Light bar opinions for 2018 (for driving not for show)

[bet on black]

i use an off brand 20" quad row LED bar on mine. going on its second season, and working great! got it off amazon for cheap. it works great as a high beam, actually i don't use the factory high beams anymore. i just flip the bar on and off as needed.

[TheLetterJ]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Trucklite sealed beam LED headlights.. with one caveat: they don’t generate enough heat to melt snow.

I have the Trucklite's on another vehicle, and while they are exponentially better than sealed beams, as well as better than Hella E-code housings with LED bulbs, I've found better lights for far less money.

Matter of fact, I installed these: https://www.amazon.com/Headlights-He...ram+110w&psc=1 a week or so ago, and the low beam is MUCH better than any of the other lights I mentioned, having smooth light with no hot spots and excellent side illumination. The beam cut off isn't razor sharp, but pretty dang good. High beam doesn't throw quite as far as my other lights, but is still very good. High beam has more of a "cone" of light, which is something that I really appreciate in hilly terrain as it throws light up enough to illuminate ahead when your pointed down hill. I almost hate to say it, but one of my good friends has HID projectors from a well known (around here) vendor, and you'd be hard pressed to tell any difference in light pattern/output compared to my $90 LED projectors.

Simplesez: I'd strongly suggest upgrading your primary/low beams first. It sucks going from all the light in the world on high beam/aux lighting, to mediocre on low when you meet oncoming traffic. Having such a drastic difference between high and low will make it seem as if you've gone blind when you flip back to low.

I didn't see it posted, do you have the plastic "euro" housings, or 6054 sealed beams? If sealed beams, I can fully recommend the conversions (direct drop in replacement) that I linked above.

As for light bars, I don't believe that any auxilary lighting has to meet any DOT requirements as long as they're not being used as your primary lighting, and not mounted any higher than your state allows. Of course, that assumes that you'll treat them as your high beam, and turn them off when meeting oncoming traffic. In CA, you can have a total of 4 forward facing lights (housings) installed, any more than that and they are supposed to be covered while onroad. That's not a problem on our vans since they only have 2 headlights, as long as you mount your light bar below the stock headlights, I don't see you having any problems. I know that a 20" curved bar fits nicely behind the "mouth" of my stock '98 bumper. If you browse around, you can find the single row type (bigger individual reflectors) that have yellow filters over floods at the edges, and clear spots in the center. Being that your desired use is on graded roads, I'd bet you'd get along great with an off brand bar.

[simplesez]

I have the plastic euro housings on my 1996 E350

[Bbasso]

Hella 700FF. Plenty of light, enough heat to keep clear of snow and I think are legal.
I have them for years on multiple vehicles for adverse weather.

[TomsBeast]

Originally Posted by TheLetterJ

...I've found better lights for far less money.

Matter of fact, I installed these: https://www.amazon.com/Headlights-He...ram+110w&psc=1 a week or so ago, and the low beam is MUCH better than any of the other lights I mentioned, ...my good friends has HID projectors from a well known (around here) vendor, and you'd be hard pressed to tell any difference in light pattern/output compared to my $90 LED projectors.

I don't want to take the focus off of light bars, but the above from TheLetterJ was rather illuminating (working on my 'Dad jokes and bad puns' before my kids come over for xmas).


Like Simplesez, I currently have composite headlight assemblies on my van, and they suck. I'm sure they are fantastic, but I just don't have $700 for the LED upgrade offered by a forum member right now. I had been contemplating just switching to sealed beams using junkyard parts, throwing the dice so to speak, just to get away from the garbage light pattern of my aftermarket replacement composite throw off. They are that bad.



If I scrounge up the holders, surrounds, and outside bezels from a sealed beam econoline cargo van, maybe wire in a different plug to, will the Jeep Wrangler OSRAM 5x7 LED units in the Amazon link simply 'plug-n-play'??

[BroncoHauler]

May not be an issue in CO with all the wheelers out there, but I know in CA all aux lights had to have opaque covers on them while the rig was on roads. The intent being that they are impossible to use while on the road, and you can get a ticket if your aux lights are uncovered.




Herb

[BUFFALO]

Theletterj-
Regarding the lights you linked to, how is the color of the light? It says 6000k and the white light color seems to be distracting to me. Do they seem bright because of the color or the actual pattern that they have?
And have you felt them to see if they generate any heat on the lens? As in enough to keep them from icing up in winter conditions?

Thanks for the info on your previous post and any further info.

[TheLetterJ]

Judging by my previous HID's and LED's K rating (however true to advertising those were?), I'd say these "Amazon specials" are much closer to 5,000k than 6,000k. I'm not at all a fan of "blue" lights and generally prefer 4500-5000k, and these seem like they fall in that range. Unfortunately (for those that live in icy conditions) I doubt they'll put off enough heat to keep the lenses from frosting up. Trucklite does make a heated version, but then you'd be back up to the $5-600 range. My last H4 conversion LED's had a fan on the back of them that would blow across the heat sinks and toward the housing, and you could feel some warmth on the lenses from those... but the pattern was not nearly as smooth/clean as even these inexpensive projectors.

I'm in no way claiming to be an expert, but I have had a few different higher end lights over the years, and these cheapies are surprisingly decent by comparison. My old Hella Rallye 4000 HID's still had the best long range throw I've experienced, and my 6 1/2" Cibie's had the nicest close/midrange fill (speaking to their pattern, not all-out brightness), but those both had a very conical pattern with no cutoff and are a bit gaudy by most people's standards. The Baja Designs Squadron gave a lot of bang for the buck and could give both flood and spot beams with a combo lens (which makes them the best at neither, but is a reasonable compromise, possibly my favorite for primary lighting on offroad motorcycles), or you can even add a filter if you'd prefer. The Squadron is a relatively small package so they can be mounted just about anywhere, and they won't stand out like a sore thumb when they're off.

If ice is the norm, maybe some high powered halogens aren't such a bad idea? Like Bbasso said, they'd put off enough heat to keep the frost at bay, as well as a warmer color temperature to reduce glare.

[BUFFALO]

I currently am running some home made projector reftorfits using the old Hella e55 projectors. They are pretty good for the price. All i bought was the housings.
I would like to try some led’s but the fact they aren’t heated in cheaper models kind of kills it for me. We do winter camp and ski in the van so it is a factor.
Thanks for the info!
I also have some Hella 4000 hid pencil beams and I’m pretty impressed with the distance they throw the light!
I don’t really have a use for them any longer and am considering trying to sell them to fund some other light to try.

[biggordo]

Check out https://www.vantageoptics.com/ the member redoval makes retrofit projector headlights and that is his website. He also has other lighting for our vans light bars and driving lights.