Are these lights to much.

Quasimoto · Post by **Quasimoto** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:41 pm

I am going to be putting lights up on my roof rack and can't decide whether these Hella 4000's I have are to much for the truck. There will be the 6 forward facing as well as 2 pointing backwards. The 2 centers will be pencil beams, the next 2 out will be euro beam (diffused spot) and the 4 corners will also be euro pattern but angled out a bit.

The other way I may go is a 40" led light bar in the front middle and 4 - 8" led light bars in the corners.

Through up your comments and if you have picture of your rigs with roof lights put them up to, they might help me make up my mind.

Post by **Cactus Red** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:20 pm

If you decide to do that, you might consider painting the hood flat black to help with the glare.

IMO, you'd be better off with three or four HID's mounted to the grill guard. Probably cheaper than all the Hella's too boot. The KC PolyMax 35W lights I'm using on the truck and Jeep are selling for $340.00 a pair - not too bad for a high quality light.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:22 pm

Too much? Too much for what?

Looks like they are already on the truck. I may be confused, but if they are on and working, I'd just leave them alone.

I don't have lights on my roof rack, but I do have four big Hellas on my front bar, two pencils in the middle and two Euros on the sides, angled slightly outwards, all with 100W halogen capsules, and the two pair are on separate switches. They throw plenty of light, but more is always better. They are on the truck, they work fine, and they are paid for. They are fine. But, if somebody stole them or if I got to/had to do the lights over again, I'd go with LEDs and skip right over the HID option. On the back of the truck I have six smaller Hellas with 55W halogen capsules, all mounted on the bumper. Two of the lamps are Euro low-beam headlights and four are work lights with a very high and wide, diffused pattern. More light going backwards than most trucks have going forward, and plenty for my needs. They are on and working, and are just fine, and are paid for. If doing it again, definitely LEDs. On the rear, I'm convinced that the work light lenses are the way to go for repairs, towing, setting camp, etc. I'm thinking about a couple of small, diffused LEDs on the sides of the roof rack, on a separate switch, pointing down, so that we don't trip over stuff in the dark. If you are going to wire the rack, might as well have side lights.

Quasimoto · Post by **Quasimoto** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:50 pm

(To much) for the look of the truck. I want and need extra light but also don't want to reck the look of the truck.

I have 3 Hella 4000s and I just threw them up in the holes in the light bar and then took 2 pictures of the lights on either side and pasted them together to see if I am going to keep going with the Hella's or switch to LEDs.

As far as glare on the hood, if it was going to be a problem I was going to paint the bottom 1/8 of the lenses to create a shadow on the hood.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 7:05 pm

If you need the light, you need the light. Looks are secondary.

Since you don't have a full set of Hellas yet and are concerned about looks, go with LEDs. They are expensive, but will put out more light than the halogens so you won't need as many units. You could put one LED bar on the front of the rack and be done with that part of the install. Buy work light lenses for your current Hellas and mount them on the back of the rack. Done. LEDs don't look very "traditional" on a 3G, so if that bothers you, go with HIDs. If you can get over the budget and aesthetic concerns, go with all LEDs and don't look back.

Quasimoto · Post by **Quasimoto** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 7:42 pm

Ducky's Dad wrote:If you need the light, you need the light. Looks are secondary.

Since you don't have a full set of Hellas yet and are concerned about looks, go with LEDs. They are expensive, but will put out more light than the halogens so you won't need as many units. You could put one LED bar on the front of the rack and be done with that part of the install. Buy work light lenses for your current Hellas and mount them on the back of the rack. Done. LEDs don't look very "traditional" on a 3G, so if that bothers you, go with HIDs. If you can get over the budget and aesthetic concerns, go with all LEDs and don't look back.

Do you know of any LED bars that come with covers? (DOTs and Cops of here sometimes will enforce the lights be covered)

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:42 pm

I don't recall any LED light bars with covers, but have not been paying that much attention. Time to start your Google search with companies like Vision-X and Rigid. Check the marine market, too. Let us know what you find.

Post by **Cactus Red** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 11:38 pm

If you want distance, I've never seen an LED that can match an HID. LED's give great foreground fill - very even, no hot spot, but lack the punch an HID can produce. It's really very simple - it's all about the reflector. An 8" reflector vs a 1.5" or 2" - and I don't care how many little reflectors there are, it just doesn't add up to the projected light of the larger unit. Each of my 35W HID's is 3500 lumens with an 8" reflector w/ a driving beam. With four I can see ANYTHING out to 3000 feet with a spread of about 60 degs. Reflective mile markers and signs shine at well over a mile. And the current crop of 75W HID's is absolutely nuts - I've seen them in use both in desert racing and in rally. They literally turn the night to day. I've also seen the LED's at the same races, and again, it's no comparision when it comes to distance. I have been seeing more LED used with the HID's for foreground fill tho, and as the technology progresses, I think they will take over the market. Heat is the big issue with LED - the more wattage, the more heat they must dissapate.

