Driving Lights (for not a Jeep...)

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

This isn't Jeep related, but I think you guys will have some good answers!

I've had to put a pause on the CRD project due a (hopefully temporary) income reduction... the path to completion is just too much to spend right now. Instead I'm knocking out other time consuming projects that don't have a big cost associated with them. One of those is a substantial electrical rethink on my '90s era motorhome using a bunch of repurposed electrical doodads from cars I've parted over the years. So far so good!

and I'm adding some Ford, Jaguar, and Saab DNA here, so down the road nobody will have any clue what's going on.

The final piece of this project is going to be adding some auxiliary lighting - driving lights in the front to supplement terrible 1990 Camry headlights, some flood lights in back to aid backing up, and some underbelly lights to help see near/around the thing when it's dark out. These will be the only things I need to buy for the project...

Things I'm considering:

1. Hella 500s for the front lights. IME these are the best bang for the buck when you're trying to see further down the road. I don't need more nearby coverage - 1993 motorhome can't stop for **** anyway, but if there's something 500' down the road I'd like to be able to see it so I can plan.

I don't think I can get that sort of coverage with LEDs, but I'll consider anything!

2. Rear lights aren't important, I'm just looking for a blob of light so I don't run over anything. Amazon et al have a pile of cheap LED flood lights ...

3. I've learned "rock lights" is a thing, and that seems exactly right, but since I have mountains of space down there, "compact" isn't a requirement. I just need a few feet of coverage, and power consumption is maybe more of a concern that light output, since these could be left on for many hours at night.

If anybody has specific recommendations for any/all of this lighting, I'd be appreciative!

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Mon Apr 27, 2020 10:01 pm

I would take a real hard look at HELLA 357200001 7" LED Driving Beam Lights.
They produce a brilliant white driving light and the cost won't break your wallet.
Very pleased with mine. Liked them so much on my Jeep, I put sets on both of my Dodge trucks.
The 4" or 6" LED flood lights work very well for backup lights.
Whatever you do, on all added lights, be sure and use fused relays to power them!

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

Thanks for that... I always agonize over LEDs because they generally don't have throw that incandescent bulbs have. How are they at a distance, versus the factory high beams?

Wiring is already sorted - 6ga wire straight off the battery to 40a SPST relays.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:37 am

Around here everyone seems to like the LED light bars.
They put them on trucks, jeeps, cars, UTV's, golf carts,...

Are they bright?
YES!
Especially when being on the receiving end.
Annoyingly bright.
I hate them.

If you want lights that go out a good distance, choose spotlights.
Flood lights are for a wide area.

Cheap LED spotlights are not very durable or long lasting.

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

In the front, distance is KEY. '90s-era headlights weren't good enough for most cars, and a 12,000lb motorhome takes four to five times the distance to come down from 60mph. I want as much heads up as I can get, which is why I was eyeballing the Hella 500s. They are pretty inexpensive, and the spot beam pattern (they also have fog and pencil) offer a few hundred feet of roadway lighting.

After looking at those LEDs WWDiesel I'm having a slight rethink and maybe doubling up on forward lighting, but I'm not sure where it goes.

The Hella 500s are about 6.5" in diameter, a little smaller than the lights he linked. I can fit one pair, but I'm not sure about two. But it's an attractive idea so I'm thinking about it... changing an (OFF)-ON rocket to an ON-(OFF)-ON rocker is easy, and it's just another few inches of wiring and an additional relay. I wouldn't be able to have ALL the lighting at once, but if you're doing sixty in an old RV, whatever is coming out of the trees on your right is already dead.

I'm thinking about a light bar in BACK, right on top of the rear bumper 'cause it's easy. But probably the right answer is on the roof... which is difficult.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 1:09 pm

The Hella 7" lights come in both Spot and Driving lights versions
Spot: HELLA 357200011 7" Spot Beam Light
Driving: HELLA 357200001 7” LIGHT Driving Light SAE/ECE

Obviously the spot beam produces the longer pencil type light beam and has a slightly higher LED wattage rating.
Cost is about the same for either version.

I have the Spot beams and they light up straight ahead about 100 yards or little better and the light beams are quite narrow.
I also have light bar floods to see whats on the side of the road and tree lines up close.
I had two 150 watt halogen KC Daylighters before I replaced them with the Hella LED's and the LED light is much brighter, whiter, and produces more usable visible light.
The older halogen sealed beams while producing a long high powered narrow beam, the light is much yellower and does not produce as much usable visible light for the driver.

For a motorhome, I would mount one spot beam on left and one driving light on right side or two spot beams for distance and a light bar for better close up visibility.
Wiring them to the high beam headlight circuit of the OEM lights allows the high beams when selected to activate the auxiliary lights (via relay) and turns them off when you drop back to low beams.
The cutout toggle switch allows you to deactivate the circuit if you don't want them coming on with the high beams for any reason like in town driving.
Be careful, some states don't allow the use of high power driving or spot beams on public highways. (Off Road Only!)

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

Yeah, my state is ostensibly one of those states that is particular about lighting, but in 20 years they've never hassled me about this

so hopefully the motorhome goes unnoticed as well.

I'm not trying to blind other drivers or anything, but when you're hustling down a highway in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night, c1990 Camry headlights are simply not safe!

Do you have any recommendations on a light bar? If I did a pair of spots flanking the grille and a light bar underneath it, that could put me in good shape and wouldn't block the radiator at all.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 1:30 pm

I can relate, no problems in my state but I am careful where I use them.
Driving back country highways at night loaded with deer make a person very leary especially after killing about a half dozen over the years with vehicles.
That is why I have push bars on the front of all my vehicles to help protect them on deer impact and they do work and provide a nice place to mount auxiliary lights.

As to light bars, shop around and pay attention to watt ratings, lumens, and light color. 6000k is best.
They come in pure flood, and flood/driving light combo and all different lengths. Depending on your mounting location as to what length you can mount.
I am running the 24" flood light bars on my vehicles and I have a 52" flood/driving light combo on the roof of my Polaris Ranger and it lights up the world. :rockon:

See this:> https://www.hella.com/hella-us/assets/m ... N_LRes.pdf

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

I was looking at the frame/bumper structure last night to see if I could add a pushbar. Not that it's of any real value, but it would make mounting lights easier.

If I had a tube bender, I'd probably take a crack at it!

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 3:14 pm

Worth taking a look at for light bars:> https://www.auxbeam.com/season-1-clearance :wink:

turblediesel · **Posted:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 5:45 pm

I bought a truck with a lightbar on it and switching back to low beams was like closing my eyes. Got rid of it. I could have added extra low beam lights to compensate but 2 lights are all that's legally allowed with oncoming traffic. I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for running their fogs and lows all the time but I've been forced to slow to a stop due to tooo much oncoming glare. Blinding lights cause head-ons.

For distance mount above the bumper and inside the headlights. Fog lights should be low and to the sides; I like yellow fogs because they seem to see through rain and snow better. Rear lights should be high to light some uphill while going downhill although that probably doesn't matter on a motorhome.

thesameguy · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2016 8:24 pm **Posts:** 652

Yeah, I am not too worried about fog lights... if I encountered a situation where visibility was that compromised I would just stop. More forward lighting is about having stopping room on the freeway at night, and more rearward lighting is about seeing parking spots and, less frequently, a trailer tongue. I have a backup camera, but IR LEDs just aren't that effective with so much space to fill up, so I am trying to create daylight back there.

Driving Lights (for not a Jeep...)

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