Looking to add driving lights - Your likes & dislikes.

[Hilldweller]

Easy way to see if you need to upgrade to relays is to measure voltage drop to the headlights. Put the negative of the meter to the supply at the headlight, and the other to the + on the battery. That way you measure the voltage drop of the wire. Cant remember the values but IIRC 10% drop in voltage is about a 30% drop in light output.

For a 1000 lumen rated lamp:

10.5V : 510 lumens
11.0V : 597 lumens
11.5V : 695 lumens
12.0V : 803 lumens
12.5V : 923 lumens
12.8V : 1000 lumens ←Rated output voltage
13.0V : 1054 lumens
13.5V : 1198 lumens
14.0V : 1356 lumens ←Rated life voltage
14.5V : 1528 lumens

HOW TO MEASURE YOUR VOLTAGE DROP

This test must be made with the lamps switched on and all bulbs connected, so you may have to work to get access to the correct bulb terminal. In some cases, it may be easiest to remove the bulb from the headlamp and (carefully) operate it outside the headlamp with your voltmeter connected. Or, you can "backprobe" the headlamp socket.

Connect the positive (red) test lead of a voltmeter to the car battery positive (+) terminal, and the negative (black) test lead to the + terminal of whichever headlamp filament (beam) you're testing -- use the bulb farthest away from the battery. Your voltmeter will give a direct reading of the voltage drop. Write it down.

Then, connect the positive (red) voltmeter lead to the ground terminal of the headlamp bulb, and the negative voltmeter lead to the negative (-) terminal of the battery. Your voltmeter will again give a direct reading of the voltage drop. Write it down. Add the two voltage drop figures obtained, and this is the total circuit voltage drop.

Hello there, I use HELLA DynaView automatic driving/cornering lights...

I've never seen those in action ---- and have been really really curious about them in the offroad environment.
Do they work okay offroad? I've held back from recommending them out of fear that they'd be blinking all over the place on a bumpy road...
Great idea, none the less. Yaw activated lights. Brilliant...

 

[Seeker]

Strictly qualitative, but I've two Lightforce 240's, one with a clear "spot" beam focused in the distance, and one with a yellow "combo" beam focused a little low. I love this setup. It does remarkably well for both bombing down a wash at 30mph in the middle of the night, or crawling slow. The yellow color is supposed to help penetrate the dust a bit, which is why I use it on the combo beam focused in close. Not sure if it really does anything, but I know the setup works very well for me. I'll have to see if I can find a picture.

 

[Joanne]

Hi Joanne,

I had an F-150 back then and went through what you're going through.

This is what I'd do:
Make sure the lens is as clear as possible.
Get good bulbs.
You can upgrade your wiring with a plug and play harness from Dan Stern or Susquehanna Motorsports; either of these shops can also rig that harness with a "trip" for the relay for your driving lights.

Now for driving lights, you want a wide flat beam, free of hotspots, weird artifacts, and gimmicky color tricks.
I'm partial to the Hella Rallye 4000 with a Eurobeam ---- I just tested a fresh pair over the weekend on Dendy's Jeep and they are a joy to drive with. Susquehanna sells them and is competitive on pricing; talk to Dave or Ray for your needs.
Also of note for driving lights are any of the fine products from Cibie.

I'm not a fan of Lightforce except for their durability. The beam isn't good at all. I don't like PIAA or most of the offroad boutique brands either; most of them aren't DOT-compliant and have miserable beams.

Here are the Hellas:



And this is the best automotive lighting forum; always double-check your lighting advice here. The forum admin is a merciless curmudgeon that works in the auto lighting industry and literally knows every light ever made.

Bill, thank you for your answers to my query! I spent a few hours last night reading through your posts on this and the Jeep forum trying to find the answers in your previous posts. Your answer here saved me some additional research. :wavey:

Funny you should point me over to CPF! I have spent quite a bit of time there myself, but on the headlamp forum (wear on your head, not in the grill). They also got me started with my SolarForce L2P with a three mode XML drop-in for my underground exploring. I just didn't think to look over there for automotive lighting advice.

I think with everything that I've read over the last couple of days that I'm on the right track.

Joanne

 

[rb70383]

I got some hella h4 conversion bulbs in my ramcharger. Uses a special bulb and I also have the selective yellow globes over the bulbs. I like those alot. Daniel Stern recommended the candlepower store. No issues. I usually goto rallylights as well when comparing lights.

I lurked around that forum too and lots of info. Make me realize how much I dont know about lighting.

Thanks to Hilldweller for the info, and Joanne for relaying it.

 

[nosnerd]

start with polishing the lenses if necessary...then throw in some PIAA bulbs...i have been using PIAA since 1994...on my Burn i am going with HELLA 4000s as i am a fan of a large reflector...but i your case go with a set of true 100w 4000K rectangluar lenses mounted as wide apart as you can...

the results combined with the PIAAs with be simply amazing.

 

[Hilldweller]

...the results combined with the PIAAs with be simply amazing.

PIAAs just appear bright due to glare. You can do better and spend far less.

Read this to find out why.

