Need some advice on spot lights

[oneinkedgeek]

Ive just added a cargo roof tray on top of my truck,

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 23&t=35139

what im looking for is some spotlights for the front but i dont really want anything too large or round and it totally about being functional rather than a visual thing... i was hoping to find something rectangle and medium size to give me enough light for driving up and down the beach at night and the odd night ralley.... I was thinking smaller rectangle type shape so i could mount under the front bar of the roof cage to try and prevent them from being ripped off from low hanging branches

Next question would be HID VS LED... has anyone tried running LED spot lights?

[3.5Pajero]

What’s your budget like? if you have a few $$ to spare I'd be going for an LED light bar. LED's have come a long way since they were just a little flashing red light on the computer. I did a bit of experimenting with the CREE XM-L T6 LED’s a while back because I couldn’t afford to buy a pre made light bar. Those things are incredible!! But if you are going to get a light bar you really need to buy good quality because heat becomes an issue when you are driving them hard and they need a good heat sink to last - would look pretty good under your cargo rack too.

[oneinkedgeek]

Hey thanks for the reply... yeah i havnt really thought about $$ too much, but didnt really want to spend more than 200-300 bucks, that image below looks pretty good, is that something off trademe ?

What’s your budget like? if you have a few $$ to spare I'd be going for an LED light bar. LED's have come a long way since they were just a little flashing red light on the computer. I did a bit of experimenting with the CREE XM-L T6 LED’s a while back because I couldn’t afford to buy a pre made light bar. Those things are incredible!! But if you are going to get a light bar you really need to buy good quality because heat becomes an issue when you are driving them hard and they need a good heat sink to last - would look pretty good under your cargo rack too.

[3.5Pajero]

Unfortunately a light bar will set you back abit more than your budget. You can get them off trademe, but I would stay away from those to be honest - be more trouble than they are worth.
Have a look at the 4wdbits website, he's got some pretty good choices at decent prices...

http://www.4wdbits.co.nz/ProductsList.a ... goryID=127

or if your a bit of a DIY kind of guy, you could always custom make your own crazy super bright light bar.

http://www.kaidomain.com

Has everything you need to get set up - LED's, drivers & optics - you would just need to make up the 'bar' and heatsink. I've brought a few bits from Kaidomain to modify torches and they are pretty reliable + free shipping.
As I said before the CREE XM-L T6 Cool White LEDs are incredible, you can drive them at 3Amps if your heatsinks good enough and just one will light up the entire back yard - put 20 of them together with narrow angle optics and you would have something pretty crazy. I think I paid about $6-$7 per LED and a 3A driver wasn't much more...$300 and a bit of your time would give you something others would be envious of...

[Dirtydog]

ive got the super cheap auto brand ones, just standard sort of bulb, took the standard ones out and replaced them with some brighter ones.

works really well, lights up atleast 200ms in front of the truck, theyre nice and small, and quite cheap, i think around 60 bucks a pair, i picked two for that price when they were on special.

not the kind of thing i would have up the front, as they wouldnt tolerate a beating, but theyre fine up on the roof. also come with covers so they can be classed as work lamps.

bonus thing about 4 seperate lights vs a light bar, is if you want 2 pointing fowards and 2 off to each side (example bunny shooting) you just need a spanner.

[bob_or_jim]

Hey mate, Hella 550 square head lights are $85ish from places like BNT. Then get a HID kit and hook it to your high beam. Pretty sure the lamp is H1. You can get the kit from Ali Express

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/55W-12v-SUPER-Slim-XENON-HID-KIT-H1-H3-H4-H7-H8-H10-H11-9005-9006/673697305.html

So with 2 head lights and the kit your looking at approx $215

Leds are getting very grunty as well but its the cost that kills them at the moment.

M2C

[mudbugga]

A couple of links here that are worth having a look at.

http://www.lightforce.net.au/images/pag ... %20LR2.pdf

And these lights are amazing!
http://fyrlyt.com/

[oneinkedgeek]

cheers man, shops should be open again tomorrow so ill go and have a look at the supoercheap auto ones.

ive got the super cheap auto brand ones, just standard sort of bulb, took the standard ones out and replaced them with some brighter ones.

works really well, lights up atleast 200ms in front of the truck, theyre nice and small, and quite cheap, i think around 60 bucks a pair, i picked two for that price when they were on special.

not the kind of thing i would have up the front, as they wouldnt tolerate a beating, but theyre fine up on the roof. also come with covers so they can be classed as work lamps.

bonus thing about 4 seperate lights vs a light bar, is if you want 2 pointing fowards and 2 off to each side (example bunny shooting) you just need a spanner.