EDIT - I meant 3000 feet, not yards.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:04 am

Well, yes, but I'm seeing LEDs putting out over 3000 lumens from a single 6" unit and they are still getting better. For the lights on the back of the rack, LEDs are a natural because you can leave them on for long periods without running the engine. For the ones in front, you don't really need to see 3000 yards (that's getting close to two miles). I drive fairly fast much of the time, and anything beyond about 1000 yards is wasted, except for picking up reflective markers. I'd rather have a wider pattern in my useful range. Different strokes.

verdesardog · Post by **verdesardog** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:17 am

I've never been a fan of overhead lights, the reflec tlight from dust and rain/snow in the air making it harder to see than with just headlights. If you are always first in line then may be overheads would be ok.

I have two driving pattern and two pencil beam aux lights on my truck. They are old school halogens, 55w in the outter driving lights and 100w in the two inner pencil beams. They work just fine and cost less than $100.00 for all four!

TwinStick · Post by **TwinStick** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:32 am

Just a thought-would painting the bottom of the light create too much heat build up ? Or is it nothing to worry about ?

About the heat with LED's, Vision-X has "Electronic Thermal Management" that is supposed to make use of the "Integrated Pulse Width Modulation" circuitry to maintain safe operating temperatures in order to make use of its full 50,000 hr operating life potential.

I don't know if this technology is exclusive to them only or not.

Post by **Cactus Red** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:35 pm

I put in 3000 yards, and ment 3000 feet, roughly 2/3's of a mile with the driving lights.

The photo attached shows what 2 Rigid Dually's, a 40" Rigid LED mounted overhead like you are contemplating, and 2 Fyrlyt 100W halogen look like from the drivers seat of a Tundra.

The photo below is our JKUR w/ two KC PolyMax HID's and Hella H4 headlight conversions from Susquahanna Motor Sports w/ Philips 67/60W X-Treme Vision bulbs on high beam.

The end of the street is 600' away.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:05 pm

I put in 3000 yards, and ment 3000 feet,

I put in 1000 yards (3000 feet), so we agree, exactly.

Re the Phillips Extreme, I have one of those in my right headlight and an old Hella 100W halogen in the left headlight, while I wait for my HID headlights to get here from RetroShop. I don't think I could could consistently tell the difference between the Philips Extreme and the Hella halogen, so points go to the Philips because it draws less current (and is DOT legal).

I have my lights on a bar in front of the grill, but there are times I could use additional lights mounted up high on the rack. I would switch those separately so that I could cut them out of the system when reflection becomes a problem.

FYI, 4WP has a sale today only on the Hella Optilux 4" 35W HID lights at about $130 each. Not a bad deal if you like that size light.

Quasimoto · Post by **Quasimoto** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:37 pm

I have been starting to look at the LED's and I am starting think about a 40" or 50" on the front of the rack, 1 - 6" pointing sideways on either side of the rack and 2 - 6" pointing rearward on the rack. As well as change out my 2 Hella's on the grill guard with a 36" LED bar for low light.

I think this is probably the way I am going to go and just sell my Hella's to recoup some money. I think that the 9" up top are just asking to get ripped of on the trail. As well as save a lot of wiring to run all the Hella's. For the 8 - 4000's and 2 - 500's it was going to be 5 selenoids and 5 switches, but with the LED's I won't have to run the selenoids because the amp draw is a lot lower.

Now just to figure out if any of the 40" or 50" bars have a cover.

TwinStick · Post by **TwinStick** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:28 pm

http://www.rigidindustries.com/product-p/19091.htm

Quasimoto · Post by **Quasimoto** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:07 pm

TwinStick wrote:http://www.rigidindustries.com/product-p/19091.htm

Those would be what I would need. Now it's time time to save up, (man those lights are expensive)
I'll have to to keep surfing while I wait, maybe there is some more options out there for led lightbars with covers.
Thanks for the link.

verdesardog · Post by **verdesardog** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 10:38 pm

I think it's so funny when people try to show the difference in lights using a camera at night...you can make any light look good or bad by varying the exposure.

TwinStick · Post by **TwinStick** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:41 pm

Maybe, but i do think L.E.D.'s are the way to go for "no blind spot" area lighting or relatively close in lighting. Hard to beat the low amp draw too. Heat seems to be the issue with LED's. Vision-X say they have a solution for that issue.

04Ram2500Hemi · Post by **04Ram2500Hemi** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:26 pm

I have a VisionX light bar behind the grill on my truck and I'll be honest it doesn't shoot down the road as much as I would prefer. However, the wide angle it gives me is awesome. If you've ever ran down a dark highway at night in moose country you would agree being able to see deep in the burrow pits is important.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:17 pm

I have a VisionX light bar behind the grill on my truck and I'll be honest it doesn't shoot down the road as much as I would prefer.

Light output depends a lot on which bar you have. Putting it behind the grill does block some of the light. The only LEDs on my truck are utility lights, but a friend has a Vision-X bar roof-mounted on one of his vehicles and it is impressive.

04Ram2500Hemi · Post by **04Ram2500Hemi** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:50 pm

I thought about a roof mount but I think it would look odd with cab lights.

Ducky's Dad · Post by **Ducky's Dad** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:06 am

Sounds like it's time for a rack.

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