"Moose Lights" options... Hella 4000 series?

Hello! I have been browsing and searching this forum/subforum for over a year now and am finally motivating myself to upgrade the lighting in my 2002 Excursion. I live in Alaska and drive long distances when I get off my 2-week work shift. I am over playing Moose Roulette while cruising down the road. Eye fatigue from my crappy stock headlights is also a real deal, its getting too much and sketchy at times.

I am going to be following the Mr. Sterns advice and run my headlights off relays with direct power from the battery/alternator. Relays will be housed in a busman relay/fuse holder. It can hold 5 relays and ten fuses. I may eventually do the same for the factory fog lights. I do drive a fair amount in poor weather and they do help some during a snow storm. Key word some. Also I am looking at options to make my vehicle more visible in general. Getting rear ended during a blizzard would be a bad day. I had one drive where I turned on the bed light of the truck I was driving. It was the only rear facing light not covered in snow.

Where my indecision come into play is with auxiliary lighting. I was all set to run 4 Hella 4000 Halogen (two pencil beam and two euro/driving). My question is, has tech evolved and there maybe better options? Budget is a consideration… $600 is kind of where I am at. If that only gets me two lights then I will add two more at a later date.

I see Hella has introduced a newer LED version of the 4000 series lights. I like it for its passive heating of the lens. Snow and slush build up on the lens is a consideration. Cost on these is roughly $300 a lamp.

http://www.myhellalights.com/index.php/products/auxiliary-lamps/led/hella-rallye-4000-led-metal/

I have also read recommendations of buying a 7" housing and running the JW Speaker or Truck Light lamps. Could you wire these to a three-way switch to use both high and low beams? I know they make heated versions so that would help with snow build up. Would these throw enough light down the road? Obviously, they are no pencil beam but 4 of these on high would have to throw a fair amount of light right?

I have a couple friends who have added "ditch lights" to aid in visibility. This is an addition to the light bars they run. The ditch areas up here are cut fairly wide in spots.

I ordered a light mounting bar for the front, sits about bumper high, and has mounting tabs for up to four 9" lights. My basic goals are to not hit a moose and not run off the road during a snowstorm. Speeds are no more than 70 in the winter (dry roads obviously). Also I should note that during the summer my family and I live in a remote "town". This requires a 60 mile jaunt (one way) down a gravel road. Due to school closures and COVID we are spending the winter out there as well. So vibration issues should be taken into account.

I am open for options. Thanks for the help in advance!

You mention relays for your headlights...good...but exactly what headlights are you running? On a 2002 Excursion there's a lot of room for big improvement over the junk Ford put on.

For example:

I have also read recommendations of buying a 7" housing and running the JW Speaker or Truck Light lamps.

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Why horse around with external housings? Why not just install the rectangular version of the heated JW Speaker lamps as your main headlamps? Much easier, and much better result (and you could still augment them with auxiliary lamps on the bumper).

The headlights are the Ford factory ones, not the rectangular version. I bought bulbs based of the recommendations found in this sub forum. It's been awhile, but I believe they are the Phillips Extreme +? Red and clear box.

In an email discussion Daniel Stern gave me a list of parts required to convert my headlights over to the rectangular version. It's a time, money, energy conundrum at this point. I'll admit it's easy to forget about needing headlights when you have 24 hours of daylight in the summer time. So now once again I'm regretting my procrastination. Also there is so little traffic and it as rural as it gets, at night you can run your auxiliary lighting for almost the whole drive (90% this winter). Just flip them off for the occasional approaching car. So I was going to focus on auxiliary lighting first and then think about the whole headlight swap next next summer. I'll revisit that email thread though give it some thought.

For auxiliary lighting what are some good options? What are your thoughts on the Hellas linked above?

I've read numerous threads with a variety of ideas. All hail the search function, haha! Some threads are pretty dated at this point (principals still apply though) and the tech has been changing pretty fast. So I just thought I'd make sure I had the latest insights. I know to stay away from the Amazon specials. I have one one on another vehicle and yes it works but I've never been thrilled with it.

EDIT:
I looked into swapping over the the sealed beam style and it may not be as difficult as I thought. The adjustment screws, spring and clips are different. So sourcing those parts might be the challenge, followed by having time to do it. I still think for now I will focus on auxiliary lighting. I'll post the parts list I got from Daniel Stern if anyone else is looking to do the same thing.

Part list from Daniel Stern to convert the stock 2002 aero Ford Excursion lights to the Super Duty seal beam versions. This is to allow the use of the JW Speaker heated LED headlights:

"Most of the components needed come from Ford (these are Ford
part numbers):

Two of these
Two of these
One of these (pic is wrong, but part is right)
One of these (pic is wrong, but part is right)
One of these
One of these (pic is wrong, but part is right)
Two of these
Two of these
Four of these

that is the bezels, buckets, aligners, and housing brackets.
You will also need the "bushings" the bucket sits in (Ford
dealer body shop will usually be able to help) and a few
small push-in nylon and metal clips (dealer body shop again,
or just hit a local hardware store)."

