Offroad light suggestions

[energie]

Hey, so I have a pretty stock 2000 Explorer. I'm doing a body lift this summer, maybe along with the shackles and torsion bars,etc, im getting a snowboard rack for next season too, so i was looking at good lights (not too expensive) or light bars that i could use for an offroad function, (snowboarding in low light, etc) so what lights, where, should i get a push bar and put them on there since i cant use my roof rack? do i need a seperate battery and where?

 

[Caejxr]

I did a set of KC day lighters on a push bar and I'm really happy with it..Boy those suckers are bright. You can run it off the battery but if you're concerned about draining your power source for starting the vehicle running a second battery would cast about 80 bucks of so for the isolator and mounts then the cost of the battery and wires on top. there are threads on ther for all of that. Just search around if these don't give you what you need.

Battery:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=159655
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268689

Light Bar:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209166

Aux. Lights:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=21350
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=202044&page=2
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213524

Good Luck.

 

[Caejxr]

oh and if you're not looking to drop over 80 bucks or so on lights Blazer baja lights aren't too bad...I've got 4 on my light bar their only 50w bulbs though.. but thats 200w of total light so its like 2 daylighters and their 24 bucks for two.

 

[grant00]

I've got 2 explorer pro comp 8" 130w lights on the front of mine. Ran me about $35 a piece, including covers, plus there's also a wiring kit with switch, relay, wire and fuse for about $13 if i remember correctly. got it all from 4 wheel parts. here's a picture from last weekend..

 

[energie]

what kind of brackets did you get for it
and can you use HID kits on these lights, like the Hella FF500 fog lamps?

 

[grant00]

I'm not sure if you can go HID with these. I doubt it.

and I didnt use any brackets for them. I pulled the bumper apart and drilled through the painted piece on the outside and dremeled some of the inner bumper to make room for the studs. the lights bounce around a little because the bumper isnt very solid but im hoping to get a tube bumper in the near future.

 

[energie]

arent there brackets that let you mount them to the frame but still look like they do there? i dunno the lights are an h3 55w bulb and they have 55w h3 hid kits.

found them locally for $130 so with shipping and CDN conversion it would end up being the same so i think ill do that

 

[grant00]

yeah there are brackets but people here have made them themselves. if you do a search youll find a few writeups about the brackets

 

[volver]

The Pro Comp light is labeled as a spot light.

How much range does the light have?

 

[grant00]

I cant give you an exact number but they go pretty far I know that. theyre WAY brighter than i thought they would be.

 

[Electrohacker]

I've got 2 explorer pro comp 8" 130w lights on the front of mine. Ran me about $35 a piece, including covers, plus there's also a wiring kit with switch, relay, wire and fuse for about $13 if i remember correctly. got it all from 4 wheel parts. here's a picture from last weekend..

are the black ones steel or plastic?

btw they're $40+ now

 

[Elessar65]

what kind of brackets did you get for it
and can you use HID kits on these lights, like the Hella FF500 fog lamps?

You can buy HID off road lights, but they are serious money. A set of 2 of the cheaper ones will still run about $250. The really good ones, like Soltek, can run upwards of $1500 for a light bar and 6 lights, and thats with halogen lights on it. How much are you willing to spend, and how afraid of the dark are you?

Soltek

 

[grant00]

theyre steel. I have the black ones. and yeah I got them on sale

 

[djc4]

You may wanna consider these off-road halogens. I have a pair of OSRAM 100 W+50% H3 62201s. They're illegal and I had to purchase my replacement set from Malaysia. You MUST have glass lenses to run these. These things burn up road paint! :fire:

 

[Fifty150]

You can start off with a couple of halogen lights. Explorer ProComp Black spot part# 9551 & Hella Optilux P/N 88147 (black) will do nicely. DOT legal lights are 55W. Simply swap out the 55W bulb (usually an H1 or H3) for a 100W - 130W bulb. Now just keep in mind that you need to divide the total watts by 12 volts to determine what size relay you need. 2 130W lamps = 260W. 260W/12V=21.666666666666666666666666666667. So a pair of 130W lamps will run nicely on a 30A relay. Setting up 4 lights; get 2 30A relays. Setting up 6 lights; get 2 40A relays (run 3 lights per relay). With a little imagination, and some hardware, you can mount those anywhere your truck with a Super-Strut bar. Don't be afraid to drill a few holes if you have to. Think about attaching the lights onto the Super-Strut first, then attaching the whole unit onto your roof rack rails or bolted on top your your bumper. Hide them behind your grill. Consider boolting them on your hood right at the front edge. Let your imagination run wild.

 

[BogFather]

here is a pic of mine, but since then i have added a few HEHEHE will have to get more pics as of recent:

 

[Fifty150]

I installed Hella Optilux 1400, modded with Hella HLA-H83135121: H3 12V 110W Yellow Star Off Road Use lamps. I mounted them in the air dam between the OEM fog lights. I wired the switch to the regular driving lamps.