Baja Designs Squadron Sport vs. Rigid Duelly / D2

[65plymouth]

Ok..

Looking at LED pods to replace my fogs and am specifically looking at the Baja Designs Squadron Sports vs. The Rigid Duelly or D2 lights. My feeling is that both companies make good products but the BD lights seem to get rave reviews on the web. Regardless of what I end up going with, I would like to hear from those that have replaced their OEM fogs with LEDs and are familiar/have either of the make/models I mentioned. It looks like I can get the BD squadron sports for around $500 including brackets and wiring harnesses and the Rigid's would be a bit less. For some reason the Rigid D2 "Hyperspot" is considerably more than the regular pattern D2.. not sure why or if the "hyperspot" pattern is something that would be useful.

A few specific points I would like to address:

1) Which combination did you use? Both manufactures have driving, flood, cornering, spot and Rigid has the "hyperspot". I will be using these mainly on back roads and logging roads. We have tons of deer/car accidents here in MI. I would like something that adds some usable light for these situations. I will not be using them when oncoming traffic is present...

2) Did you wire you pods as a plug and play application with your existing fog harness or did you run a new harness and mount a new switch? I am not sure if I like the idea of not being able to run the LEDs pods while I have my high beams on. Is there a way to override this?

3) BD has a disclaimer that says... " 2014+ Ram Trucks require an in-line Can-Bus resistor to run aftermarket fog lights". Not being an electrical guy, I have no idea what this means... Would I need to buy an additional resistor and wire it in to use the Squadron lights?

**** Since I am possibly upgrading my lighting, would it make sense in changing the OEM bulbs to something a bit better? If so, what is everyone else using as an OEM replacement. I am not interested in an HID conversion.

Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks

[Low_Sky]

3) BD has a disclaimer that says... " 2014+ Ram Trucks require an in-line Can-Bus resistor to run aftermarket fog lights". Not being an electrical guy, I have no idea what this means... Would I need to buy an additional resistor and wire it in to use the Squadron lights?

I'm no expert, but the basic version is that the truck knows the voltage drop that's supposed to occur over the factory fog lamps. LED lamps have less resistance and create less voltage drop, so the truck shuts them down because it thinks something is wrong with the fog lamp circuit. LED's need an additional resistor to fool the truck into thinking the original fog lamps are still there and everything is fine.

[yellowranger1]

I have used both rigid (dually and d2 in diffused/driving/spot) and Baja designs squadron pro and sport both in driving and spot. Hands down without a doubt, the Baja designs is a much higher quality light, it's apparent in the fit and finish, as well as the overall output.

Rigid a are good, don't get me wrong. But there is a reason people use several rigids compared to just a pair of Baja designs. I used these lights (as well as various hid) on my desert truck, and I'm completely sold on the BD. Ignoring claimed lumen output, looking at a rigid d2 you can get the same or more light out of one of the even smaller BD s2 lights, the squadron sport and pro blow the dually and d2 out of the water. The color of the light is much better on the eyes as well, seeing them side by side the rigid has a blueish tint like an eBay hid conversion vs the whiter natural light the BD puts out. My old 20" BD stealth bar was brighter and put out more useable light than a friends 40" rigid bar as well.

Both companies stand by their product, and are great to deal with in the event something goes wrong. You can't go wrong with either but IMO the BD is superior. I am saving some pennies to order up the squadron sport fog light kit for my '16, I'll go with one pair driving and one pair spot.

Fwiw I tried using the factory supplied harness on the rigids and it is cumbersome as it has to be since they are trying to make a "one size fits most" harness. I had better luck on both the rigid and BD setting up my own wiring to a toggle switch. This was the vehicle I used the lights on for reference, night time speeds 40-60mph depending on terrain.



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[yellowranger1]

Yikes sorry for the lengthy post! Didn't feel as wordy when I typed it up!


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[nts007]

Keep in mind replacing fog lights, rigid makes a dot legal fog pattern square pod. So legally you can run them as a fog full time. With enough room for 2 pods you can run a dedicated fog and have it switch out to a spot when you engage high beams.