Those Hella Rallye 4000 LEDs are good lamps. They put some brainpower into the engineering and design. The lens runs warm. You could run one of each kind, long beam and longer beam, or if you have deep pockets run a pair of each.

(But yeah, you really should dump those plug-awful composite "headlamps" Ford gave you and put in some good ones)

-Virgil- said:

Those Hella Rallye 4000 LEDs are good lamps. They put some brainpower into the engineering and design. The lens runs warm. You could run one of each kind, long beam and longer beam, or if you have deep pockets run a pair of each.

(But yeah, you really should dump those plug-awful composite "headlamps" Ford gave you and put in some good ones)

Click to expand...

Not a bad price considering what some brands cost. Just don't get fancy and get them with Chromium housings.
Would be interesting to see how those compared to similar priced 9 inch lamps. Think B-D and R brands here.

Why not chrome housings, if that's what's chosen? I can't think of a reason to avoid them.

Mostly personal reason I don't like shinny. Besides they look horrible when they start rusting. At least withe black housings you can rattle can those.

I am going to get the black ones, simply because they are slightly cheaper. I am torn between one of each or two flood. I am eventually going to get two of each but for now can't afford all 4 lights.

Yes the stock lights are going to go... They really are atrocious!

Also here is the Relay/Fuse block setup I am going to go with:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-build-and-install-a-bussmann-rtmr-fuse-relay-block.399454/

A guy will prewire/make one for you as well. A lot of the prats require minimum amount to purchase, so unless you are going to make a couple or use the parts for other projects it can get expensive.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ongoing-small-batch-bussmann-rtmr-5relay-10fuse.400458/


Thanks for the help and I will report back when I get the lights going.

ksa421 said:

Also here is the Relay/Fuse block setup I am going to go with:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-build-and-install-a-bussmann-rtmr-fuse-relay-block.399454/

Click to expand...

This is terrific, thank you for sharing!

ksa421 said:

I am torn between one of each or two flood. I am eventually going to get two of each but for now can't afford all 4 lights.

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That makes the decision easy: get one of each now, and one of each later. Biggest bang for buck, biggest bite at the apple.

Black vs chrome housings, The black housings, with higher emissivity, should be able to shed heat better than the chrome housings.

Will black vs chrome be able to keep the bulb cooler and perhaps extend its lifespan? Extend the life of the reflector?

No idea. Can keeping a halogen bulb cooler, extend its lifespan?

I'd think a cooler reflector would certainly degrade slower, but enough with a simple black vs chrome in the emissivity department, I know not.

wrcsixeight said:

Black vs chrome housings, The black housings, with higher emissivity, should be able to shed heat better than the chrome housings.

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It might help radiate some of the heat out a little but there is still convective cooling from airflow.

Will black vs chrome be able to keep the bulb cooler and perhaps extend its lifespan? Extend the life of the reflector?

Click to expand...

A cooler bulb is a less effective bulb, not that it would change the bulb temperature much. The reflector won't be preserved all that much more, either.

Can keeping a halogen bulb cooler, extend its lifespan?

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It can shorten it. A halogen bulb needs a very hot envelope for the halogen cycle to work correctly. If the envelope doesn't reach the normal operating temperature very quickly (or at all), then the halogen cycle fails and the bulb envelope blackens and the bits of filament that fly off when burning never reattach to the filament. (Not that the difference in the housing would have an effect. It might make for the most-boring Project Farm video ever.)

I'd think a cooler reflector would certainly degrade slower, but enough with a simple black vs chrome in the emissivity department, I know not.

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It's not going to be that much cooler, and remember that when in motion there will be convective cooling from the airflow.

wrcsixeight said:

Black vs chrome housings, The black housings, with higher emissivity, should be able to shed heat better than the chrome housings.

Click to expand...

This is not a thing. At least not to any degree measurable outside a very, very high-precision lab, and certainly not to any practical degree.

Will black vs chrome be able to keep the bulb cooler

Click to expand...

No.

and perhaps extend its lifespan?

Click to expand...

No.

Extend the life of the reflector?

Click to expand...

No.

Can keeping a halogen bulb cooler, extend its lifespan?

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Halogen bulbs' operating temperature is such that ten or fifty or ninety degrees of difference in the ambient temperature is completely drowned out/lost; it's a rounding error. Alaric is right that halogen bulbs' useful life can be shortened if they don't reach and remain at a temperature that allows the halogen cycle to occur.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but I've not been here recently.

Are the Brazilian Cibies referenced in this thread of interest to you?

As of a few months ago that same seller had a pair for sale. I don't know if that's still the case because I'm on my phone right now, and back then his listing showed up if I searched on my laptop, but not if I did so on my phone.

Use terms such as "1999-2004", "Ford F4000", "faro" and "lamp" in your search, and note that the seller is in Turkey.

See post 11 in that thread.