Aftermarket driviNg lights-LED?

I have been on CPF for several years in the searchlight forum, as I have several military VSS-1's and VSS-3's (180 million candlepower!). It wasn't until recently I scrolled down enough to see my a few other subjects dear to my heart - Knives and now automotive lighting. Please allow me to utilize what others have already learned and (hopefully) save me time and money in my personal quest................................
I have a 2003 Dodge 2500 (with original factory lighting) and travel a lot at night across Idaho and surrounding states. Lots of open spaces with minimal traffic (as in going for as much as a hour without seeing another vehicle). I have decided to add to aftermarket driving lights, as I must have an overpowered deer-magnet mounted under the front bumper. The factory high-beams seem like they are good enough (compared to nothing else), but I want to add something to light up the shoulders/roadside way out there, at the very least as far as the high beams. I swear those deer wait all night for my rig to drive by, but I digress.
(I apologize if I am not explaining myself correctly.)
I read threads about simply buying better bulbs to fit in the factory housings, and figure that might be a good starting point. Is there a better bulb, readily available, that I can just go down to the auto parts store and buy?

I am told the "standard" KC Daylighters are what a lot of people buy, but I am not thrilled about their amperage draw, especially since LED's seem to be the up and coming thing. Then, the guy at the truck-parts store tells me there are now LED Daylighters, that draw way less power, but he hasn't seen any at night to see if they throw as far as the "standard" model. (My web-fu couldn't locate any video of a comparison between the regular and LED models in real world fashion.)
I see a bunch of vehicles lately with LED "driving" or "fog" lights mounted, but I would wager 90% of them are simply eye-candy, with the effort to make their vehicles look cool. I want something that will work for its intended purpose.

I'm a big fan of the JW Speaker products since they literally outshine the other options I've compared them to. In Idaho, are your auxiliary driving lights required to meet SAE standards? If yes, the TS3001 lights offer a driving beam that meets SAE Y standard and are offered at a fairly decent price. Another possibility MAY be the TS4000. The beam isn't very tall like the beams from the light bars that are plaguing the roads, but it is very wide with a very intense "hot spot". I believe they are the same light as the 7" European high beam offered by JW Speaker, with a pedestal mount incorporated. So I may need corrected on this, but if your auxiliary high beam laws don't require SAE/DOT compliance, I believe you can use these. If that is the case, I'd bet my lunch you'll be pretty happy with the TS4000.

after thought - Another SAE compliant option - KC offers the Gravity SAE driving lights. I had a set of those and they were decent, fairly cheap, and came with a harness/relay/switch kit, but I found the specs on their website a little inflated. They claimed something like 90K but I measured closer to 75k peak intensity. I can't give any long term observations but they weren't horrible

If I were to buy a pair of led driving lights (auxiliary high beams) I would go for a pair of cibie super oscar led lights. The " wide beam" ones would provide excellent distance and spread of light. They would be about $600 for the pair and a great value for the performance. If you don't want to spend that much I would have to recommend sticking with halogens like the hella rallye 4000 in what they refer to as" euro beam". tthey would run about 250 -300 for a pair and perform very well but they would be heavier and draw more power than the super oscar leds.

As far as bulbs there better ones but most are difficult to find in stores. The Phillips xtreme vision are excellent.
Are your headlights perfectly new and clear? If there Is any visible hazing or yellowing (I would be surprised if there wasn't any given it's over 10 years old) you may need new oem headlamps. (Aftermarket ones are all garbage).
You may also be able to improve your stock lamps output with upgraded heavier wiring and relays to reduce the voltage drop. Measure the voltage drop to the bulbs while they are operating to find out how much of an improvement coupld be made that way.
With clear oem headlamps , upgraded wiring and Phillips extreme vision bulbs you could see a significant improvement and for less than $100(unless you need new oem lamps as well)

I couldn't find anything in Idaho code that mentions auxiliary lights and SAE, so apparently I would not have to meet those particular requirements. How does that change things? The code just talks about location heights and how they are aimed.

Also I would stay away from kc as they are mostly rebranded cheap ,chinese made headlamps with little to no optical engineering and thats putting it kindly. You're much better off with something from speaker , cibie , trucklite or hella.

You shouldnt be using auxiliary high beams in traffic no matter what so In practice you are unlikely to get in trouble unless you missuse them.

I intend on using them ONLY when I am out in the middle of nowhere-which Idaho has an abundance of. Like I mentioned, I have gone literally an hour before seeing another vehicle.

I wasn't trying to imply that you use them in traffic, just that using them improperly could get one in trouble regardless of beam compliance.

