Fix / retrofit/ replace Delta off-road light bar

[Alaric Darconville]

I understand car mods in this forum is not popular — but do realize I did NOT ask any advice on any of my other mods (in hindsight, I should have cropped them out from the pics I posted). I will & actually do give them good considerations (such as replacing my taillights back to stock, and no, of course i'm not going to put rainbow halo lights on). However if not agreeing on ALL of the unsolicited opinions is considered immature, well that's yet another unsolicited opinion which I'm happy to say, I'm certainly old enough to cheerfully ignore!

Pretty much the purpose of this subforum IS car mods in the form of safe lighting upgrades.

Plenty of car mods are out there that change the appearance and enhance the lighting of the vehicle, such as the auxiliary high beam, rear fog lamp, and auxiliary reversing lamp I installed on an RX300. I put Kapton tape on the fog lamp lenses of that RX300 to improve their fog performance, and it looks nice, too. Similarly, I put Kapton tape on my '01 Corolla LE's fog lamp lenses which improves their appearance and performance.

The auxiliary low beams I installed on my '95 Previa S/C All-Trac was a smart mod and it makes it look 'adventurous' and more 'off-roady' than before. And it has really improved the low beam performance on the interstate where oncoming and forward traffic is too close for high beams but I still need to see well.

Other forum members have done mods by adding (carefully-selected!) light bars. They've added rear fog lamps and auxiliary reversing lamps. Auxiliary low beams and high beams. Cornering lights. The Markerflash mod also adds functionality in the form of additional warning for others, although it doesn't scream "this is modded" unless you know the lighting wasn't originally configured this way.

Tinting regulated motor vehicle lamps is as much as a mod to a vehicle as dumping 4 cups of salt in your pecan pie filling is a mod to the recipe. Yes, you modified it-- but you did not make it better.

To everyone willing to share advice and opinions, thank you in advance!

I'm sharing advice and opinions. You're welcome!

 

[Hilldweller]

Back to the Deltas, the rubber grommet is rotted & falling apart. I checked Amazon under "rubber grommet", and can't pull any products resembling the ones on the back of the Deltas. Is is known by another name? Any clue where I can get replacements? Tried emailing Delta in the past and they didn't bother replying for such an old product I guess (Which was why I found this forum!)

View attachment 15675

I used to know the guy that designed that light bar ---- he sent me some bulbs to test, egads, like back in 2009 maybe? The bulbs were blue-tint rubbish and my light meter proved it. He was a real nice feller though.
Maybe @-Virgil- remembers his name, lived in CA (I think) but had a middle-Europe accent. Delta was part of Wesem back then; not sure if they still are.
Maybe Durian or something?

But anyhow, maybe you can contact Wesem. They might have the part.

WESEM – automotive and agricultural lighting manufacturer

Wide range of lamps and headlamps. An offer for producers and dealers. Best quality with reasonable price. Factories in Poland. Modern machinery park.

www.wesem.com

Personally, I'd just chuck the lightbar and get one that works.

 

[H2Finally]

I'm sharing advice and opinions. You're welcome!

Sorry, didn't mean to sound ungrateful! Thank you again! It's just that with all the off-topic, I am still scratching my head to get answers to the questions that brought me here.

If I may go back to salvaging the delta light bar: I dismantled all 8 lamps. All wiring rubber grommets (?) are rotted & brittle. 4 has moisture, 4 are dry. 2 are missing the large rubber gaskets between the glass & black housing but those 2 are dry.

These Wesem lamps have a hole at the bottom of the glass reflector. I tried filling up one of the leaky ones with bottled water, cover the hole, and blow, and could not see any leaks from the glass seams.

The H3 head sits directly metal to metal & pressed with just a thin wire. Can't add O seal since it draws ground from the metal housing.

I am perplexed on how moisture enters some but not others.

Questions:

- should I still add urethane on the seam between the reflector glass & front glass?

- bought windshield urethane 3M 08693, is this heat resistant to the temperature of the 55w H3 bulbs? (Can't find any literature on temp for this urethane). Thinking of sealing up the seam between the metal mount to the glass reflector.

- Or maybe dielectric grease between the H3 head & metal housing to help seal against moisture entering from the bulb housing?

- can I use the 3M 08693 to replace the rotted wiring rubber grommet? Or molding a neater looking seal with Sugru?

