OT: Vehicle auxiliary lighting

[AngryScientist]

My old old old truck had a classic bull bar up front and some KC lights mounted. It was really nice when hauling through the dark on unlit back country roads on moonless nights to flip on some additional lumens.

Rounding up some parts to do some seasonal maintenance on my Jeep, and I'm thinking of wiring up some lights for the front; I know things have come a long way since the days of the halogen KC's. How much do i need to spend to get some more meaningful light out front when the road get dark dark? how about these new LED light bars that seem to be popular?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/aux_incl/images.ashx?i=TM215.jpg&partNo=T%2fM&w=450&h=450

I'm sure I can fire up the welder and fab up some good mounting brackets, so that's not a real concern. I dont want to break the bank for this little whim either, just daydreaming on a friday afternoon.

thoughts?

[William]

My old old old truck had a classic bull bar up front and some KC lights mounted. It was really nice when hauling through the dark on unlit back country roads on moonless nights to flip on some additional lumens.

Rounding up some parts to do some seasonal maintenance on my Jeep, and I'm thinking of wiring up some lights for the front; I know things have come a long way since the days of the halogen KC's. How much do i need to spend to get some more meaningful light out front when the road get dark dark? how about these new LED light bars that seem to be popular?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/aux_incl/images.ashx?i=TM215.jpg&partNo=T%2fM&w=450&h=450

I'm sure I can fire up the welder and fab up some good mounting brackets, so that's not a real concern. I dont want to break the bank for this little whim either, just daydreaming on a friday afternoon.

thoughts?


Ask and ye shall receive...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8GY69Ci7l4

Just watched this recently thinking the same thing. Check out how much one of those things light up at the end of the vid.







William

[AngryScientist]

wow! that does make a HUGE difference in the trail lighting!

Of course there are about 1000 different light bars out there, with widely varying price points. I'm going to dig into this a bit more. hooray light!

[unterhausen]

I was out late on the fatbike last winter in some pretty deep snow. The vehicles that had gotten out of the tracks went in well over a foot, almost 2. There was some nut out there in a jacked up 4wd trying to kill himself. He had a lot of extra LED lights, at least he was going to see what he hit, the light was impressive.

[ripvanrando]

I have a built Land cruiser with an LED bar on the bull bar bumper just above the wench. The light output is astounding. The only time I use them onroad is like 2 am in the country to light it and any deer up. I mean it lights up the whole country.

I can't give you dollar figures.....prices have come down a lot. Sort of like you can buy Chinese knockoff battery powered lights for 20 bucks or the "real" magicshine for $150. My bar was expensive but I am pretty sure a good knockoff can be had for under $200

Ih8mud is a good source of info....I don't post there too much.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/who-is-using-cheapie-led-bars.816482/

My old old old truck had a classic bull bar up front and some KC lights mounted. It was really nice when hauling through the dark on unlit back country roads on moonless nights to flip on some additional lumens.

Rounding up some parts to do some seasonal maintenance on my Jeep, and I'm thinking of wiring up some lights for the front; I know things have come a long way since the days of the halogen KC's. How much do i need to spend to get some more meaningful light out front when the road get dark dark? how about these new LED light bars that seem to be popular?

http://www.4wheelparts.com/aux_incl/images.ashx?i=TM215.jpg&partNo=T%2fM&w=450&h=450

I'm sure I can fire up the welder and fab up some good mounting brackets, so that's not a real concern. I dont want to break the bank for this little whim either, just daydreaming on a friday afternoon.

thoughts?

[dustyrider]

The led light bars are pretty popular here. Not sure who makes a reputable product. There must be a 4x4 shop around you to help narrow it down. I'm not much into 4 wheels these days....

These things are intense when they light you up!

[weisan]

man, looking at the results on that video makes me want to install that bad boy even on my Accord. :)

[ripvanrando]

In case anyone reading this just wants brighter lights on their non-HID equipped vehicle, retrofitting to HID lights is pretty easy. I did it in maybe an hour and the improvement is amazing plus you don't lose the cutoff unlike the LED bar that if used on the road, it would blind an oncoming car.

The retrofit hardware is top notch in my view....

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/

[Dirtdiggler]

Hey Ripvanrando,
I am Landcruiser fan and have been lurking and looking for one. Any chance you can post of picture of yours ?
Thank you

[PeregrineA1]

I'm a fan of HID. The two outer light are HID and they dramatically outshine the center H1.

There is wild beam quality and durability variance in the LED market. You get what you pay for. Go over to Race Dezert dot com for good info.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vaXiTlzFwcaZk9PMOVtjNPuTE5N0VkrXAFhnVtITfmZCH_8Ttx 7dkU8Xd2p1VfYqlvR1_vHQej0EYxpBY8RSa7OGaDbLOTv8s6sQ sRPS7mzQpg8emfyCN2Td7Vz0nTcEG5UYtkvm9JPV_Zln5KTfpE 5HJLu0tfI0lM4GB_eTe_9haVXZ2rxQ0GE_xcOEavRrAZQs9sYW Z_YaBDQI20_rMFOu3Can1Wfzlul8k9FxBD-2luEhNA2cDBIgAAK7kks6LLV8SpMAwzOOSBvAVXJrBqpJ7jr9-c6wmu67UxVtk7pRaO34Yn8rVVkhrTLRBUdi68pHr_Md_NKk0kP bCeWMGRQIDdgXLErIH37_YynZpHvzSwQo3c4dHxMQJJGMjwHxZ n33I6mied9Z787kz5wSG2zWvaKwojDq7IZ73xQZ9uJX3eFZtlj 76RNUWXOmEsOYePeqkHX6lJyU_CJoGjFvXHeU15YEkyj2QiCe6 1grCwRyXFBToryl8ICCQaJHbgKEBgir5tBv7RkHKE9Z5nN3JaR YgUM0KNgv5nxO7WDon_uWNfAMXfLiGdh-ujOxpYoLovKc=w1190-h893-no

[William]

Hey Ripvanrando,
I am Landcruiser fan and have been lurking and looking for one. Any chance you can post of picture of yours ?
Thank you

:cool:

You'll spot this one in various past threads...






William

[ripvanrando]

i don't have pictures of it. Lifted 2 inches. Snorkel. Bumpers. 12,000 Warn winch Kevlar. Riding on 35's BPG MT KM2. ARB Fridge/Freezer inside. Sleeping platform with storage underneath. 10 gallons spare gas on the back Bumper. Naturally sliders and under armour. My teenage son and I did some heavy offroading last summer in the Rockies, he probably has a million pictures. Brand new seats. I'll ask him later.


Hey Ripvanrando,
I am Landcruiser fan and have been lurking and looking for one. Any chance you can post of picture of yours ?
Thank you