Operation OverlanderZ - Lysol's 2014 JKUR Build

[lysol]

Alright, so I just requested a quote from Mouser for the Hammond box above. Mouser doesn't have them in stock so they have to get ahold of Hammond directly. I'll be placing an order for all the components to build my 12-accessory relay box within the next 2 weeks.

Also, I'm finally picking up a HAM radio (Kenwood TMV71A) - http://www.gigaparts.com/Product-Lines/VHF-UHF-Radios_2/Kenwood-TM-V71A.html

I just used my callsign for the first time the other day on my HT and already want more range.






...And last... I'm thinking about grabbing a pair of these for my front bumper:

Hella Rallye 4000i Xenon 35W HID Flood

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/default/auxiliary-lamps/xenon-lamps/rallye-4000i-xenon-lamp/

They are $400 a piece.... I mean, I would have to spend $800 for a pair. I have heard nothing but amazing things from them though.

 

[lysol]

You know what... I think I might just work on my Dual Battery instead of the lights. Would be much more practical.

 

[Septu]

You know what... I think I might just work on my Dual Battery instead of the lights. Would be much more practical.

I think how practical/useful they are all depends on how much night driving you do - and whether you can use them where you drive (aka do you do lots of city/free way driving where you can't use them?). I live in the sticks in a very remote area, and do a lot of night driving. Aux lights are completely accepted as long as you dim them for oncoming traffic.

I've spend thousands on lights (don't ask - really) looking for that perfect combo of distance and width. So far I'm still looking. But in the process I have found some very good cheap lights that worked wonders, and really surpassed me. Why I just didn't say these are good enough (really they weren't bad at all) and be done with it, I do not know - but I've always been looking for that one light that's slightly better.

Personally my recommendation for others are: just upgrade the headlights (my TLs LEDs make my 10" rigid led bar useless), then buy a pair of the cheap 7" 35w HIDs (whatever the knock off brand name is, ones found on Ebay, etc), and be done. For 99% of the people this would more than suite their needs. That light provides a decent throw (~550 yrds with the eye test - and I mean crap you can see, not what some tool measures) with a decent beam spread. And it costs maybe $250. If you want lights on the pillars, I'd look at Eagle Eye 6" HIDs. Significantly smaller than the big 7" ones. Cheap and durable (I just took off ones I bought 4 years ago and they're still working strong & my brother still has my old ones from 4 years ago), and every effective. Those cost ~120-150 a light depending on whether you went with the 35w or 50w lights.

But I'd start with the headlights. Doesn't look as good as some AUX lights, but from a driveability standpoint, you can use them all the time (city, highway, freeway, backroad, etc) and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck with a solid headlight in place. After having tried Cibies, Hella's (x2), projector HIDs, HIDs in the stockers, TruckLite LEDs, and stocker ones with better bulbs, I've been by far the happiest with the TL LEDs. The Hella's were also very good - the TLs are just better.

 

[HAFICON]

My first part of my relay box project is to figure out where I want to mount it under the hood. I need a spot that I can fit a big enough project-box. I need to see how much clearance I have on the passenger side. If I have enough clearance with the hood closed, I might just put it there on top of something and screw it down. I don't want to put it on top of the batteries.

In total in the box, I will have (2) 8-way lateral fuse blocks, (12) 30-amp SPST relays, (1) timed relay, (3) power junction posts, (1) 5-stud bus bar, and a ton of wiring... lol. I also want to install a master 100-amp circuit breaker with a manual reset but I think that would be best installed on the outside of the box. I want to keep all positive connections/wires covered so I'll have to find one that doesn't use exposed ring/post connectors. I'm also thinking of mounting (2) 8-position terminal barrier strips on the outside so that I don't have to run the accessory cables inside. This would also allow me to just use cable glands on the box to help water/dust proof the box.

Just would give ya a tip o how I mounted my relay box here it works great, I built the bracket was very simple.


Painted to match, bracket uses OEM bolts and holes.

 

[lysol]

I think how practical/useful they are all depends on how much night driving you do - and whether you can use them where you drive (aka do you do lots of city/free way driving where you can't use them?). I live in the sticks in a very remote area, and do a lot of night driving. Aux lights are completely accepted as long as you dim them for oncoming traffic.

I've spend thousands on lights (don't ask - really) looking for that perfect combo of distance and width. So far I'm still looking. But in the process I have found some very good cheap lights that worked wonders, and really surpassed me. Why I just didn't say these are good enough (really they weren't bad at all) and be done with it, I do not know - but I've always been looking for that one light that's slightly better.

Personally my recommendation for others are: just upgrade the headlights (my TLs LEDs make my 10" rigid led bar useless), then buy a pair of the cheap 7" 35w HIDs (whatever the knock off brand name is, ones found on Ebay, etc), and be done. For 99% of the people this would more than suite their needs. That light provides a decent throw (~550 yrds with the eye test - and I mean crap you can see, not what some tool measures) with a decent beam spread. And it costs maybe $250. If you want lights on the pillars, I'd look at Eagle Eye 6" HIDs. Significantly smaller than the big 7" ones. Cheap and durable (I just took off ones I bought 4 years ago and they're still working strong & my brother still has my old ones from 4 years ago), and every effective. Those cost ~120-150 a light depending on whether you went with the 35w or 50w lights.

But I'd start with the headlights. Doesn't look as good as some AUX lights, but from a driveability standpoint, you can use them all the time (city, highway, freeway, backroad, etc) and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck with a solid headlight in place. After having tried Cibies, Hella's (x2), projector HIDs, HIDs in the stockers, TruckLite LEDs, and stocker ones with better bulbs, I've been by far the happiest with the TL LEDs. The Hella's were also very good - the TLs are just better.