[Reloaderguy]

I wired cubes to work with the fog light circuit. It's on the first page of my mod thread.

[Colibri]

Sweet truck yellow ranger.

My experience is right inline with yours, rigid and bd are both good and good to deal with but bd makes the better product overall as far as maximum useable light quality and throw and build quality. But like Neal said, rigid makes dot lights now that are much better for on road use and probably more appropriate for what you're wanting to accomplish.

As a for instance, I had a 50" rigid e series on my wrangler that I thought was BRIGHT, it's since been replaced with a pair of squadron pros and a 10" onx6 in yellow for fog/dust. Much much better.

[Chromolykid]

My only advice here is to spend your money on Baja Designs. I've been around the off-road industry a while and they are simply the best.

[yellowranger1]

Thanks Colibri, that truck was sold a while back, and replaced with an even less practical ranger lol. Stoked to have a real truck with this PW

Here is a pic of the s2 lights in case someone is curious. They are very small (1.75" tall X 3" wide) and outshine the d2 I used to run and the d2 my dad runs on his rubicon. This will be mounted on a dust light bracket from SDHQ behind the cab/top of the bed so those following close behind in heavy dust don't get too intimate with my rear bumper




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[65plymouth]

That was easy..... Looks like Baja Designs it is. I appreciate the responses guys. Need to get everything ordered up and figure out how I want to wire them. Also need to figure out the Can-bus resistor. Looks like I am going with the Driving/combo Light paired with the Spot light.

YellowRanger. That truck is sweet.
Chrommoly You have a super cool rig as well..


Thanks for the advice. If you have more advice (in terms of wiring), using existing fog harness/switch as opposed to running a separate harness/switch I am all ears.

Thanks again!

[65plymouth]

Ok. So if I am understanding properly (bare with me I am electronically challanged). I will not be able to run both sets of squadrons hooked up to my existing fog harness?

[Reloaderguy]

Incorrect. Two Squadron pods still pulls less amps than a single side of the factory incandescent fog lights.

Here is the fog light harness I built to run two LED pods (same amps as the BD) with correct inline resistor. I don't think most of the lighting companies understand the RAM system. You only need a small resistor, if you use a huge resistor you'll pull too many amps for the factory wiring. Order 50W .47Ohm resistors (one for each side) from China and solder them into the negative side of the harness, then split the wiring for two pods. It's very simple.


If you care to read the technical side of how and why the 15+ RAM bulb-out system works here is a link to the work a member of CF did. The pulse scheme is the same for the highs, lows, and fogs so the resistors will allow you to run any light system you want within the amperage rating of the factory system. If you exceed the amperage of the factory system all you need to do is run relays triggered by the factory wiring after the resistor. http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2013- ... ights.html

[OffroadTreks]

My Rigid Dually's worked without any cambus issues. Personally I like the Rigid's. Baja seemed a bit to far outside what I was willing to spend. I didn't want to go ebay cheap, but I'm not sure the performance is worth the extra $400. Maybe it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno.

[65plymouth]

Incorrect. Two Squadron pods still pulls less amps than a single side of the factory incandescent fog lights.

Here is the fog light harness I built to run two LED pods (same amps as the BD) with correct inline resistor. I don't think most of the lighting companies understand the RAM system. You only need a small resistor, if you use a huge resistor you'll pull too many amps for the factory wiring. Order 50W .47Ohm resistors (one for each side) from China and solder them into the negative side of the harness, then split the wiring for two pods. It's very simple.


If you care to read the technical side of how and why the 15+ RAM bulb-out system works here is a link to the work a member of CF did. The pulse scheme is the same for the highs, lows, and fogs so the resistors will allow you to run any light system you want within the amperage rating of the factory system. If you exceed the amperage of the factory system all you need to do is run relays triggered by the factory wiring after the resistor. http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2013- ... ights.html

That is what I am looking for. I guess I will have to build some pigtails.

