Hella Comet 500 Spotlights upside down on A-Bar

I would like to get some Hella Comet 500 spots and i really like the retro type cover it comes with them in black and white.

Does anyone know if the lights are okay to be mounted upside down on a defender front A Bar and will the covers also mount correctly so the text is the right away up?

ryan_1993 said:

I would like to get some Hella Comet 500 spots and i really like the retro type cover it comes with them in black and whote.

Does anyone know if the lights are okay to be mounted upside down on a defender front A Bar and will the covers also mount correctly so the text is the right away up?

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I do not have these so no direct experience however as they are a halogen spotlight mounting them underslung on an a bar will make no difference to the light use or performance so that will not be a problem. The cover on the other hand look like they only mount one way onto the light as they are shaped for the base bracket. therefore what ever angle the light is mounted the cover will be the same angle so if upside down looks like it will be upside down as well.

As a side note why do you actually want the covers? unless it is to comply with motorsport regulations I do not see the point in fitting covers as they just mean you cannot use the lights without first removing the covers. All of the additional lighting I have is linked (via a switch's, relay, etc.) to come on automatically with main beam or reverse. Fitting covers removes this benefit. If the cover is for protection you would be much better looking to fit some king of protective mesh so light still shines through. see below my setup (all be it on bullbars) with light well protected but permanently uncovered and fully functional. I have since fitted led lights to replace the halogens but the same principle.

no problems spots can be mounted both ways, and no chnage to beam pattern, just dont mount them sideways lol
cant help you on the cover question, IMO re covers, agree with @dag019 plus covers areare a PIA, when you need the lights you have to pull over and take em off, lol

I wouldn’t bother with the covers either, I had them on my 90. If you‘re really fussy you can rotate the lamp units 180deg in the shells so the E lettering in the glass lens is right way up.….but pointless.

slomofo said:

I wouldn’t bother with the covers either, I had them on my 90. If you‘re really fussy you can rotate the lamp units 180deg in the shells so the E lettering in the glass lens is right way up.….but pointless.

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Its more for the retro look.

Its a concept at the moment but i am hopefully rebuilding the 90 and going to do a bit of a retro throwback edition. White roof, white Rostyles and some equally retro spots

I feel like the wipac spots are a bit too modern for it lol.

This is my Photoshopped concept of my redesign

I had a pair of Radyot Fireball spots on my series 3 and they came with a warning to remove covers before using the lights or they’d melt! I never did fit the covers… I don’t see much point in them to be honest. Go for the spots and keep the covers at home.

ryan_1993 said:

Its more for the retro look.

Its a concept at the moment but i am hopefully rebuilding the 90 and going to do a bit of a retro throwback edition. White roof, white Rostyles and some equally retro spots

I feel like the wipac spots are a bit too modern for it lol.

This is my Photoshopped concept of my redesign

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I know that is a mock up but just as an fyi you wont get tyres that wide on rostyles unless you get them banded. If it is just for look s I am sure you could modify the covers toe fit the correct way up but I really wouldn't bother. However also if it is just for looks you don't need to worry about making a switched relay circuit to wire them in just bolt them to the bar as decoration

dag019 said:

I know that is a mock up but just as an fyi you wont get tyres that wide on rostyles unless you get them banded. If it is just for look s I am sure you could modify the covers toe fit the correct way up but I really wouldn't bother. However also if it is just for looks you don't need to worry about making a switched relay circuit to wire them in just bolt them to the bar as decoration

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Ill be buying banded ones as they are 265s, still think they look good though

Ill still wire them in though as its got the wiring from the wipacs in place from when they were installed

You would have to butcher the covers to make them fit so lettering is right way up, they are moulded one way to fit the mounting knuckle - probably still grip if your careful, if you really really have to fit them

ryan_1993 said:

I would like to get some Hella Comet 500 spots and i really like the retro type cover it comes with them in black and white.

Does anyone know if the lights are okay to be mounted upside down on a defender front A Bar and will the covers also mount correctly so the text is the right away up?

Click to expand...

I don't know anything about these lamps, but a quick Google shows they have a patterned/focus lens of some kind. You may want to research what the beam profile is, as it may not work very well upside down. But is difficult to tell just looking at the picture. The actual lens might be rotatable in the housing, something else to check. If note, note the sticker/badge will be upside down too.

The covers look conclusively to only fit one way up to clear the mounting point. might be worth reaching out to Hella and asking if they offer reversed covers. Although personally I hate covers on lamps as you can't use them!

ryan_1993 said:

Its more for the retro look.

Its a concept at the moment but i am hopefully rebuilding the 90 and going to do a bit of a retro throwback edition. White roof, white Rostyles and some equally retro spots

I feel like the wipac spots are a bit too modern for it lol.

This is my Photoshopped concept of my redesign

Click to expand...

Looks nice, is the paint really chromatic or is that just photoshop? As I'd say that (or even metallic paint) may not be so 'retro'. Wouldn't T reg be a Td5 not a Tdi? Or is it a super late 300Tdi?

The Roystyle rims are only 6j wide, so you are limited to narrow tyres such as a 7.50 or a 235/85R16.

KISSMYAURA said:

plus covers are are a PIA,

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I see what you did there...

300bhp/ton said:

Looks nice, is the paint really chromatic or is that just photoshop? As I'd say that (or even metallic paint) may not be so 'retro'. Wouldn't T reg be a Td5 not a Tdi? Or is it a super late 300Tdi?

The Roystyle rims are only 6j wide, so you are limited to narrow tyres such as a 7.50 or a 235/85R16.

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Its one of the last 300s off the production line for uk market, we suspect in the last batch of 200 or so. They were making TD5s behind mine on the assembly line thats how late of a run it is.

It is just a factory Rioja Red colour. it was optional but its still a factory colour. Metallic paint was offered from around 1990 onwards with the 200 tdi era, so is pretty retro by now. It was the purple Montpellier colour before Rioja, which I think came on the scene in about 1995/1996 or so and replaced Montpellier.

The Rostyle wheels on the Defender actually seems to have survived into the 300 tdi era, and were still an option in Chawton white on the county models until 1995, replaced with solver freestyles alloys after this point.

I am getting the banded Rostyle wheels so my 265s will fit perfectly fine. They are modded to fit wider tyres and look great, but i am looking at Banded wolf wheels too and can’t really decide what to go for.

Here’s a Montpelier red 200 tdi CSW with factory white roof and Rostyle wheels to match.

The Hella lamps in your mocked-up picture, are larger than Comet 500's

The Comet 500 is 163mm in diameter and is for vertical mounting only



I've got 4 x Comet 500's on my 110's ARB bumper -




A more suitable Hella lamp would be the Rallye 3000 -



Which can be mounted vertical or suspended.


Their range of round spotlights can be found, here -

https://cat.hella.com/opencat/publi...64/Round+driving+lights/universalSearch.xhtml

.