Driving lights - Bigger better and more of them.

[Aido]

The backstory-
One of the first additions of accessories to my bullock dray was a set of lights to go onto the bar to enhance the standard high beam. I chose a set of Nite Stalkers 170 from Souper cheap. Why? Because they were rated fairly highly in a certain magazine test and others had good things to say about them. For $140 I saw them as a welcome addition. To date they have been good and I would recommend them to anyone that spends time on the highways and back roads requiring a very substantial improvement to the factory high beam. They are good and have been sturdy enough so far. So to that end I am going to keep them but I want to add to my lighting arsenal here begins my thoughts.

I want to move this set of lights to the top centre cross bar of the bullbar, fit a set of powerful spreads to the current location ( centre main bar either side of the winch solenoids ) and add some spreads that project outwards at approx 30 degrees from the front of the vehicle by utilising the current cheapo indicator / park lights as fitted to the genuine bar. Why? Because at present as I found last night in the scrub my current lighting setup is good for long range and general use but there are areas at near range that are inadequately lit and a welcome improvement would be more lighting that illuminates nearer to the corners of the front end and to the sides. At present the lights will illuminate everything from 5m and beyond but they are a bit like a light saber and everything to the side is hard to make out because they all project straight forward.
By raising the current lights I would expect to get slightly better spread and projection further afield and so now I am looking for solutions to light up nearer and to the sides.

Q time
Where can I get mounts to clamp to the top bar? Or do I have to fabricate?
Has anybody ever done or even contemplated fitting lights into the indicator / park light space in the bar ( I will mount LED indicators above the current location as I understand that the bar obscures the view of the factory indicators)
What about rear facing side lighting / rock lights? Anybody done them? I thought maybe I could mount some of those little 55w lights facing rearward to the side of the bar to illuminate the sides of the vehicle - I really couldn't see shit last night while trying to reverse around trees 6 inches from the side of the vehicle.

Have thought about getting an Aero bar to mount lights atop the roof but that seems like a great deal of misery routing wiring through the cab and upwards but it could also be feasable.
What lighting setups have others got? I Know that 08KINGCAB has a few on his vehicle and see in the dark reverse camera but his lighting is all for depth and forward projection too and damn they are bright.
Oh and I am not interested in paying $1500 plus for LED light bars nor do I think a set of Lightforce 240's are the answer. HID may be good but I really dont think they are my solution and I am more than satisfied with halogen. I am looking for in close lighting not distance.

 

[Aido]

OK.
Just took my beer outside and stood in front of it. This week I am going to get a set of those little mini 55w driving lights from Autobarns or soupercheap and rivet them into the bar wings facing rearwards to light up the sides. Nothing ventured nothing gained - except a couple of 1/8th holes

 

[Leprechaun]

My driving lights work very well on the highway, and OK on the tracks, but I still think there is room for improvement too.
I use to have a removable roof light bar, with just a lead and plug set up through the back window. Only problem was the spread beams use to light up the bonnet causing bad reflection and glare.
I like your idea of using the indicator/parker slot as a way of getting some peripheral lighting, although I'm not sure if there is anything available, maybe we should think about making up our own reflectors and lenses?

 

[Leprechaun]

OK.
Just took my beer outside and stood in front of it. This week I am going to get a set of those little mini 55w driving lights from Autobarns or soupercheap and rivet them into the bar wings facing rearwards to light up the sides. Nothing ventured nothing gained - except a couple of 1/8th holes

You'll need to waterproof them.

 

[Aido]

Silicone is the next best thing to duct tape.
Have you seen my reverse lights I mounted under the rear bumper? No?
Neither have I since they filled up with water and then got squashed somewhere out there

 

[Jason]

What diameter is the bar you want to mount to? I thought about mounting to the tubs sports bar and UHF antenna mounts seemed like a good idea.

Some of the below go up to 76mm diameter but the U channel and hose clamp unit is pretty much unlimited.

Prestigecom UHF CB - UHF CB Antennas

 

[Aido]

I like your idea of using the indicator/parker slot as a way of getting some peripheral lighting, although I'm not sure if there is anything available, maybe we should think about making up our own reflectors and lenses?

Easy Tiger!
All my available R&D budget is committed to making this thing drive in a straight line!
I did find a set down at Bursons yesterday that would fit but they again were 55w cheapo's designed to mount into a Commondore front bumper. I contemplated switching out the globes for 100W's but figured they would melt or catch fire even though they full of water.

 

[Aido]

Prestigecom.net.au - Silver Zinc Coated Double U Bolt Bracket - $17.50
Thats what I'm after but it looks like they might be made from 2mm based on the pics. They need to be sturdy to be long lasting

 

[Leprechaun]

How about some standard 12V 55watt halogens. Cheap and fully sealed, not sure how they'll handle vibration though

 

[equipt]

You will need to be carefull with the ammount of lights that you put on the front of the Nav, from what I have heard you are only allowed 6 forward facing lights including the factory fitted headlights, but that is if you are conserned about the Police. Also I am not 100% on the legalities of having anything mounted above the top or the front bar, I know that you see many people out there with lights and fishing rod holders mounted there, but I know if I did it I would be the 1st to get pulled over for it.