- Can I drill a hole in bottom of back plastic housing to drain any water entering the housing before it enters the glass lamp itself?

- any other ideas?

Thank you again!

The bulbs were blue-tint rubbish and my light meter proved it.

Personally, I'd just chuck the lightbar and get one that works.

Any replacement better/brighter/LED(?) H3 bulb you'd recommend? Or if it's possible to screw in an alternative 138mm x 80mm off road light into the black back housing barring heat issues — I'd be happy!

Aesthetics & $2K (back when) aside, the H2 aluminium roof rail cutout perfectly fits the housing. No gap = no wind road noise. Really prefer to salvage it…

 

[-Virgil-]

I used to know the guy (...) Delta was part of Wesem back then; not sure if they still are.
Maybe Durian or something?

That's Bohdan Durian, IIRC. He's friendly until the conversational subject turns to the severe safety and legality shortcomings and issues in his products...then he sticks his fingers in his ears. He knows a lot more about salesmanship than lighting.

His company (Delta) was never a part of the Polish maker of most of his lights -- Wesem, formerly called Zelmot, which supplied JC Whitney with most of their "European quartz" lights they sold for many years. That was a good, equal match-up, JC Whitney and Zelmot, in terms of quality: JC Whitney was the Harbor Freight of its day. Zelmot lights were about on that level, maybe (depending on product and luck) a notch or two better.

 

[Hilldweller]

Bohdan Durian (my brain is saying Bogdan Durian though) --- thanks, Virgil. It's been a long time, alright.

He didn't make the lights and bulbs though, did he? Wasn't it farmed somewhere? I thought it was Wesem...
Anyhow, his bulb, an H4 if I remember right, had the lowest LUX reading of anything I had tested. The light was pretty though. So white that even Mr PIAA called it white.


As far as H3 for the lightbar, use any LED drop-ins. It's a lightbar, not road lighting that needs to be compliant.

 

[-Virgil-]

Bohdan Durian (my brain is saying Bogdan Durian though)

You might be right about Bogdan versus Bohdan. It's been long enough that I no longer have any of the emails we exchanged over the years.

He didn't make the lights and bulbs though, did he? Wasn't it farmed somewhere? I thought it was Wesem...

He never made any of the stuff he sells, just slaps a Delta label on. The lamps are mostly Zelmot/Wesem from Poland, the fraudulent "xenon" bulbs cheap generic blue junk from China.

Anyhow, his bulb, an H4 if I remember right, had the lowest LUX reading of anything I had tested. The light was pretty though. So white that even Mr PIAA called it white.

The whitest! The brightest! The oh-so-rightest! Oh, no, wait, my mistake, that was Sylvania's advertising campaign for their own blue junk (ZXE).

As far as H3 for the lightbar, use any LED drop-ins. It's a lightbar, not road lighting that needs to be compliant.

There are no "H3 LEDs" that work, that's not a thing. If the only purpose of this light bar is to turn it on and go "look at the pretty lights!" then throw whatever in there, but if any actual, usable light is expected, it has to be halogen H3 bulbs. The best one available right now is the Vosla 55w +90.

 

[H2Finally]

The best one available right now is the Vosla 55w +90.

After reading what junk Delta is, I must admit some trepidation on even the Delta wiring harness.. thinking lower powered H3 LED just because it might be safer on these old wires? 😂

I can't find the Vosla anywhere. Only "replacement for Vosla" bulbs. I sent an email to Vosla asking where to buy in US. What's next best halogens? Silverstars?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

After reading what junk Delta is, I must admit some trepidation on even the Delta wiring harness.. thinking lower powered H3 LED just because it might be safer on these old wires? 😂

I really wouldn't spend another dime on those lights. Probably the H3 LEDs would light up and might help a bit for a rock crawl (all the while lighting up your hood) if you really insisted on using them.

What's next best halogens? Silverstars?

Silverstars would be better than most LEDs, but aren't "next best" in anything else. I'd recommend the Osram Night Breaker Laser over the Silverstar.

 

[H2Finally]

Sorry to jump back to halo headlights 🙏, but just saw a preowned "like new" set of these pop up in my local marketplace:

Vision X 7" VX Series JK Jeep LED Headlight Kit

Are these worth looking at all? Almost half off new set.