[65plymouth]

My Rigid Dually's worked without any cambus issues. Personally I like the Rigid's. Baja seemed a bit to far outside what I was willing to spend. I didn't want to go ebay cheap, but I'm not sure the performance is worth the extra $400. Maybe it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I dunno.

I ordered the BD brackets from the BD website and got a set of squadron sport spots and another set of squadron sport driving pattern from amazon. Total price for everything including shipping was 515.00. Not terrible and not much more than the rigids.

[yellowranger1]

MikeKey - I've bought a few China led cubes as well as a 30" bar for our work trucks (we work nights and need all the light we can get.) The optics are not as good as a rigid cube or bar, so they scatter light more and you loose lots o useable light. They also start off really bright but seem to get dimmer as time goes on.

An alternative to rigid is someone is dead set on them is aurora led. I guess that's where rigid used to or does source their lights, they're every bit as good and a bit less expensive.


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[65plymouth]

Something like this Reloader?

http://www.newark.com/welwyn/wh50-47rji ... dp/78R5508

[Reloaderguy]

Something like this Reloader?

http://www.newark.com/welwyn/wh50-47rji ... dp/78R5508

No, that's 47 Ohm, you want .47 Ohm. As I explained in my mod thread, you're not trying to reduce power, only fool the computer controlled pulsing that senses bulb resistance. 47 Ohm resistors will get super hot and will overload your factory wiring, don't use 47 Ohm resistors.

I've never used this vendor but 50w .47Ohm resistors are hard to find and it's the only source I found in a search. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/2056131

[65plymouth]

Something like this Reloader?

http://www.newark.com/welwyn/wh50-47rji ... dp/78R5508

No, that's 47 Ohm, you want .47 Ohm. As I explained in my mod thread, you're not trying to reduce power, only fool the computer controlled pulsing that senses bulb resistance. 47 Ohm resistors will get super hot and will overload your factory wiring, don't use 47 Ohm resistors.

I've never used this vendor but 50w .47Ohm resistors are hard to find and it's the only source I found in a search. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/2056131

Ordered!! Thank you. When I get all my goodies, I will be sure to contact you if I need help. Thanks for the advice and assistance!!

[65plymouth]

For those of you running the LED pods (regardless of brand) did you run them to the existing fog switch and live with the fact that you can only run them with your low beams? Ideally, I would like my LED fog pods to operate regardless of what I am using (high/low beams). Having said that, my thinking is that I would have to wire them separately, rendering my fog switch useless and adding another switch to the dash. Am I correct with this assumption? Is there a work around? Sorry for all the questions. Auto electronics is not my thing...

[Reloaderguy]

There are four options:

1) Fogs with lows only.
2) One set of cubes on a switch.
3) AEV Procal.
4) Custom harness: http://harness-connection.us/products/f ... ams-on-kit

[65plymouth]

There are four options:

1) Fogs with lows only.
2) One set of cubes on a switch.
3) AEV Procal.
4) Custom harness: http://harness-connection.us/products/f ... ams-on-kit

Wow... I actually have options...lol... I guess I would go with option 1, 3, or 4. Before I dump $170.00 into the procal or $65.00 on am AM harness, looks like I will need to do a bit of research. Curious to see what the other benefits are with the procal. Let the googling begin!! Maybe I am getting too "fancy" and should just live with the fact that the fogs/LEDs will only be on with the low beams. That seems like the easiest way... I dunno.
Once again, thanks for your help!

[OffroadTreks]

There are four options:

1) Fogs with lows only.
2) One set of cubes on a switch.
3) AEV Procal.
4) Custom harness: http://harness-connection.us/products/f ... ams-on-kit

Basically, I did 1 & 2 with 4 to activate my switched driving lights.

I have the Fogs on with lows. When I switch to highs the driving lights come on with them. Or I can turn on the driving lights manually anytime I want.

[Reloaderguy]

The procal isn't available unless you buy the AEV lift.

[Stickman]

The Bully Dog tuner can make it to where your fogs stay on with your high beams. Atleast on the older models (10-13) don't know about the newer ones, I would assume it still does.