Anyone have fog/driving/off-road lights on their vehicle?

[Bucky]

A while back I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee and I mounted Hella 500 driving lights on the front without a brush bar. The set was only about $55, but those things were bright as can be. It was really unbelievable how bright they were, they were even far brighter than the high-beams. I can only imagine how bright some of the brighter off-road or higher-end driving lights are.

So does anyone have lights on their vehicle - say for instance IPF, Hella, PIAA, KC, or anything else. I figure with all the flashlight and LED lovers here, a least some people have taken their love for illumination to their vehicles.

If you do you have lights, what kind are they, why did you choose them? Any knowledge or comments on vehicle-mounted lights would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Bucky

[Cyclops942]

I'm right there with you. I'm looking to get some red LED lights to use as rear fog lights for my Ford Explorer. Check the LED and Electroluminescent board if you're interested in what was said about that.

Cyclops942

[HankS]

My son gets back in town tomorrow, and he's mounted some KC Daylighters on his Jeep. I'll let you know what they're like after tomorrow!

Hank

[ThomasH]

My comment is to keep them low.

Don't mount them too high, or they can reflect agaist rain, snow or fog (!) and make it very hard to see anything. And if the lights are wide dispersion fog lights, aim them low, like under your low beams. In a good fog it will be they can do too show the road to drive on.

I remember driving on a snowy night in a Bronco like vehicle when the driver turned on his "driving lights" mounted above and behind the cab. I swear they were fog lights, but anyway the result was that all we could see was really bright snowflakes, close to us. He turned them off quickly, and we learned that his vehilce oversteers, too! :-)

I've got nice cheap K-Mart rectangular Bosch Yellow fog lights under my Toyota's front bumper, aimed nice and low and they have been invaluable on many a thick foggy evening.

I've got a pair of big round white Hella Driving Lights mount low on each side of my '78 Kawasaki Z1-R and when I turn them on at night the Trucks pull over and "ask" me to drive in front! I can't leave them for hours on end though, ormy charging system will boil out my battery!

I'm a big fan of lots of light. I wish we Americans would think of bright tail/brakelight or rear red fog lights like Europeans seem to!

Thomas

[Brock]

Ok, now remember I didn't bring this up but here is a shot of the car I drove when I was in school. A 1976 Pontiac Catalina, 21 feet long and 3 ton's. I had a marine alternator and 4 105-amp deep cycle batteries in the trunk with 8 10-gauge lines running to the lights. They were controlled by 8 contactors that were fed from my normal brights, they could also be controlled individually and strobe back and forth with a little controller I built. Each light was a 100w halogen ACL (aircraft landing light).

And yes it is a LOT better if they are mounted low, and believe me these were Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.uwgb.edu/nevermab/led/brock-car.jpg

Laugh all you want but I had NO problem seeing at night

Brock

[Unicorn]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ThomasH:
My comment is to keep them low.
Don't mount them too high, or they can reflect agaist rain, snow or fog (!) and make it very hard to see anything. And if the lights are wide dispersion fog lights, aim them low, like under your low beams. In a good fog it will be they can do too show the road to drive on.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is true. The lights mounted above the cab, or on the light bar (rollbar) are only usefule if you are driving offroad at a 100mph. They are mostly for the offroad races. Even if your driving on trails they are not that useful since the light is aimed too far ahead, and there will be darkness just in front of you, where you actually need to see, unless yoiu have driving lights mounted on the grill as well.

[Cyclops942]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
Ok, now remember I didn't bring this up but here is a shot of the car I drove when I was in school. Each light was a 100w halogen ACL (aircraft landing light).

Laugh all you want but I had NO problem seeing at night


Brock<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Brock,
I had two (2!!!!) of these mounted on the front of the bumper of my 1976 Datsun pick-up truck, and the things dang near lit up the world. How in the WORLD did you drive with eight (8!!!) of them and not get ticketed?
I also would like to know, where can I get some more of them?

[Bucky]

I would like to know where you were able to find those Aircraft Landing Lights too. Have you ever compared them to off-road or driving light? Which are brighter?

