i had those on my old xj....worked pretty well for the price

 

I was at HF yesterday buying a spring compressor for my upcomming lift install and saw the farm lights. i didn't think to look at the wattage,but nthey wereblack housing and 8. buck a light. anyone have any thoughts on these?

 

I bought a pair of them to run as rock lights. They are a nice flood light.

I finished my 500ff hellas with hids and I am more than impressed. they outshine the headlights down the trail quite a bit.

I wish i had more roads around me without street lights to take pictures but I will get some sooner than later.

 

I didn't think to look at the wattage of the HF lights. How bright are they?

 

I have a pair of PIAA 520 ATPs on my '96 Sport's bumper. ATPs have a wider beam than driving lights and much narrower than fogs. They came with 85w H3s and were insanely bright. In that I wanted to use them as auxiliary lows, and fill lighting behind highs, I swapped in a pair of PIAAS 55w bulbs. They are still brighter than my highs! I can't use them on a wet road with oncoming traffic because they reflect too much light. For rural driving, they're awesome! Pricey? ($190 shipped from the lowest $ I could find on the 'net) yes, but they are worth it, IMO. The housings are steel, lenses glass, and wiring harness is plug-n-play with no splicing.

I just bought a set of Hella 500 driving lights for my '96 SE. The lenses are glass, bodies are polycarbonate (plastic), and the harness is a wimpy do-it-yourself bunch of parts and wires. If they make decent light, I'll not complain since they're going on my "utility vehicle". They were $80 at Pep Boys. These will go on the bumper today, and will be aimed like the PIAAS as auxiliary lows, but not wired to the highs or lows.

I saw a video on the 'net of a comparison of 500 driving lights, 500 FF driving lights, and 500 Black Magic, all with the supplied 55w H3s. The Black Magic made noticeably less light, and I couldn't see any difference in brightness or projection between the regular 500s and 500 FFs. The FFS are more $ but don't appear to be worth it unless you just like the look of the FF reflectors and clear lenses. The BMs are "just for show", IMO.

The Sport has Delta E-code H4 housings with PIAA 60/55w 4000K bulbs. The SE has sealed beams, and side by side the Delta/PIAA combo is MUCH brighter and whiter light.

 

Harbor Freight lights on a home made bar.

 

I mounted the Hella 500s (driving lights) on the bumper of my '96 SE and finally got to try them this evening. I aimed them much like my lows and took it out on some dark, rural roads. They definitely are brighter than my sealed beam lows, and compliment them nicley. Likewise, they fill in behind the highs rather well. I suspect that they're at least as bright, and project at least as well as my current highs, so they're doing what I wanted.

Pros: relatively inexpensive ($80 for the kit) compared to the PIAAs (closer to $200). The light is adequate (55w H3) and well defined. Glass lenses.

Cons: polycarbonate housings (plastic), DIY harness with wimpy gauge wire and lousy connectors. Increased wattage bulbs may make too much heat for the housings.

 

The Peep has Blazer lights, cheap, 55W, $36pair, get em with the plastic housings, 3rd winter no rust, replaced three so far in that time. The amber have a wide beam the clear is a long pencil focus. Switched seperatly thru 30A relays, 10 and 12 ga power supply and dual ground wires. No fails to date. Replaced the stock fasteners with stainless. Easy service. Front bumper bracket is 10ga stainless, roofs mount thru drilled stock rack bar.
Headlites are Sylvania Silverstars, geat light, don't last long enough even with the rewired harness. Cost of doin business. Bumper fogs are angled slightly to right for oncoming friendly. Next is changing the roofs to old Silverstars that the hi beam still works, capture the sun or what. lololololol

 

That's sick setup. Sometime I WANa set up
Side alley lights for deer scouting fields at night

 

Got any photos of that bar??

 

Got pictures with them on, I'm wanting to do exactly the same setup as you have

 

For you guys, anything. I'll go out and take a few pics and post em.

 

Turning the dark of morning to light. I don't think my neighbors appreciated it (good morning). These aren't great pics, but they'll do. Close-up pics of the bar to follow after the sun comes up.

 

4 Baja lights up front protected inside the custom roof rack, and 2 more in the rear for serious back up illumination. (also fun to F#&% w/ tailgaters, scares the hell out of em) each set of 2 is on it's own 30 amp fuse and and i use solid (not stranded) 12 gauge to run the feeds and grounds.

 

Harbor-freight lights.
BMG metals 1x3 aluminum tube.
KAR 5054-1 rain gutter mounts.
Deans plug.
40A relay from Auto Zone.
Assorted hardware True Value Hardware.

Total cost est. $125.