Auxiliary lights

[bat]

I think lighting should be done as to your vehicle makeup. Why would someone spend money on lights that you can see a mile down the road. The only reason I would what lights to travel that far would be in a race car or offroad buggy. How often are you going to out drive your lights with an expedition vehicle. I say keep it simple light up the side view and maybe some driving lights to extend past the headlights. Why spend so money on lights when you could put it in suspension or expedition stuff.

 

[Tanto]

I agree with that and plan two on the corners at a 45 and two in the center so I can see low tree limbs and such. Then one more out back for reverse situations.

 

[crawler#976]

I think lighting should be done as to your vehicle makeup.

I couldn't agree more!

Why would someone spend money on lights that you can see a mile down the road. The only reason I would what lights to travel that far would be in a race car or offroad buggy. How often are you going to out drive your lights with an expedition vehicle. I say keep it simple light up the side view and maybe some driving lights to extend past the headlights. Why spend so money on lights when you could put it in suspension or expedition stuff.

I'm real fond of some long range lights when traveling the back country. Both our Tacoma's have been upgraded from Hella 500's modified to take 100W bulbs to Euro beam HID's this year, and I couldn't be happier. The Euro beam pattern takes care of both near and far, and the HID light is pretty much like daylight vs. the yellow colored light from a halogen bulb.

We live in cattle country, and frequently travel in areas where Elk are the predominate large game animal. Many of the back roads are paved or very good dirt roads with speed limits from 35 to 55 MPH. Other than the cream colored rump of an Elk, they blend into a dark back ground pretty well. We seem to have a lot of Black Angus up in the high country, and they just flat disappear at night. The Hella's helped us spot critters in time to slow down safely, and the new lights are showing us even more animals we were missing previously.

Mark

 

[xcmountain80]

I think lighting should be done as to your vehicle makeup. Why would someone spend money on lights that you can see a mile down the road. The only reason I would what lights to travel that far would be in a race car or offroad buggy. How often are you going to out drive your lights with an expedition vehicle. I say keep it simple light up the side view and maybe some driving lights to extend past the headlights. Why spend so money on lights when you could put it in suspension or expedition stuff.

Perhaps if your expo rig is a DD and you often travel in the middle of the night on desolate roads that can be cluttered with large animals and you avg speed is near 65mph or a little better. Long range light are handy, it gives me ample time to react to the situation at hand.

Aaron

 

[bat]

I guess if I was driving down a road cluttered with large animals at night going 65+ mph I would want long range lights or maybe slow down.

 

[madizell]

for those of you mounting lights on your rack, (tacoma specific), where are you tapping into for a power source?

Tapping into power for off road lights isn't really a vehicle specific thing. Use relays, draw power direct from the battery with appropriate fuse in line, and use either stock switches or your favorite toggle inside. Many states require that such lights only come on with your high beams, and if so, use a high beam signal as a trigger for the relay with the dash switch as an interrupt of that trigger signal. This way none of your switches carries a high load, and all lights get the benefit of 14V direct from the source.

 

[xcmountain80]

I guess if I was driving down a road cluttered with large animals at night going 65+ mph I would want long range lights or maybe slow down.

Slow down? Man these are hard time we can use whatever meat we can get! They are handy, I was thinking of switching to another system with mid range and fog. Though with the yellow diffuser lenses it decreases the range and widens the pattern. Though with the ARB it is hard to mount any fog low enough w/o them getting ripped off.

Aaron

 

[xcmountain80]

Tapping into power for off road lights isn't really a vehicle specific thing. Use relays, draw power direct from the battery with appropriate fuse in line, and use either stock switches or your favorite toggle inside. Many states require that such lights only come on with your high beams, and if so, use a high beam signal as a trigger for the relay with the dash switch as an interrupt of that trigger signal. This way none of your switches carries a high load, and all lights get the benefit of 14V direct from the source.

This is to true I know to many folks who try and tap inline with headlight for power and end up frying the wiring.

Aaron

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I have two Hella 1000FF's on my ARB with 100W bulbs, and in concert with the stock high and low beams, it's plenty of light for driving on desolate highways at night with giant rats (deer) around.

I would like a little more side lighting but not much I can do about that.

If I put lights on the roof, they'll be for closer in, throwing light down into holes.

 

[xcmountain80]

While we are discussing lights and filters I'll post this in show me your lights as well for additional feedback. I have a 02 4Runner and when I went for an aftermarket bumper I lost my fog lights (I really like the factory hella lights). Today while I was driving home I though hmm what if I left my aux light relay hooked up to 1 LF 240 with a Yellow disp filter, and the other hooked into my fog relay for Hi/ Low applications of course I have the option of either both yellow 1 disp and 1 spot or both clear in the same format as the yellow or with the currently available in my garage 1 clear spot and 1 diffuser yellow. When I swapped the bumper I Used the universal 2 plug connector to wire the turn signals the fog lights the auxiliary lights so in the event the bumper needed to be pulled there was no cutting and re splicing involved.


Aaron

 

[JamesDowning]

I'll bring this thread back to life. I figured I would post up a couple opinions here.

I had originally made my roof rack lightbar on a tight budget. I used 4 55W Blazer Baja tractor lights. These were cheapies, a mere $30 a pair. So, I essentially have 220 W on the roof rack. The light output was certainly disappointing, but it did it's job. The light from the roof helps a bunch on dark and wet or snow covered roads and trails. The light seems to bounce less off the reflective surfaces, which provides for a seemingly brighter road. They also cut down a good deal on pothole shadows.

Working on a higher budget, I was able to be a little more picky when purchasing grille lights. After reading reviews, I finally chose a pair of Hella Rallye 4000 Cornering beams. While the pair cost nearly $250, the light beam is incredible. The beam is probably 140 degrees wide, yet the horizontal cut off is perfectly at the centerline. I can drive around with them on, and never get flashed by oncoming vehicles. The amount of light is amazing too. They seem at least twice as bright as my low beams, and I can easily see more with ONLY them on, as opposed to my low beams.

I was previously under the impression that all lights were essentially the same. Boy I was wrong. The higher priced Hellas are certainly worth the added cost if you have the budget.

Here's the compulsory lights-on pose picture.

I'll certainly reccommend the Hella 4000s, especially the cornering beam pattern. I'm now shopping around for replacements for the roof lights. I've got to bring them up to par with the Hellas!