Thanks,

Bucky

[Cyclops942]

I haven't done an actual lumen or candlepower comparison, but my money would be on the Aircraft Landing lights.

These are the lights that 747s (and other planes) use to help the tower see them from way far out when they're trying to land. FAA regulations and people's fears being what they are, I believe that the lights required for this purpose have to be pretty darn bright. My own personal experience with them also supports this. (I have no personal experience with other off-road lights, though.)

I could be wrong here, but until I get some kind of direct comparison, I'll tend to favor the ACLs.

[Brock]

Really the biggest thing about Aircraft Landing Lights (ACL's) is they are a tight spot of light, even compared to an off road spot light. That is why I needed 8 of them to make an even wash of light about twice as wide as normal car brights. This makes since when you think of a 747 trying to light up objects, even being close to something they are 1/2 mile away. I actually got them at "Fleet Farm" a sort of local Home Depot type store. Farmers used the lamps on tractors to light up fields at night so they carried them.

Brock

[Kraeken]

I just bought a 2007 4Runner Sport Edition. It came with factory fog lights, and I picked up a brand new set of Hella 500 driving lights for $50, wiring and all! I thought I had the courage to install them myself, but I may just have them done by a professional.

They will be mounted low, on the bull bar.

[scott.cr]

My comment is to keep them low.

Their mounting position will depend on the intended usage. For street driving you won't be running roof-mounted lights. But for off-road driving where the trail undulates, you definitely want the lights as high as possible. If they were mounted at a similar level as the headlights the undulating path will block the beam.

[BUZ]

I have 4 of the LIGHTFORCE 240's mounted on my rubicon and man are they bright!

[Kraeken]

I just now finished installing and aiming my Hella 500 driving lights. When used with my high beams as intended, I'm pushing a wall of incredibly bright light ahead of me. definitely not for urban use!

[chmsam]

Do a little research on rally driving for information on quality driving and fog lights, how to install them, and how to use them. Some of that info will be useful for street driving.

Hint: it is not at all unusual for a well prepared rally car to have a pod of four Hella 1000's mounted on the hood. Pod, lights, and wiring kits are all readily available but not quite street legal for some strange reason.

Yes, this setup will tend to overpower your night vision by just a teeny, tiny bit if you are standing about 10' (or less) off the side of an unpaved road when the car comes past you at 100+ mph and it's 1:30 in the morning -- no guard rails or anything, of course. Wanna know how I know? ("Why, yes, Ma'am, that can tend to be a tad exciting from time to time. Why do you ask?")

[Canonista]

1st post! Woo hoo!


The extra lights are Hella HID lamps. IMHO that's the perfect location for these lamps. Mounted on the overhead bar or by the door's rearview mirrors the lights generate too much glare off the hood. I'd love to mount them lower but the winch is in the way. I have two more but there isn't any room for em'.

[reptiles]

I have two more but there isn't any room for em'.

Maybe the top of the fenders?

=Mark

[WNG]

That's a nice Jeep!

I believe in auxiliary lights on vehicles. Always installed a set on every car I owned. I do a lot of night driving and they lessened the strain on my eyes.
It's mostly been fog lights, Hella brand.
Currently...
I have a set of Hella FF 75 (free-form) driving lights mounted low in the bumper of my car. Aimed low to provide that extra punch the low beams don't have.
They are great on a lonely stretch of dark highway.

http://www.classicgarage.com/fffffogdrivl.html

[mobilehid]

Just curious - why don't you guys just upgrade to HID lights to get more light output with fewer auxiliary housings?

[270winchester]

Just curious - why don't you guys just upgrade to HID lights to get more light output with fewer auxiliary housings?

in my case simple

in my state auxiliary lights can only be lit in conjunction with the high beam.

a halogen light can be turned on and off with relatively little harm to the filament when done not too excessively fast.

an HID light as auxiliary light would require the driver to turn it off everytime a vehicle comes the opposite direction. Many, not all, HIDs need a period of time between turning on and off. that won't be very useful for on-road driving.

Also, the locations of the Aux lights means they have little protection from elements and road hazards. It's a lot cheaper to replace a 60 dollar set of Halogen lights than replace a 150 dollar ballast.

