Auxiliary light opinions/pics

[epitts]

They are a flood light and will overpower the headlights.

 

[Mainsail]

My lightbar is a converted Whelen Edge 9000 with the cop strobes removed and HIDs in the reflector cups. It's very bright and does a great job of lighting up the entire area around and in front and sides of the truck, but they take about 30 seconds to warm up. I've considered taking the bar off now that I have the landing lights.

 

[Mainsail]

Here are my no-welding required mounting brackets. You'll need two right-angle brackets per, so six for each light bucket or 12 total.

 

[Usafmac]

Thank you mainsail, I have been trying to figure out how to do my par 64 lights for about two and a half years. But I have been looking for already made fixtures that I could throw my light into.

 

[topgun217]

Has anyone tried the Opt7 led off road bars?

 

[Plugugly]

Has anyone tried the Opt7 led off road bars?

I just got this 14" OPT7 combo light for Christmas, my plan is to mount it to the grab handle in center of the hood of my M923A2. I'll post back when it's done, the light itself looks very nice, I just ordered their switch and relay setup to go with it because the reviews seem good and it looks pretty complete.

 

[Wolfamongsheep]

I run HIDs in a "projector" lens I got off of the bay as a kit, just search for h6054 hid. The temp is 4300k h4 bulbs with the LMC wiring harness (a must to run HIDs, you need a relay to fire them properly) and I still have my high/low. I have had them in for a few months without any issues. They are definitely brighter than anything stock but to be honest not as bright as I would like. I use drop in HIDs with a relay in all of my vehicles (5 of them) and they're great! Cheap, easy install. Just make sure you research how to properly install them and re-aim the headlights if need be. I will be picking up a couple of led light bars off the bay soon too, one for the roof and one in the brush guard.

 

[Mainsail]

They are definitely brighter than anything stock but to be honest not as bright as I would like.

If they're brighter than stock, they're more than bright enough for the street. There are other people that need to be able to see besides you. If you need more light for off road, get some off road lights please.

 

[Skinny]

I just drove my Aunt's new Acura SUV with LED lamps, everyone kept flashing me like I had my hi beams on. At some point these things are just out of control bright for other drivers. Be nice to opposing traffic

 

[Artisan]

SS member Gimpyrobb had some nice lights last I saw.

 

[cucvrus]

I just drove my Aunt's new Acura SUV with LED lamps, everyone kept flashing me like I had my hi beams on. At some point these things are just out of control bright for other drivers. Be nice to opposing traffic

I felt quite the opposite. The never cars that have the brighter whiter light don't seem to effect my eyes like the old halogen out of aim headlamps. If you look at new vehicles it is difficult to just whip out a screw driver and mess with the adjustment. I see some of the new cars that you can look at the lights while they are coming towards you in the opposite lane and they hardly look bright. But get directly in front of them and bend down and look into the beam. Blinding. My new truck has awesome headlamps. They are very well aimed and really light up the road. On the other hand the after market lights people put on the vehicles are a safety hazard. They are un aimed and out of focus and just annoying. They should not be used towards on coming traffic. I call them 12 gauge lights. One should have a 12 gauge mounted on the left side of your vehicle and extinguish them annoying safety hazards.

 

[Storm 51]

Has anyone tried using the military Riggers Lights? They have a high and low beam and were mostly used on wreckers. The are military lights so they look correct on the vehicle and the protection brackets make it look like a standard military configuration so the police don't even notice them. They also have waterproof Packard connectors, are 24 VDC with a thick, separate lens (either infrared or clear) over the bulb.

I'm thinking of putting a pair just behind the front bumper of my truck on a separate switch wired into the light system.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I'm thinking of putting a pair just behind the front bumper of my truck on a separate switch wired into the light system.

The lights sound great, but that last part scares me a bit. First of all, these trucks have 12v lighting systems. Second, the headlight circuit is overloaded as it comes from the factory. Adding something to it is not a good idea.

What did you have in mind? Just aux lights for off-road, or work use? Or do you want them to come on with your headlight?

 

[tim292stro]

A headlight powered switch wired into a relay-coil on a stock CUCV would work - you'd have two batteries in series giving 24V normally for the Starter+glow plug power. This with the switched side of the relay would provide 24V, and of the toggle switch was powered from the headlight circuit you wouldn't have to remember to turn it off when you turn your other lights off, and also wouldn't put much of any of a load on the OEM wiring.

It's actually a slick idea .

 

[Storm 51]

I haven't done this yet, just thinking about it and was wondering if anyone else had tried it.

I would really like to see pictures of the installation and hear their thoughts on how well or poorly it worked (if someone had actually done it).

 

[tim292stro]

My plan is to do something similar with armor headlights, but my truck is a "former Civilian" (ha! ), and I'm building my own wiring harness so wouldn't be even close...

Quick Photoshop of the planned layout:


Where the star is in the picture (where the license plate goes on civi trucks), will have a winch fairlead for a center-mount winch (pulley/hook points at: front, rear, bed - like a Unimog setup).

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

A headlight powered switch wired into a relay-coil on a stock CUCV would work - you'd have two batteries in series giving 24V normally for the Starter+glow plug power. This with the switched side of the relay would provide 24V, and of the toggle switch was powered from the headlight circuit you wouldn't have to remember to turn it off when you turn your other lights off, and also wouldn't put much of any of a load on the OEM wiring.

It's actually a slick idea .

Yep. That's the right way to do it. No load to speak of on the OEM circuit. Switch the ground, use the OEM circuit for the hot side of the coil, and you're good to go.

 

[Storm 51]

Those "armor headlights" look like riggers lights which are used on the M88 tracked recovery vehicles and others. The true armor headlights are a dual light assembly with one infrared and one clear headlight side by side. The riggers lights have a high and low beam which is why I like them.

 

[tim292stro]

The armor headlights do have high/low... In my application I'm tearing out the original guts to make it my own with 500Watt COB LEDs. What you're describing sounds like the headlight from an M60 tank (IR+White headlight, blackout drive light, and blackout marker):

 

[richingalveston]

fyi, the armored head lights get very hot. I have IR lenses in mine and I checked it with a IR heat thermometer and the housing was at 225 degrees. The center of the lens was over 300 degrees.
mount them where someone cannot touch them and where they are not touching anything else or it will get burned. I would like to get cages for mine so the lens cannot burn anyone.

This temp reading was taken with the light on for only 15 minutes.