Thanks for the tips!!! Yea... I keep going back and forth between cheap and brand name for the bumper lights. I just want a good quality set of flood driving/offroad lights on the bumper. The rest will be cheap brands. I spent probably an entire day trying to find build threads where people installed a set of chinese HID 7" lamps on their trucks, but not many exist.

 

[lysol]

Just would give ya a tip o how I mounted my relay box here it works great, I built the bracket was very simple.


Painted to match, bracket uses OEM bolts and holes.

Thanks for that. I could just make my own with a small piece of metal and my angle grinder.... My plan is to find a decent location that the box will fit, build the box, then build the bracket. I'll have to look at your spot there.

 

[lysol]

This is from last weekend. Long story short, my wife is still in her cast recovering from a broken foot. We just couldn't take it anymore so we packed up the Jeep and headed down to GWNF to watch the sunrise at Flagpole Knob. We left at 315AM from Fairfax, VA and got to the Sheetz gas station in Harrisonburg around 520AM. Bummed out that I couldn't pick up a 6-pack of beer (they can't sell it until 6AM and I forgot mine), we headed up the mountain. We made it to the top in record breaking time. Sunrise was scheduled for 7:20AM and we made it up there right at 7. It was about 38 degrees at Flagpole Knob when we got there. Out came the Carhartt lol...

Playing around with the camera:

This just shows why I love my wife so much... (These are her famous breakfast burritos. Everything cooked straight over the fire)

 

[mikeJKUR]

Great pictures. Me and my wife were on skyline driver yesterday.

 

[kojackJKU]

How about using a set of hella 500 driving beam housings and installing 55w HID in them. I run this and the lights have awesome spread and get 1000m of light in clear night. Again, Using septus real methods of testing lights, YOUR EYES. not some meter or gadget. I have truck lite headlights as well, and they are good, but once I switch on the HIDs the headlights are invisible. I just have wide long spread of light that works amazing for long range and close up lighting.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Awesome trip! :beer:

Great radio choice! I had forgot all about the D71. Got stuck on the TM-D710, but couldn't swallow the price tag. The D71 is a great choice. Did you get the remote mount kit?
I was thinking about mounting the radio on the driver's side above the knee board, then using a mount kit to put the radio head in front of the gear lever, where the net is.
Was seriously considering a Yaesu, but now that you brought up the D71, I may go that way.

 

[lysol]

How about using a set of hella 500 driving beam housings and installing 55w HID in them. I run this and the lights have awesome spread and get 1000m of light in clear night. Again, Using septus real methods of testing lights, YOUR EYES. not some meter or gadget. I have truck lite headlights as well, and they are good, but once I switch on the HIDs the headlights are invisible. I just have wide long spread of light that works amazing for long range and close up lighting.

That might suffice. If I did the retrofit myself, I would probably want a quality HID ballast/bulb. I did an HID-projector retrofit in my motorcycle and eeeevvvverrrryyyyy once in a while, the ballast fails to fire the bulb. This is due to the poor DDM HID ballasts.

 

[kojackJKU]

I used VVME kits, and I can tell you they rock! Also, remember to go with 4300K, anything higher and you get loss of light and your light is dumb blue colored. I had an issue with my Mazda 5 and not firing the light every now and then, but I re ground'ed them and bang o. Perfect. I did the retrofit 5 years ago now and I have yet to see a light that can out perform my setup for the money, and LOTS more. I know that my lighting is much better than rigids of any type from cube to 50". There is nothing with a halogen bulb that will toss light as far as my lights. I had 130w bulbs before and they were no where as good as the 55w HID, (contrary to "Popular belief" of the so called "experts").

I can guarantee you will not be in need of more or better lighting once aimed. Just make sure you get the driving beams and not the FFs.

 

[lysol]

I used VVME kits, and I can tell you they rock! Also, remember to go with 4300K, anything higher and you get loss of light and your light is dumb blue colored. I had an issue with my Mazda 5 and not firing the light every now and then, but I re ground'ed them and bang o. Perfect. I did the retrofit 5 years ago now and I have yet to see a light that can out perform my setup for the money, and LOTS more. I know that my lighting is much better than rigids of any type from cube to 50". There is nothing with a halogen bulb that will toss light as far as my lights. I had 130w bulbs before and they were no where as good as the 55w HID, (contrary to "Popular belief" of the so called "experts").

I can guarantee you will not be in need of more or better lighting once aimed. Just make sure you get the driving beams and not the FFs.

Yea... my motorcycle w/ (2) 55-watt HID projectors puts out more light than my Jeep... lol. I have been looking at the Kragen/Anzo/Rugged Ridge HID offroad lights and they all appear to come in 5000 kelvin. I would accept 5000 but definitely prefer 4300k.

 

[kojackJKU]

I think the hello setup is cheaper than the kragen lights, and from what I have witnessed they perform better.

 

[lysol]

I'm going to hold off on the lights/ham radio at the moment until I complete the baseline of my electrical system upgrade (relay box, at least (1) switch panel, and underhood dual battery).

Dual Battery Components:

Tray - Genesis battery tray minus all the wiring/components. Going to fabricate a new top plate to mount my own components.
Batteries (2) - Diehard - Platinum Marine 34M (68Ah each)
Isolator - Blue Sea - ML-ACR 12V DC 500A Automatic Charging Relay with Manual Control (in-cab mounted switch)
Meter - Victron Energy - BMV-702 (This will give me live "voltage/current/state of charge" of the auxilliary battery as well as the "voltage" of the starter battery. It will even tell me when my battery will be dead if I continue discharging it at the same rate. It uses Puekert's Law. Also, whent the backlight is off it draws less than 4mA...)