ANd the installation of halogen lights is almost fool proof, the same cannot always be said of HIDs.

I chose the Hella 550s for their beam that's more useful for lighting up a whole road with a more conventional car-beam rather than a round reflector. YMMV

[ElectronGuru]

Oops, created a new thread B4 seeing this one:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=173142

[ACMarina]

I sport some driving lights on my Foci - they increase my visability (Used as DRL) and they fill in the gap from my front bumper to where the high-beams start to light up.

[slomatt]

I have a pair of IPF 968s mounted to the front of my ZJ on a light bar from JeepersAndCreepers. The reflectors combine a spot with a wide angle beam which works very well for trail and street use. They came with both 55w and 100w bulbs, I'm currently running the 55w ones to be street legal. The stock opaque covers are a bit of a pain since they must be removed to use the lights so I have since switched to clear lexan covers.

[Echo63]

i have a set of little square hella 100w lights on my Excel
they work much better than the standard high beams, contributing a little bit of spill off the sides and a lot more throw than the high beams

goin back to low beams is a bit of a pain, instead of 5-600m of light i have 60-70m

[electromage]

I have Hella ECE (euro-spec) H4 headlights, FF75 foglights, and FF1000 driving lights (hoping to replace soon with Ralleye 4000 HID).

[TXArsonCop]

Bucky,

You're looking for Wagner 4537s or their Philips or GE Osram equivalent, it's a 100w PAR 46 bulb with a clear,flat lens. I know because I'm holding two of them, the box is marked "spot, aircraft" And they're (at least not these) not a tight spot but a rectangular beam that easily covers a two lane road.

My '99 F150 has the "muddy" plastic headlights not the "jewel" type so I don't know how much farther those throw but these ACLs throw significantly farther than my headlights. My problem is I'm trying to find an alternate housing. The bulb is 5.75" dia x 2.75" deep and all the housings (which are VERY few) I've been able to locate are 6" x 4". Were your housings the same size? I need housings that aren't as deep. I can't mount these to my grill guard because of the "deep dish" housings I've been able to find so far.

An online source for the bulbs is here: Atlanta Light Bulbs but any automotive parts house should be able to get them using the part number.

[Bogus1]

Anyone have fog/driving/off-road lights on their vehicle?

It seems appropriate to post a pic of TnC's version of an off road light driving 14 LuxVs in two 4" heads with two drivers. An up to date version would only take a single driver to run the newer LEDs for roughly the same output.

[darkhanger18]

(2)150 watt off road lights on top, (2)small 55w driving lights on the bumper, (2)55 watt yellowish fogs on the bumper, might get some cheap aux reverse lights soon. Also got some cheap blue 5mm led's up in the dome lights, and 4 strung across the roof in the trunk, come on when i open the doors. Plenty bright, but color rendition SUCKS , everything is a shade of blue

[KingGlamis]

Off-road lighting has come a long way over the years. The current crop of HIDs, while expensive, vastly outshine the 100W off-road lights most people are familiar with. Even in incan, some are now 130-150 watts and very bright.

As to the aircraft landing light comments. For most people that is an urban legend. I highly doubt most people that think they have aircraft lights actually do. Especially since many of the high-power aircraft lights run off of 28 volts. I've met many people over the years who claimed to have aircraft landing lights, when in fact they were just KC Hi-lighters or a similar light from another company.

Myself, I have the relatively cheap KCs 100 watters, mainly because I can't afford the HIDs. And they are mounted as high as possible, which is key in off-roading (as well as a couple that are lower so you get a good mix).

[electromage]

I love my fog lights, but I'm so tempted to buy some Sylvania Xenarcs. I know HID isn't as good for fog, but they have some yellow/amber covers for them, and even with a filter they're probably more efficient than halogen.

I'm also considering their "x6054" dot compliant HID kit for my headlights. Again, I love my Hella euro-beam headlights as well, but my alternator is overloaded as it is, and I can't help wanting more light. I measured the current draw of all of my accessories from the battery with my engine off and it's about a half amp over the max rating on my stock alternator. Consider that's with a minor voltage drop (no regulation), and it's obvious that I need to get more efficient.