We're good.

Bill said:

I couldn't find anything in Idaho code that mentions auxiliary lights and SAE, so apparently I would not have to meet those particular requirements. How does that change things? The code just talks about location heights and how they are aimed.

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As long as the number of lights and your mounting locations are legal, and as long as the auxiliary lights are only activated with OEM high beams, it opens the door legally to options like the JW Speaker TS4000 and the Hella Rallye 4000 lamps mentioned above. In the event of a code enforcement question, you don't have to have the auxiliary high beams with lens markings indicating SAE approval.

I think SAE auxiliary high beams are limited to 75k peak intensity so if your not required to meet that standard, the door is also opened to lights with higher peak beam intensity. I think the TS4000 are 135K candela.

You're getting good advice (go with Cibie or Hella or Speaker). Pick your beam pattern carefully; many/most of the good lamps are available in more than one beam pattern. Consider getting one wide-beam and one long-beam version of the same model lamp; put the long-beam unit on the driver's side and the wide-beam unit on the passenger's side and wire them as usual to come on together.

If the truck's headlamps are original, they're 13 years old and probably not in perfect condition, and they really need to be -- "pretty good" isn't good enough. That should be remedied with new genuine Chrysler headlamps (all the aftermarket ones are junk) and decent bulbs. The best bulbs are these or these, and the original-equipment headlamps can be found at decent pricing such as here and here.

See if you can find folks near you who are into road rallies or performance rallies. The local region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a good place to start. Those folks should know about lights and where to get 'em.

Look at LED light bars too. They seem to be popular around here.

Re-check the Dept. of Motor Vehicle rules. You might see something under "auxillary lighting."

And in NY at least I know they're either talking about or already have rules in place about the maximum length a light bar can be and how high the lights can be mounted above the bumper. Regs can be pretty strange and/or hard to find but it's worth checking out to keep from bumming out other drivers and getting a ticket.

I would recommend staying away from led light bars for anything but slow speed rock crawling . They tend to use small and simple optics to put out a ton of light in a flood type pattern and completely over illuminate the foreground which constricts your pupils , ruining your night adaptation and your ability to see long distances at night.

i would strongly recommend using either the Cibie super Oscar LEDs (my preference based on value) or the Jw speaker lights mentioned above which tend to be a bit pricier but also would give excellent performance. For a more budget conscious outfit I have found the hella rallye 4000 line excellent they are widely available and have many different beam patterns . With the hella make sure to use top tier bulbs (Phillips, Osram, Narva, Flosser) and don't go any higher than 100w or you end up with terrible beam focus and poor bulb life. (I have found 55w Phillips extreme vision bulbs to be more than sufficient) . Use a mix of beam patterns as Virgil recommended . I think you would be very happy with any of these options.

If LED lamps are too expensive and you need an inexpensive system, I'd do this, using those particular Cibie lamp units in these housings.

I 100% agree with the recommendation to be careful with light bars. It's shocking, but most modern vehicle's high beams will easily shine farther than most of the light bars available. There are some exceptions but they are going to get close to the $800 - $1000 range.

One helpful tip for pricing the JW Speaker TS4000 if they fit your fancy: I have found them cheaper offline but, Grainger is the cheapest I have found online - $550 for grainger part# 45RJ25.

https://m.grainger.com/mobile/product/J-W-SPEAKER-Work-Lamp-Kit-45RJ25

That's a kit of two black bezel TS4000. The tricky part is they list them as "work lights" so they don't come up easily in google searches. The chrome bezel version is #45RJ24

Whoa...................Grainger says $550 for one light?! $1100 a pair! I simply cannot talk myself into that much, especially when I spent considerably less than that for a complete working VSS-1!
And I agree, those LED light bars appear to me to be in the "eye-candy" catagory.
I'm still looking.

No - those are sold as a kit of two for $550

I haven't seen the beam pattern for the 9" Super Oscars but Amazon has the 700lm ones for $240 each! Has anyone seen what the pattern is like? I'd love to hear if you have....

From a rally standpoint (and that's driving fast and under rough conditions, probably the best testing ground for practical off road use) here's what I think you'll want to think about...

Mounting the lights is usually one of two options:

- a light bar which you could buy or fabricate yourself. Not too expensive but usually doesn't look great depending on your budget and skill. Learn from someone who's built some or it'll either bounce around or come apart.
- a pod. Looks much better but has to be fitted carefully and mounting the lights could require a lot of trimming to fit. Not cheap. Not used too much any longer so might be harder to find in the US. Makes it a pain to open the hood (usually the pod has to be removed). Puts the lights on the hood and centered which is usually the way you'll want them. Most pods hold four lights (and can hold large lights).