 

[nosnerd]

i do not like anything over 4000k...and i hate the 'blue' stuff.....

i somewhat agree with the article.i put in PIAAS and what a difference........................so i am sold

 

[88Xj]

LED's don't cost that much anymore guys

4W Cree elements. 16w spot..these are 100% identical to the Rigid duall D1's. Rigid uses 3W bulbs though so they are 12W.
Sinlge pod, 92ft measured distance from back of the van to the houses wall!

30" LED bar, also uses 4W Cree elements.

This is a Rigid 30" E-series (dual row) Tested by Baja design...compare that to our single row 30" bar in a semi-light parking lot, unaimed- resting on the bumper.

I can also offer these with amber or yellow lens. We our the only people offering yellow lens..they give off a very natural looking color. Also lens are interchangeable..meaning you can order colored lens after you buy & change them in your own garage with an allen wrench. You can have it yellow 1 day & amber the next & clear the day after

Ip68 rated, polycarbonate lens 60000 hour life span. Limited lifetime warranty. 50% less cost than competitors. And we only use 4W Cree elements, no knock off, no 3w. We are trying to get a steady source of 10W Cree elements to offer pods & bars with 10W bulbs...1, 10W cree element out shines 3 3W cree bulbs. So imagine a pod with 4, 10W cree elements. Ungodly little light that would be, or a mix of 10W center elements and 4W outside elements on bars to keep cost down, or hell if someone wanted we could do a full 10W element bar but the price will reflect that as well! Our housings can't be called an exact match because of copy writing & trade marking but our housings get no better either, plenty of heat sink ect ect! Shock proof, adjustable mounting..so if you have light tabs already these will fit no worries!
You can see here on this Jk, the feet slide left or right to allow the perfect adjustment while using existing tabs! No need for new ones.

Pricing varys but 550 is our most expensive and thats for our 40". We only do single row's..but 550 for a 40" that rivals Rigid..they are selling the same thing for 1000 dollars. Our pods outshine the Dually D1's hands down and we offer them at 75 each vs 110 each! Pm for pricing.

 

[AA1PR]

I went the old school route with Hella 700FF's

 

[Joanne]

I forgot to update this thread with the final results.

I pulled off the brush bar that the PO had installed. I welded up a little light bar to mount the lights.

Spent all last week camping outside of Tonopah, NV and exploring old mining sites. Did a bit of "in the middle of nowhere" dirt road driving and the lights were exactly what I was hoping for. Good throw distance with enough spill to see around the truck. With these on you can turn the headlights off and never miss them. They look good and work good. Win-Win.

Joanne

 

[jlocster]

Reposted from my build thread in case this helps anyone...

I had bought this 21 inch LED light bar from BlitzPro about a year ago and was underwhelmed from the get go.

It'll be unceremoniously demoted to the rear of the roofrack where it should be more than sufficient for blinding tailgaters.

Looking for an alternative with more throw, I considered Hella 4000s but wasn't impressed by what I read about them or any incandescent offroad lights in terms of output and electrical draw. Seemed that HIDs were the way to go but holy hell, the name brand ones are eye-poppingly expensive.

All of which led me to these courtesy of eBay.

They are the highly regarded "Kragen HIDs" which were popular for their bang for the buck a few years back...until they stopped being sold at Kragen (which is actually O'reilly now in the LA area)...and they came back onto the market with the price doubled under the Rugged Ridge brand name. Google provides many threads about them.

They are 7" and 35 watts. Plastic housing, glass lens, red knock-off "Hella HID" trim ring, plastic stone guard. They come in Euro beam or spot, these are Euro.

Installed on the bumper.

Night shots. Apologize for the quality. Was using a phone.

Low beams

High beams

Low beams with HIDs

Low beams, HIDs, LED fogs

 

[Zubicon]

PIAA Pro 80XT , I've had the same pair now transferred from three rigs and they still look and work lice brand spanking new. Nobody will run in front of me in the desert because they are so darn bright. Rock solid mounts as well

 

[kojackJKU]

I am running my hella 500s from the past 4 vehicles. My 2 f150s, then my patriot and now my JKU. I run 55w 4300K HID systems in these and they are great. Cut a huge hole in the night. for a long distance. I measured off 1000m of light, not reflected but acutal light, I was parked at the top of a hill, illuminating a rock the turn of the road at the other end of the road, and I measured it using my trip meter. 1 km ticked right by the rock. 1000 m = 1KM for our friends south of the border. I ran 4 lights on my F150s and my patriot, but now run 2 on my JKU and they work great.

 

[fourstringfletch]

I'm also listening for value recommendations. Had a recent scare with a black cow on a long straight hwy that I barely missed with my current cheapo lights on.
Thought I was leaning toward LEDs but those new Lightforce Venoms look like a good combo of flood and the sort of spot that would have helped me see that cow.

... not that I have $1k to drop on lights. :drool:

 

[kojackJKU]

Fourstringfletch,

My setup is cheap and is very effective. I love it. 70 bucks for the hella lights, another 40 for the hid kit and you have a very very bright light with lots of spread.