the factory low beams do. This could mean either they're designed to eliminate that, or they're aimed too high.

But because

"It's very much like the low beam pattern from a traditional US-spec low beam. There is no cutoff."

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they may not be too great in fog because this may mean too much backscatter.