Hidden 30" LED Light Bar install

Ronin8002 · September 2, 2012

I bought a Hanma 180W LED light bar a few weeks ago from Trailworthyfab.com. It's a 30" bar so it should be very bright. I decided to mount it behind the lower grille since it would fit perfectly there and also get some protection from flying gravel and things.

Today I pulled off the front bumper cover and mounted the light bar to the bumper reinforcement:

Then I replaced the bumper cover. With it in place, you can hardly tell the bar is there and the beam should even clear the front license plate holder:

Just need to wire it up now and I'll post some beamshots tomorrow night probably.

RyansX · September 2, 2012

Looking forward to the pics!

Ronin8002 · September 5, 2012

Finished up the wiring. Heres a view from the front:

And from the drivers seat:

Low beams only:

Low beams plus fog lights:

High beams plus fog lights:

High beams and 30" light bar

Its pretty damn bright....at least as bright if not brighter than the 4 x 100 watt halogens i had on my old truck. So i'm pretty happy with it!

FIND · September 5, 2012

Wow. I e-mailed Hanma to get prices on some other bars they have, but they haven't gotten back to me.

01STrunner · September 5, 2012

I love the new LED lights. They put out so much light. Great job hiding the bar behind the grill. It all looks really clean. Also deters theft.

Maniak · September 5, 2012

The issue with Hanma is the shipping costs.. I was going to use them to get the pair of 6" LED bars and it was going to be $45 for shipping. I grabbed a pair of them from TWF which is very similar (if not the same as Hanma).

~Mark

sport97 · September 5, 2012

Great install and mod! I want to put 2 of the smaller ones in my bumper opening but I can't. I know I will bust them up. I had 2 cheaper ones and I busted them into pieces 4 wheeling. I busted through a mud put and the bumper and lights ate earth on the way out.

FIND · September 5, 2012

Maniak said:
The issue with Hanma is the shipping costs.. I was going to use them to get the pair of 6" LED bars and it was going to be $45 for shipping. I grabbed a pair of them from TWF which is very similar (if not the same as Hanma).

~Mark

Problem is the TWF bars only seem to be available as spots. I want 4 of the single row 30 watt bars Hanma makes, 2 flood, 2 spot so I can have a little room to tune light output. I figured they might be a decent alternative to Rigid, since any review I have found of them so far has been entirely positive. The same lighting solution using Rigid would cost $1000 though... Granted, it is probably a superior product, but I doubt the premium is proportional to its superiority.

I'm really just half tempted to make my own. I could do a 40-46" bar and have it broken up into groups or individual sections that are switched on and off individually, instead of the whole bar on and off. Tailor it to the situation. Problem is, since I would have to have someone else make the case, and those high power LEDs cost your first-born if you aren't buying in bulk, I'd probably end up spending more than if I were to buy bars.

Maniak · September 5, 2012

Your looking at enough to make the shipping worthwhile. If you don't hear from Hanma, let me know. I have a couple email addreses to them from my corespondance(sp?) with them.

~Mark

theluke19 · September 5, 2012

looks amazing! Ronin your work is always so clean. My main concern on LED bars is that I would **** a wreckingball if someone stole them off of my truck. This really does a number to prevent that concern!

Ronin8002 · September 6, 2012

theluke19 said:
looks amazing! Ronin your work is always so clean. My main concern on LED bars is that I would **** a wreckingball if someone stole them off of my truck. This really does a number to prevent that concern!

Thanks guys. Yeah it's not too obvious if you're just walking by the truck that there's a light tucked under the grille there, so should discourage casual thievery/vandalism.

FIND, I think one major difference between the Hanma lights and the Rigid lights is that Rigid (I think) uses Lexan for the lens, whereas Hanma uses a tempered glass. So if you're mounting your Hanma lights down low, there is some possibility of rocks cracking the lens. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my mesh grille will prevent that on my setup. I suppose you could just swap in a Lexan lens though.

I decided on getting the light bar from TWF because I figured the minor price markup was worth not having to worry about shipping from Taiwan, possible customs duties, etc. Also figured if I had any issues with it working out of the box it would be easier to call TWF and deal with them.

94 explorer xlt · September 6, 2012

Wow thats cool. Great light

94 explorer xlt · September 6, 2012

Wow thats cool. Great light

Ronin8002 · September 6, 2012

thanks! we'll see how it holds up over time.

DominicanX · September 6, 2012

Ditto! Very well done sir. And that is some serious night into day action.

Kazer · September 6, 2012

Nice! Did you plan for it to fit that perfectly?

Ronin8002 · September 6, 2012

Kazer said:
Nice! Did you plan for it to fit that perfectly?

Wish I could say I did but no

Originally I intended it to be mounted behind the upper grille but the space wasn't deep enough, and it would have been hard not to notice it right there. Once I realized that it would fit great in the lower grille my only concern was that the light pattern would end up being too low in front of the truck, but turns out it wasn't really a problem. I expect my truxxx lift will push the beam pattern out some since the front will be lifted and leveled, but I think that it will be beneficial and let me see even further.

FIND · September 6, 2012

Ronin8002 said:
FIND, I think one major difference between the Hanma lights and the Rigid lights is that Rigid (I think) uses Lexan for the lens, whereas Hanma uses a tempered glass. So if you're mounting your Hanma lights down low, there is some possibility of rocks cracking the lens. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my mesh grille will prevent that on my setup. I suppose you could just swap in a Lexan lens though.

I was going to do a roof mount. That said, I think you'll be fine, even that low. Most rocks won't be traveling directly parallel to you, so next to none will actually go between the grill openings. I mean heck, look how well protected your radiator or other vehicles intercoolers stay. Tempered glass isn't a bad material either. Until a few years ago, almost every forward light on cars were made with tempered glass, aside from low power lights like markers and turns.

Either way, it will be harder for a pebble to hit them than your windshield, and most pebbles don't do any damage to your windshield.

Maniak · October 5, 2012

Here is my quick(bad) video of a pair of TWF 6" light bars. They are installed on top of my front bumper (about the bottom of the head lights)..

They make a world of difference.. On this video I have the pair of 6" 100 watt round lights disconnected.. I must admit, with the two 6" LED bars I can barely tell when I turn on the 200 watts of 6" round (h4 bulbs) lights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cftOkwcFi_Y

~Mark

wood1 · October 5, 2012

drooling...

Hidden 30" LED Light Bar install

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