As for lights at speed and on rough roads you have three basic options:
- halogen lights. High wattage means a drain on the alternator. Least expensive probably. They will most often put a real strain & drain on alternators so you'll want a real beefy alternator.
- LED's. Middle ground on price. Lower drain on alternator. Might not throw as far as Hellas or PIAAs (depends on which ones you get - do your homework since there's some crap out there). Multiple LED's can usually mean fewer shadows. If one or even a few LED's in the array fail you should still have light coming out of the rest. I know people who used halogens for decades and switched to LED's.
- HID's. $$$. Ballasts are not something you can repair along the side of the road and are also $$$.

Other than the military the rally crowd is the group I see as putting the equipment to a tough, real world test. They're looking for durable stuff that can be fixed on the roadside if it fails or get smacked around. It has to work, do its job really well, and be easy to fix and fix fast.

Hope this helps.

chmsam said:

From a rally standpoint (and that's driving fast and under rough conditions, probably the best testing ground for practical off road use)

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Not necessarily a representative "test" for the kind of driving the OP describes.

a light bar which you could buy

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Such as the well regarded Carr item in black, silver, or chrome

halogen lights. High wattage means a drain on the alternator. Least expensive probably. They will most often put a real strain & drain on alternators so you'll want a real beefy alternator.

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Er...not. The recommended Cibie + housing or Hella 4000 setup will draw between 8.5 and 14 amps, depending on what bulbs are installed. That's not anything like a "real strain and drain" on any alternator factory-installed in the OP's '03 Dodge Ram pickup.

LED's. Middle ground on price.

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This is an odd generalization I doubt can be supported.

Lower drain on alternator.

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True.

Might not throw as far as Hellas or PIAAs

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This makes less than no sense. The opposite of "LED" isn't "Hella or PIAA". PIAA's lamps are generally overpriced junk, and Hella has a huge range of different-price, different-performing lamps, but the brand doesn't determine how far the beam reaches.

Multiple LED's can usually mean fewer shadows

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This is not at all correct. It's a creative idea, but it's not based on reality. The beam pattern is the beam pattern, no matter what light source (or sources) produce it.

If one or even a few LED's in the array fail you should still have light coming out of the rest.

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No, usually not. In general, the LEDs in a vehicle lamp are connected and driven in such a manner that if one emitter fails, the lamp stops working.

I know people who used halogens for decades and switched to LED's

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I know people who used landlines for decades and switched to cell phones. But the funny thing is, I also know people who still use landlines when that's what meets their needs.

HID's. $$$.

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Some of them are, yes.

Ballasts are not something you can repair along the side of the road

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Neither are LEDs, and how does that matter? The OP isn't asking about lamps that would strand him by the side of the road if they fail, all they would do is generate a "Damnit" and a sigh and a mental note to look into it when it's convenient to do so.

Other than the military the rally crowd is the group I see as putting the equipment to a tough, real world test. They're looking for durable stuff that can be fixed on the roadside if it fails or get smacked around. It has to work, do its job really well, and be easy to fix and fix fast.

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...most of which are reasons why the rally crowd isn't a representative model for the kind of service the OP is looking to put lamps into.

chmsam said:

Multiple LED's can usually mean fewer shadows.

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I believe multiple LEDs in a wide bar type of light would only reduce shadows at very close ranges like inches or a foot or two. This is a benefit for floody close range illumination. Beyond that, at the distances being illuminated by driving lights, this benefit of eliminating shadows disappears.

chmsam said:

If one or even a few LED's in the array fail you should still have light coming out of the rest.

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I see this advertised and tested in torture tests but I believe it to be not much more than a sales tactic. I think the common view from the past was that a rock through the lens of a halogen or an HID light rendered the light inoperable. By comparison, a lot of light bars can keep most of the LEDs lit even if the housing or lens is penetrated. But really, for an LED light to keep most LEDs illuminated in the event of housing/lens damage, it depends on many factors like how many LED driver circuits there are and how they are designed. Unfortunately that info usually isn't available and it is difficult for the average joe to decipher. It's become a red flag to me when a light company talks about the LED failures because they simply don't fail often enough to worry about. Solder joints and circuitry components are the more likely sources of failure and they don't come with a 50,000 hour life claim. Of all of the LEDs I have scavenged out of dead lights, I have yet to find one that won't illuminate when given power and ground.