 

[Hilldweller]

Sorry to jump back to halo headlights 🙏, but just saw a preowned "like new" set of these pop up in my local marketplace:

Vision X 7" VX Series JK Jeep LED Headlight Kit

Are these worth looking at all? Almost half off new set.

I've seen them in action and they aren't horrible --- I think the halo is white as drl and can be wired to turn amber as a turn signal. Going from memory here, the beam pattern had a sorta "hole" in it directly in front. An artifact from the shape of the LED itself.

 

[H2Finally]

I've seen them in action and they aren't horrible --- I think the halo is white as drl and can be wired to turn amber as a turn signal. Going from memory here, the beam pattern had a sorta "hole" in it directly in front. An artifact from the shape of the LED itself.

Thanks! Worth pursuing then?

i got all excited couple days ago finding video of JW Speaker 8700 being retrofitted with nice halo ring — best of both worlds! But unfortunately Tom at HID Projectors said they're no longer doing that, as they now offer many of their own 7" LED/Halo headlights (which their website said are all built by hand in Buffalo NY, like this one $699

 

[Hilldweller]

Thanks! Worth pursuing then?

i got all excited couple days ago finding video of JW Speaker 8700 being retrofitted with nice halo ring — best of both worlds! But unfortunately Tom at HID Projectors said they're no longer doing that, as they now offer many of their own 7" LED/Halo headlights (which their website said are all built by hand in Buffalo NY, like this one $699

Worth pursuing? Beauty is the eye of the beer-holder, they say. There are many competing lamps that light up the road better. But if you like them, go for it. Just make sure they'll work.
My two Jeeps delivered their 12.6 volts to the headlights via a pulsewidth modulated circuit and my first LED headlights (Trucklite Phase 6) blinked. So I plugged a $120,000.00 T-Rex into every circuit on the Jeep and mapped all the PWMs it had and Trucklite built me the first flicker-kicker (I still have the prototypes).
So I'm not sure if your truck is doing the same thing, what size terminal you have, etc. Jeeps of my vintage had H13 bulbs stock in the US and H4 in a few other countries.


As for molesting/modifying/retrofitting a halo into a JWS 8700, it renders the lamp non-compliant at that point. Besides, it's like putting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Ick.

Did you look at what Q-tec has to offer?

Shop All Jeep Headlights | Quadratec

Looking for more light output and dramatic styling? Shop our huge selection of LED headlights.

www.quadratec.com

They could probably tell you if you need a flicker-kicker adapter too.

 

[H2Finally]

As for molesting/modifying/retrofitting a halo into a JWS 8700, it renders the lamp non-compliant at that point. Besides, it's like putting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Ick.

Lol! I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and it was an underwhelming experience. It was covered with protective shield, then there was a barrier that forces everyone far away from the wall, and a large crowd to boot. More of an intellectual experience of being "in the same room" vs actually "looking at it" in person.

 

[H2Finally]

I checked Q-tech website, under halo headlights, the options are VisionX, Delta, Oracle, Diode Dynamics & Quake.

I think I will try the Vision X at half price. The H2 uses 9007 bulb. Hopefully it won't flicker. Quite excited actually to see the upgrade over my stock Halogens after all these years! Thanks again for your input!

 

[Hilldweller]

Check what terminal is on the VisionX --- you'll need an adapter to the 9007 pigtail, maybe the flicker-kicker too.

 

[H2Finally]

9007 to H4 adapter (love Amazon 1 day delivery!), no flicker on a short test run! Ridiculous how much brighter the VisionX are compared to stock. Will read up on how to properly aim next. Then connect halo to DRL… 😬

 

[H2Finally]

Can I ask wiring question please?

The light bar wiring uses two +12v cables to wire the 4 outside lights & 4 inside lights to 2 separate switches, but all 8 lights share 1 -12v ground cable — which I noticed some browning at the old plug.

Can I double up the -12v ground wires at the ends of the circuit — from lamp #1 & at plug end — instead of connecting the ground leads of all 8 lights? (Don't really feel like rebuilding the entire wiring harness 😞)

Thank you beforehand 🙏

 

[Hilldweller]

I'd run a heavier gauge wire for ground; the old one is probably a little green inside by now anyhow.
10 gauge awg would be great, I'd think.