 

[Old.Tony]

I'd also be concerned with the total wattage you're contemplating, in addition to Equipt's sagely reminder about the law. Not sure the police go after those issues, but you never know.

A 55W light should pull about 4.5A give or take (12.2V * 4.5A = 55W). 100W is a little over 8A. So if you're running standard headlights (60W each, say 5A or 10A for the pair), 100W main spotties (total now 26A), 55W spreads in front of the radiator (total now 35A), 55W in the foglight mounts (total now 44A) and a pair of 55s down the side, you're looking at 53 Amps. Add about 30A for running the rest of the vehicle and your alternator won't keep up unless you maintain high rpm.

Maybe there's justification for high-intensity LEDs down the side. Also, instead of 4 extra spreads, just two and angle those out a little to provide the coverage you're after?

 

[DVR]

How many amps will a std Nav Alternator give?

 

[Old.Tony]

I believe the D22 was 90A and the D40 was 100A. Even if it were 100A, an 83A load is a significant proportion of the charging capacity and using low (<2000) rpm would not give the alternator the chance to deliver that amount of power. That means it'll draw from the battery.

Remember that a starter battery always remains at 70-75% of charge because alternators deliver 14.4V and not the 15V+ required to bring a lead acid battery to full charge, deliberately done to prevent boiling the battery acid away. Also remember that below 50% of capacity, the battery will start to suffer damage - large crystalline deposits will form at the bottom, the lead plates will erode and buckle.

I think our starter batteries are 100Ah, giving us just 25A (say, at best) of capacity. With all the lights on in a forest trail at night, you'll have about 10-15 minutes at the most that you can expect the battery to survive without damage - maybe not even that.

 

[Leprechaun]

I think if you have covers over the lights, then you should have no problems with the cops.

My Thai D40 has a 130amp alt. I will check the current draw today.

 

[Old.Tony]

I just pulled the info out of the manual for the D40.

At 1300rpm it is supposed to deliver 33A
At 2500rpm - 105A
At 5000rpm - 122A

So unless you're revving the guts out of it, you're going to be way under budget.

 

[KraftyPg]

Aido as equipt said your concern will be the mounting point. Its easy enough to mount lights to the top of the bar but it is illegal in Victoria and while the coppers might not pull you over for it if you were unlucky enough to hit someone with the front of your car the insurance company will refuse payment.

Like rod holders and antenna mounts anything that protrudes past the bar itself is illegal and can't be mounted straight to the bar. With roof mounted lights the law is easily got around by welding a solid bar over the lights so the bar is the outer protrusion, but that would look silly on a bullbar. However having said that we used to mount all the 200mm driving lights to the top of the truck bullbars and none of the trucks ever got fined for illegally mounted lights.

As far as the number of lights go I think equipt also has that right although i have never needed to clarify that part of the ruling. I do however know Victoria also has a rule stating that lights must be installed in pairs, once again the law doesn't seem to be enforced all the time but it is there.

 

[Jon]

Keep this in mind if you are looking at getting some mounts. Bought this from TJM for 10 bucks and got it welded up for a few more. It fits the genuine bar perfectly and I can't see why it wouldn't fit the roll bar. TJM might even have steel tabs for your steel bullbar but you will have the hassle of painting over the weld again. I wouldn't touch the clamp on brackets they work loose and just look crap in general.

 

[ants_oz]

The problem with adding mounts to steel bars is that they're powder coated (generally). Start grinding back the powder coat in order to weld on some tabs, then you have to work out how to patch it up again.

I can't find the reference off-hand, but I am certain there is a rule somewhere regarding auxiliary forward lighting for on-road use. The centre line of those lights cannot be above the centre line of the original factory headlights (or wording to that effect). I am also quite certain that there is also a rule that you are allowed (for on-road use) one pair of additional driving lights, and one pair of fog lights. In other words, a total of two pairs of additional lights, over and above what the vehicle was fitted with originally. If I can find the references I will post them.

For off-road purposes, the vehicle can have more lighting, however my understanding is that any lights used for offroad purposes cannot be connected to the high-beam circuit. I could be wrong on that last point though.

I'm not going to harp on these points, but bear in mind guys - whenever some "do gooder" sees a 4wd that is modified in an obviously illegal way running around, it reflects badly on the rest of us. And by the rest of us, I mean those of us that go out of our way to make sure we stay within the rules.

End of preaching session.

 

[rescue]

I can see I'm going to have to take time out of installing my triple battery set up and photograph the lights on the bull bar and the roof rack......

 

[KraftyPg]

Stuff the third battery do what Nissan should have done for us in the first place and convert to 24 volt, it would make so many other things easier, and provide something else most Nissan dealers wouldn't understand.