bender32

I'm in the market for lights for my winch bumper. These will be used only for offroad! I have been looking at 3" cube led's or 6"-7" hid's. I want to keep the price under $100 including wiring. I know it's not much coin to spend but I'm willing to by some knock offs or Chinese brand but I just to get something that works well. Anyone with advice or experience with lightning please give your 2 cents

jay_sco

Personally, I'd stick with LED.
Less parts to install and go bad, no ballast and such. More resistant to vibration, compact, cheap ones can be sealed easily. It might pull less electrical load? Don't quote me on the last one, not 100% sure.
I just got a couple cheap Chinese cube LED pods for $20, going to seal them up and run them till they're trash, then buy another $20 set.

bender32

What about wiring? What is needed?

jay_sco

I just bought a kit off Amazon for $12. You can probably make them cheaper yourself. Wire, relay, inline fuse, and switch.

bender32

Any one know what is needed to run HID

investinwaffles

Get two of these;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-55W-Built-...NWVMgL&vxp=mtr

and a wiring kit;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40A-12V-Powe...9WTyjq&vxp=mtr



IMO, HID's are just more powerful than LED's (punch for punch). One of these 55w HID's is going to completely blow away even a high-end pod LED light. Throws the light MUCH further with more intensity, but the problem is finding kits in a 4000K-5000K light temperature is difficult. The ones I linked are 6000K which is a bit too blue-ish for me, but at the same time 99% of LED light bars and pods are also 6000K. The cool thing about these is they have a plastic filter on the front, and I think you could find amber covers to change between a yellowish fog light, and a blue-ish off road light.

These advertise 4300K light temp, but are only 35W (still plenty bright though);
http://www.ebay.com/itm/35W-7-12V-43...ZWgQkD&vxp=mtr

bender32

Waffles, those were the exact ones I've been looking at. My only concern is that I'm wanting more of a flood light rather than a spot/beam. These will be used while wheeling with groups and I don't want to blind the person in front of me.

investinwaffles

If you are only looking for shorter range flood lighting, LEDs may be a bit better for your purpose.

The best spot to mount them is at front bumper height so the light does not reflect back at you off the hood.

You could try some regular LED flood lights off EBay, and if they aren't bright enough sell it on Craigslist or move them to the rear.

bender32

I just received my detours backbone with the light mounting bracket so they will be mounted close to my bumper. I'm going to go with the LED, now I just have to decide what size will be best

Fred/N0AZZ

I found these to hold up better in the areas that I off road in (some areas no trails at all only brush and small trees). I have a combination of spots, floods to choose from and a set on top in the rear backup/work light. They are all steel and have been submerged several times.

Jrozar

Go LED less draw, smaller, no warm up time, newer and better technology..

andrewmp6

Try http://olympusoffroad.3dcartstores.com/ they are the cheapest i trust.

bender32

They might be a better quality than the ones I'm looking at but I still think $125 is too much for one small pod

peep

Google "Python" brand led's for low cost.
I've tried some spots and floods for a couple months now.
Low price but I'm not disappointed on the construction.

bender32

OK. Here's an update. I purchased a set of 48 W Kawell LEDs off Amazon. I also purchased a wire harness. The total to my door was $75. I am happy with the quality and light output considering how little money I spent.