Newbie - Flood lights ignorance

[FettsWay]

I have been wanting to get some flood lights for my nissan hardbody. Preferably mounted to my over the cab yakima bar or on my front grill.

Never have I been exposed to how these work, get rigged up, or how to turn them on and off. I am basically a guy that would have to walk into an auto shop and be at the mercy of whoever I could pay to do it.

So my general questions are:

what is a very economic brand to provide more additional lighting?

how (non-specific for now) do they connect to the current lighting system and how do I turn them on?

are the lights removable to avoid theft, yet while leaving the wiring in place?

I have read some of the posts on lights, but still struggling with understanding some things.

thanks.

 

[roscoFJ73]

what is a very economic brand to provide more additional lighting?

You get what you pay for. There are cheap chinese copies that may last.
The better quality types are probably more weatherproof and have beter wiring.
Good quality used ones from the classifieds might be an option.
Im using 25 yo german made Hella lights on my bullbar. They were expensive in their day but look at the life span:sombrero:

how (non-specific for now) do they connect to the current lighting system and how do I turn them on?

Normally they are wired either to a spare fuse slot on the fuse board or are wired direct to the battery with an in line fuse(easiest for beginners).
You also have an inline switch fixed in the dash or overhead.
If you want them to come on when you use the headlights,you need a relay that picks up a signal from the headlights and then turns on your roof lights.
You can still use a switch to overide it
Most lights come as complete kits with directions these days

are the lights removable to avoid theft, yet while leaving the wiring in place?

Its possible .You will need insulated plugs in case the lights are accidentlly turned on when the lights are removed

I have read some of the posts on lights, but still struggling with understanding some things.

Get yourself a test lamp and cheap multimeter(I got one for $20 and it works great) and start doing the simple stuff
Most workshop manuals have step by step directions for doing basic circuit testing.
Plenty of simple diagrams if you search on google
Take some time to practice good crimping technique and look how the pros do things to make wiring neat.

 

[miller_au]

Hey mate, Rosco has put up some good answers there..

you can get locking nuts to stop your lights from getting stolen.

there are also plenty of plug and play spot light looms on the market they come with the relay, wiring, switch and usually very clear instructions.

 

[TeriAnn]

You are almost certainly going to need to drill a hole in your car to get the wiring up to the top of the vehicle. The easiest routing is to use a hole for a snorkel and route the wires behind the snorkel.

But First ... do you really want to do it? Roof lights are great for trail driving at night. But most states require them to be covered when driving on public roads. This of course makes them useless for regular driving.

Lights mounted on top of the bumper are both easier to wire and can be used anywhere. I suggest looking there first then to the roof.

Go for high quality lighting. IPF lights are about the cheapest quality lights out there

Some IPF lights

Also scout out ebay and other places for second hand lights. Top quality lights usually sell used for a small faction of their original price.

I purchased these Hella 3000 Rallye lights for $30 each 11 years ago. Four for about the price of a single new one.
They still work & look good (2008 picture)​

 

[madizell]

If you mount Wal-Mart cheapies, no one is going to steal them. In all the years I have been driving a vehicle with extra lights, no one has ever attempted to steal the lights, whether they were the cheap kind or the $1,300 HID's. Unless you live in a war zone, I wouldn't worry about it.

Most any light that comes with a wiring harness also comes with instructions on how to install the lights. It really isn't all that hard to do. Just give it a try, and if you get lost, you will have more specific questions to ask.

What kind of lights to buy depends on money, of course, but also on what you want to use them for. On road or off road, slow speeds or high speeds, and so on. Flood lights work best for close up work off road which tends to dictate slow speeds if floods are all you have. They fill in well on trails, but offer nothing much of use driving on the street, not to mention that they tend to dazzle everyone else on the road. Floods are not to be confused with fog lights, which are completely different.

 

[rickc]

A comment of disagreement! "IPF are not the cheapest quality out there" just look and you will find a lot of really good and realy tacky stuff. Your choice of lamps should be defined by either what you want them to do for you and/or what you want your truck to look like and how much you can spend! I much prefer plastic-bodied lamps to metal; no rust and generally very tough. I found the IPF loom and relays to be very good but I do not like the little computer mouse style switches.

I have IPF, Lightforce and PIAA lamps and like them all. Each serves a discreet purpose. I looked around a lot before I chose my IPF816s for rear lighting and IPF868s up front. The front lamps are roof-mounted for better peripheral lighting and supplementary front lighting. The pair of Lightforce 240XGTs are up top for serious front end lighting and the PIAAs are low, double bulb driving/fog combos.

Teriann's comments about roof mounting are very valid. In almost every state and province you must cover up off road roof lamps unless you are off road. You also have to watch out for hood glare from high lamps. It is a good idea to check your local lighting regulations.

 

[Jeep]

You might want to consider mounting a spot beam up top and keep the floods below the hood line for forward lighting. JMO

 

[FettsWay]

thanks to all who have posted back.

I am not going to use the lights that often, but only when on the backroads or in some bad weather where the lights won't interfere other cars. I don't offroad, but I would like extra light around the lake and river.

i think I will try my hand with the lower end priced lights and see if I can do the setup..then upgrade later if I find that the need for lights is more than I currenlty believe it to be.