Lighting/Photos please

[ROX]

Okay, before everyone starts lecturing me on threads to go see......I saw them. I've been reading about offroad lights and headlights until I'm blind and deaf. wait. Just blind.
But I'd like to see the finished product. I was hoping you guys/gals would share photos of the lights you installed and where you installed them.
I was thinking of putting some PIAA 510's in the DRL spot on the bumper, with a separate switch. I'd like to add some to the roof rack. 525's possibly, or even to the brush guard.
Also, has anyone installed any LED lamps? I couldn't find good info on these.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

[ROX]

Okay, before everyone starts lecturing me on threads to go see......I saw them. I've been reading about offroad lights and headlights until I'm blind and deaf. wait. Just blind.
But I'd like to see the finished product. I was hoping you guys/gals would share photos of the lights you installed and where you installed them.
I was thinking of putting some PIAA 510's in the DRL spot on the bumper, with a separate switch. I'd like to add some to the roof rack. 525's possibly, or even to the brush guard.
Also, has anyone installed any LED lamps? I couldn't find good info on these.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

[DRTYFN]

Uhm... you've seen my set up in person. Why go any further?
Besides, you need a steel valence so you can put in some real lights.

The PIAA 525s have little LEDs near the bottom of the lights. I just need to hook them up.

[ROX]

Drty: Did you put the 525's in the DRL spot? I thought those were 510's. The 525's are cool. Didn't you tell me there was an issue with water getting in them? I still like to go thru deeeeeeep water! Ya know, places where we hydrolock H1's.

[KenP]

With all these extra lamps, does this mean you will be high-beaming alot?

(I know, I know, that was too easy... )

[ROX]

Slam Dunk! That's what they're for!

[DRTYFN]

Yeah, the 525s are vented. So I had to take them apart and seal them with silicone adhesive. No more leaky weaky.

[tower]

Probably not what you're looking for, but here are my pix.

[tower]

2

[tower]

3

[ROX]

Yes it is! Thank you! Nice Rig!

I know it's a lot of chrome, but I was considering the PIAA 520 Ion crystal style. I see that youn are running a yellow lenses. How do they perform?

I have a new roof rack that I'd like to put 4 lights on. I've been reading all the lighting threads and searching on the subject, but no one has really touched on the top roof lights.

I know that a stock roof light bar comes with one harness. But if I were to buy two sets of new lights, would I have to run two harnesses, with two switches? Or can I find a harness to run all four lights with only one switch?

The other question was: Should I run strictly driving lights on top, or should there be two fog lights mounted on the outside positions, with two drivers in the middle? I saw pics of PhilD's lights on, that he posted, but there was no mention of what kind of lights they were. When I picked my rack up at the dealership they said to run strictly driving lights, keeping the fogs down low. But it is my impression that fog lights provide a wide angle beam pattern which could provide light on the sides of the trail.

I know these are a lot of questions, but I've never had experience with light bars before. I've used the ones mounted on the brush guard and am not happy with the distance. (especially in snow and uneven terrain.) Eventually, I will change the brush guard lights to make them match.
Here's a pic of my rack to give an idea of what I'm looking at. I probably should have posted on the lighting thread.

Any more advice is greatly appreciated.

[dochummer]

What kind of rack did you get?

[ROX]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dochummer:
What kind of rack did you get? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is a Manik roof rack. It comes in two pieces. I had the back part forever, but recently decided to get the front for more space and for some lights. It also has an optional chrome ladder for the back. Now it just needs some lights.

[dochummer]

Very nice, does it come in black?

[tower]

Beautiful Rig!

If I get a rack, I need to find one that is no taller than the factory crossbars. I had to raise a soil pipe in my (commercial) garage just to fit those. And I'm still trying to choose which winch bumper I want. Anyway, I should reply to your question.

I had 8 roof lights on my Tahoe (photo below). They were all PIAA 1500's (XT, I think). I like them because they are low-profile. Anyway, the six on the sides and the rear were all fogs. As you already surmised, these will give you a nice spread with a clear cut-off. I used them for 3 purposes: as night time work lights, as lights to look into the window of the car on my side (through all their tinting, to see them rolling joints after they cut me off), and I had all 8 lights flash in an alternating L/R pattern to ward off traffic if I was working a wreck.

I had "driving" lights on the front 2 only. This was because my headlights were already so bright and also flashed at the touch of a button. All the overheads had dichroic reflectors, so they looked amber or white, depending on where you stood (the front spots were amber only) and they looked white or blue when off, e.g. during the day.

My personal feeling is that spots or driving lights have very specific and limited utility. For avoiding overhangs at night, I prefer fogs to spots. The one advantage of spots is that they focus all of the light at a more distant point. For me, if I am worried about overhangs (branches, a cave roof, whatever) I am not racing so fast that I need the longer throw, but I do want to see the entire panorama. Hopefully someone with a different experience will also reply, so you can choose from varying opinions.

Tahoe pic is the only one I could find, but if you look carefully, you can see the side lights just outboard and to the front of the rear ones.

[ROX]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dochummer:
Very nice, does it come in black? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, as a matter of fact it does come in black. I think black is new. KenP has the Manik front brush guard I noticed.

http://www.manik.com/index.cfm

[ROX]

Holy Cow!! 8 lights?! Sounds like it worked great for you!

I considered using something low profile like the 1500XT. They would look good tucked between the top and bottom rail, but I can't fit in anything except our shop anyway, so why worry. I have seen a pic of PIAA 520 on the same rack, and that looks great!

Okay, so fog lights on the two outside positions give a better field of view? What about turning drivers out a little? I guess I'm probably splitting hairs.

[tower]

Well, yeah. With 2 drivers splayed, you get 2 hot spots farther apart and all shadow in between. BTW, I made my own harnesses. It's a little more time consuming, but always a perfect fit. Besides, this stuff is like therapy for me anyway. Also, added photo to previous post.

[ROX]

[quote]Originally posted by tower:
Well, yeah. With 2 drivers splayed, you get 2 hot spots farther apart and all shadow in between. BTW, I made my own harnesses. [quote]

Ok. So definitely better to put two fogs out and two drivers in. Then have Tower come make nifty custom wiring harness.
Actually, it won't be hard to do. I don't see why you would ever want one pair wired separately from another pair when they are all pointing the same direction. Just more wires to jam thru the roof, and more switch holes to drill. Having some on the back could be cool, too. Hmmmm.
Thanks for the advice!!

Next I'm thinking of some low profile lights to mount on the brush guard instead of the round Bosch that are on there. I should be able to use the existing wiring for that.

[PARAGON]

In some lights you can get a "flood" pattern that will not have the vertical cutoff as bad as some "fogs". But there is not much point in having the lights if they are not aimed properly. I've gotten several comments about my lights being crooked but in reality they are properly aimed.

I am going to do some type of roof lights at some point and plan on (from inside out) 2 pencil beams in the middle, outside of that 2 driving and outside of those, flood/fogs.