What roof rack lights do you run?

[Expedition Key]

I've got a 2005 Xterra with a Gobi Stealth rack. I'm leaning towards buying (4) PIAA 510 ATP. They are 4" halogen which I prefer the light of over LED. What do you guys think? I'll be using them for trails in Northern CA and AZ. No real high speed driving, I'm wanting more of a spread.

Thanks for your input,
Kye

 

[Ducky's Dad]

I used PIAAs until I got a set of Hella halogens. Much prefer the Hellas in terms of output and patterns. Build quality on the PIAAs is excellent, but I found that they just did not put out as much light as I had expected. I still have PIAA driving and fog lamps on one truck, and Hella driving and fog on the other truck. Don't believe PIAA's bulb hype about "55W=85W." It's a bunch of hooey. And if you go PIAA, don't get their blue-coated capsules, because the coating actually reduces usable light output. I think PIAAs are still a little more compact than the comparable Hellas, and they may be a better physical fit for some applications.

 

[jonny.jpg]

Hella 500s

They're just enough light IMO.


"Adventure is out there."
-Russell, Pixar's Up

 

[Jack Stilts]

Sir, are you aware that there is a bulldozer mounting your Xterra?

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Sir, are you aware that there is a bulldozer mounting your Xterra?

I was about to post the same thing, pretty funny how that angle was just right to look like it is on top of it.

 

[drewactual]

i can't wait to see that love child......

 

[thethePete]

2nd the Hella 500 option. For halogen it's tough to beat them PIAA isn't worth the money, especially if they don't give as much light. I've always been a Hella guy myself, so I could never justify paying nearly double for "the same" light from PIAA.

500s are like $100/pair, so dirt cheap if something happens to them, and I rewired mine shortly after to run 100w bulbs. Easy to do (you can re-wire right from the bulb) and 100w bulbs are available on the shelf (at least in Canada). They use a glass housing so you can run hot bulbs without fear of melting them down.

 

[jonny.jpg]

2nd the Hella 500 option. For halogen it's tough to beat them PIAA isn't worth the money, especially if they don't give as much light. I've always been a Hella guy myself, so I could never justify paying nearly double for "the same" light from PIAA.

500s are like $100/pair, so dirt cheap if something happens to them, and I rewired mine shortly after to run 100w bulbs. Easy to do (you can re-wire right from the bulb) and 100w bulbs are available on the shelf (at least in Canada). They use a glass housing so you can run hot bulbs without fear of melting them down.

I think in eBay you can find them for around $60-70. I bought 4 used for $90.

These lights are popular option, that they run through the grapevine, and can easily find used ones on nearly every off-road forum, or Facebook group.


"Adventure is out there."
-Russell, Pixar's Up

 

[jonny.jpg]

Sir, are you aware that there is a bulldozer mounting your Xterra?

I was about to post the same thing, pretty funny how that angle was just right to look like it is on top of it.

i can't wait to see that love child......

It comes to show the power of my Gobi rack.


"Adventure is out there."
-Russell, Pixar's Up

 

[drewactual]

mine work 'purt good.... but no heavy equipment has ever tried to have it's way with me... that's either really good, or disappointing... I'll contemplate that later...



I run the LED's on the winch tray for wash, and the HID's up top for throw.. I removed the HID's for Halogen up top in front, and wish I could change the temperature of the LED's on the tray... there is a big difference between bright light and usable light... washing out the trail became a ream problem up close at low speeds... I've never and won't have a problem with outrunning the light, so the halogen at around 6k degrees is more than fine... and I've ran PIAA and Hella, and don't see enough difference to justify the $$$ between it and relatively cheap cost of amazon sourced lights...

 

[kojackJKU]

I have hella 500s with 4300k 55w hid installed in them...One of the few halogen housings that take to hid retrofits correctly. The output from them is much more than the 130w halogen I had in before, and close to the same light color. They are great.

 

[SC Lucas]

I have a 42" cheapo Chinese led light bar (brand: newcomdigi/eyourlife if you're wondering) that I have on a custom roof rack built off of a Backrack brand headache rack. Had the light bar for about 3 years now and it's never let me down (knock on wood lol) and had the roofrack for a little over a year now. *ive never posted pics on here so I'm just doing it the way I'm used to on other forums. If it doesn't show up correctly my apologies*

 

[randy h]

I have mounted 3 inexpensive 14.5" LED Spot light bars and 2 Rear Flood LED's to my roof rack.

Front
From Superbrightleds.com , 5400 Lumens each. I have had these for over 5 years and they are great. As of this posting they are only 100 US Dollars. Link to site page.

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Here in the Arizona sun the shells have chalked up a bit, but functionally not an issue. I bang low hanging limbs with these all the time.
Back of lights showing sun fade on shell.

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Rear
From Superbrightleds.com , a little over 2000 Lumens each. Selling for 50 US Dollars. Link to site page.

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Since my roof rack is nearly all tubing, I use these PIAA 74000 7/8"-1.25" L-Brackets. Found them to be very strong and versatile, allowing me to mount to the outside Light Bars at an angle. Here is a link to the current Amazon listing for these. The ones selling now are a little more expensive than when I bought them and they have added a second mount hole to the swivel leg.

A close up of the mount in use.

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I have wired the switches for all 5 of these lights to have a power source from IGN ON circuit, or when toggled, from my house battery. I will be adding Reverse Gear trigger to the rear floods.

Due to the desert heat, we end up on the trails at night quite often. These lights make finding side trails and seeing a good path in front me, really easy. I am usually pulling a trailer with two quads on it. Those rear floods are aimed down the side of the trailer to help with backing up at night. Good for camp setup too, but at some point I want to mount the rear floods onto extendable poles instead of the roof rack. Hoping to make them even more useful within camp.

randy

 

[SportsmanJake]

I've got 4 Hella 500s mounted to my Yakima basket.

 

[kojackJKU]

I've got 4 Hella 500s mounted to my Yakima basket.

View attachment 332812

awesome rig! love it. any lift?