daniellemarie008

I've been looking at a lot of different types of lights for my jeep. I'm planning on putting 5 driving lights across the front of my roof rack and then rectangular ones around the rest of it. I noticed that most of them also come in colors such as blue red and yellow. Are there any advantages or reason's why you would get colored lights beyond just looking somewhat cool. Would they even work good? I feel like they wouldn't be very bright.

SeriousOffroad

Great topic, hope you don't mind my 2 cents.

The first thing you need to consider is what are the lights to be used for. a short range flood light isn't worth a hoot in a night time blast across the high desert in Arizona.

Amber fog lights mounted on your A-Pillars won't do you an good on a winter night crawl fest in a blizzard high in the Rocky mountains.

Blue lights anywhere on the road is just asking for a ticket from your favorite L.E.O.


Amber/Yellow fog lights mounted below the level of the headlights will make visibility much better in fog or snow.

Driving lights or flood lights should be no higher than your headlights.

Long Range/ Pencil Beams should be mounted over head whenever possible, a secondary location is on your A-Pillars.

Now before you start buying up lights and switch kits...think about the drain on your alternator. Standard lights can place a huge drain on your electrical system so do your homework before adding a dozen lights to your beast.

Halogen vs. HID vs. LED
Many times this decision is based on the first glance deep into your wallet. Your first instinct is to go cheap, really cheap....Harbor Freight cheap even. Good choice? No, not really, but it's your money...right?

Ask yourself yet again what your needs are. Just to look good or to be able get a good look? If you ever have the opportunity to see a set of low-buck lights compared to a set of higher quality lights pay attention to what you want visible from the drivers seat.

Where is the hottest (brightest) spot in the pattern?
Where is the cut-off?
How is the range?
Do the fog lights illuminate far enough to the left and right sides?
Do the floods provide even lighting?

Determine what your lighting needs really are and not just what looks cool in a poser shot. A half dozen lights on top of a mall-crawler is not a very efficient use of your Rig-Money.

L.E.D. lights may seem out of reach to some, but they are well worth the cost. The output is nothing short of amazing and the amp draw is miniscule compared to traditional lights.

daniellemarie008

I want them for off roading at night my friends and I go camping alot and some of the sites are far off. I am looking to go cheap i'm in college right now and really can't afford anything too expensive at the moment. I found these halogen lights below and they seem to have good ratings.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Blazer-100...roduct+Reviews

I really want to go with led tho because I have ready so many good things about them. Do you know of any LED lights that are not to pricey?
Also if lights are so bad for your alternator would it be good to just have a battery to use for my lights?

SeriousOffroad

LED's are simply too new to have come down in price yet.

My son just finished his first year at CSU...so I truly do understand the financial aspects.

Lights aren't bad for your alternator, but they do increase the demands on it.

CheapCherokee

i would look into buying a pair of hella 500s or 700s and converting them to HID. would be more than enough light

Northwoods Snowman

This thread is a good reference...

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f59/of...-96890/index5/

Post #62 is one I did for a comparison of some of the cheap driving lights. They may look the same (the rectangular ones) but they are not equal! I haven't gotten a chance to take night pictures of them or the liberty light bar I installed (been traveling for work for the last month) but hopefully will in a week or two. The driving lights are AWESOME at night. I think they are brighter than my hi-beams.

I think they are the best bang for the buck mod I've done to my XJ since I can see about twice as far down the road when I'm looking for the deer that are waiting to jump out in front of me. Best part is I only spent about $35 on the whole setup (switch, relay, and lights). I used one of these lebeled switches so I can turn the lights on/off manually, but used the power from the hi-beam circuit to power the switch. This way I can't turn the lights on unless the hi-beams are on (won't forget to turn them off and drain the battery) but more importantly I can control them with the dimmer switch so I only have one switch to mess with when I have on comming traffic.

daniellemarie008

So i've been looking around for somewhat inexpensive led lights and I found these below which are normally $81 dollars on sale for $30. Could I swap them into some super cheap lights and then have LED? It says there equal to a 100Watt light bulb and only use 7.8Watts !

http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/501

SeriousOffroad

I'd try to find some people that have real world experience with those LED's pefore buying them.

basegrinder

any thoughts on how far back to mount the lights? Too far forward and I'm thinking you can get glare coming down through/off the windshield. Too far back and you "waste" some light by throwing on your roof and not the trail.

But probably is different with every light setup anyway....

SeriousOffroad

Since the only lights you want to mount over heat are pencil/spot beams it really doesn't matter too much.

Northwoods Snowman

You would need them behind the plane of the windshield. That's kind of a bunk argument anyway though, because even if they are just far enough back to keep glare down on the windshield it will still glare off the hood.

Why do you say this? The OEM liberty lights that I mounted on my XJ are KC's and they are flood beams. Flood lights would be better higher up than down low (on the bumper or such) for two reasons I can think of... First is that a flood from up high pointed down uses more of the full pattern to light up the ground instead of sending half the light into orbit. Second is that the light shining down creates less shadows on the ground than low lights and helps see terrain contours better. Not saying you can't/shouldn't put pencil beams up on the roof, but if you want floods, that's the better place to put them.

Even with pencil beams, you'll still get some light off to the side that will reflect off the windshield/hood. The lights don't focus 100% of the light.

Northwoods Snowman

Those are also 110V, not 12V.

daniellemarie008

HUh I don't get what you mean? sorry

SeriousOffroad

Oh Snap....Good catch.

110volt are for your house, 12v for your rig.