[oneinkedgeek]

after doing a bit of looking around, i see what you mean, very pricey

Hey mate, Hella 550 square head lights are $85ish from places like BNT. Then get a HID kit and hook it to your high beam. Pretty sure the lamp is H1. You can get the kit from Ali Express

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/55W-12v-SUPER-Slim-XENON-HID-KIT-H1-H3-H4-H7-H8-H10-H11-9005-9006/673697305.html

So with 2 head lights and the kit your looking at approx $215

Leds are getting very grunty as well but its the cost that kills them at the moment.

M2C

[oneinkedgeek]

thanks for the link, that pdf file has an awesome overview of all the options....cheers !

A couple of links here that are worth having a look at.

http://www.lightforce.net.au/images/pag ... %20LR2.pdf

And these lights are amazing!
http://fyrlyt.com/

[Craydiver]

I would suggest you consider upgrading your main lights.
Just installed HID 55w (prob only 40w in real terms) into my 88 GQ SWB safari
Huge difference to the old 75w halogen. Great light, but not over the top.
Good enough that I will remove some old spots which are redundant now.

I do a bit of hunting and access tracks at night so lighting is important.
Don't have much history with them yet (will do with the roar), but impressed with what ive seen.
Easy to install, if the HID fails, its as simple as putting old halogen bulb back in, and plugging in old plug (one existing plug is used to switch the hi/lo of HID).
If I need wider spread close in, it will be multiple smaller LED light bars for local illum around vehicle. important when on tracks at night, its the angles on corners and looking down into dips holes which I find to be the blind spots.
if distance then, good halogen or HID. - good quality reflectors are the key here - this is where you will spend money.

[oneinkedgeek]

Thats actually not a bad idea and something which i hadnt considered yet, ill look into the cost.. ideally what id like to do is have decent headlights and even just a couple of smaller spots up top.

I would suggest you consider upgrading your main lights.
Just installed HID 55w (prob only 40w in real terms) into my 88 GQ SWB safari
Huge difference to the old 75w halogen. Great light, but not over the top.
Good enough that I will remove some old spots which are redundant now.

I do a bit of hunting and access tracks at night so lighting is important.
Don't have much history with them yet (will do with the roar), but impressed with what ive seen.
Easy to install, if the HID fails, its as simple as putting old halogen bulb back in, and plugging in old plug (one existing plug is used to switch the hi/lo of HID).
If I need wider spread close in, it will be multiple smaller LED light bars for local illum around vehicle. important when on tracks at night, its the angles on corners and looking down into dips holes which I find to be the blind spots.
if distance then, good halogen or HID. - good quality reflectors are the key here - this is where you will spend money.

[mudbugga]

Problem with that idea is retro fitted HID kits will not pass the next WoF.

Here's the link to the WoF VIRM so you can have a read of what AVI's have to abide by.
http://vehicleinspection.nzta.govt.nz/v ... l/lighting

[Chairmen]

You could always just replace your high beam bulbs with the HID kit, that way its there for you when you need it an your save blinding every poor bugger coming your way on the opposite side of the road at night too ,
As the problem with the HID kits is the the bulbs don't sit true in the head light leans so the light emitted doesn't reflect off the way the manufacturer designed it too an tends to throw light all over the show.

Don't meant too be a downer, the HID kits produce good bright light at a descent price, I am a fan of HID technology as its cheap an dose a good job.

I tend too think their more suited too bush trucks an trailer queens, opposed to a road legal weapon...

[Craydiver]

[size=85]Note 8
A high-intensity discharge (HID or Xenon HID) conversion kit consists of an HID bulb with a high voltage power output or ‘ballast’ which fits into the original headlamp unit in place of the original bulb with no change to the headlamp lens, reflector or housing.
It is illegal to fit an HID conversion kit to a vehicle as it brings the headlamp out of standards compliance by producing poor beam patterns and light that is far too bright to be safe. The bulbs can also produce light that is noticeably blue and not the required substantially white or amber colour. Vehicle and headlamp manufacturers do not permit this modification, and these kits cannot be LVV certified.
It is permitted to replace a complete halogen headlamp unit with a complete HID headlamp unit.[/size]

Bugger!Thanks guys I just learnt something, my saf is WOF, so I will have to revert to old halogens for WOF, it is literally now a 2 minute swap so the HID may be purely for when im down bush. ironically the saf with HID is about as good as my late model hilux ie its not over the top

[bob_or_jim]

That is all true with driving head lights. I have my HIDs fitted to Hella 2000's. They are operated off the high beam and dont seem to be an issue for Mr Wof man.