Street Explorer with LED light bar?

Hey everyone, I had a sudden idea of putting an/a led light bar on explorer.. Now I've seen many of you guys here put them on your lifted trucks and put them on your roof racks or front bumper light bars.. Now my ex isn't any off road themed vehicle, it's more of a street themed ex..and I have no roof racks anymore. I've thought of putting a 20 in bar in(on) my grille. I have the stock grille but I'm soon chopping it up to do a terminator style grille "delete". I want to put the light bar there, but I'm scared of people having easy access to stealing it. I was ththinking of either putting it on the grille or mount it onto the wiper cowls. I want a location that will make it look clean. I'm starting to do canyon runs and the lighting I have isn't cutting it. I have hids for head/fog lights. Any suggestions?

 

[DjDom]

Projector retrofit.

I had HIDs too in my aftermarket housings.
The light output was 'great.'

At first they seemed so much brighter, because they were. However, after a little while I realized, the road right in front of me is really bright, but I can't see as far as I used to. Oh, and high beams sucked.

My next project is a projector retrofit.
Totally worth it, and it's roughly $300 for a really good quality kit, about the same as a light bar.

I feel the need to see if [MENTION=3663]Anime[/MENTION] agrees with me.

 

[jimster502]

Do you feel like the high beams with the projectors helped a lot too? Because I am truly disappointed with the high beams in the stock headlights too and I hate driving in dark roads or canyons with high beams that dont light up anything

 

[Anime]

What sort of "HID's" is it you have?

If you just have fake "HID" bulbs (or even real HID bulbs) stuck in the halogen housings, that explains a lot of the poor lighting.

HIDs also don't have high beams, so you lose what you really NEED for higher speed road driving.


I would agree with [MENTION=186801]DjDom[/MENTION] that projectors are a good upgrade for the second-gen lamps. The aftermarket "one-piece" projector housings made for Explorers aren't so great, but if you want HID, get HID projectors and stick them in aftermarket housings with the clear lens. You should probably look at getting bi-xenon projectors if you can, since they give a low and high beam versus the low beam of the single projector lamps, though some also have a high beam using an H1 halogen bulb.

Eventually there will be LED headlamps that will put out more light and cost less, but for now HID is what you want for max light output on the road if you can spend the $$$, and halogen is what you want if you can't spend the $$$ but want plenty of light.

The stock headlamp housings aren't that great because of their size, but if they are clean and clear, and a quality 9007 bulb like the Sylvania XtraVision or Philips Hi-Visibility, or something even brighter like the GE Nighthawk/Nighthawk Platinum or Philips Xtreme Power are used, you can get a good bit of light on the road. Using a wiring harness with relays will deliver more juice to the bulbs so they'll be even brighter.



As for the LED light bar, it will only be a band-aid, since it will flood the road far ahead with light, but you'll still have poor lighting in front of the vehicle. That's a good way to have a collision since you won't be able to see something to react and avoid hitting it.

You can probably install it in the grille or even at bumper level and it will light in front of the vehicle more, at the cost of distance, but keep in mind it will be 100% illegal to use on the road, just like other off-road lights, due to the potential of blinding other drivers. If you are caught using it, (or actually blind a cop) the consequences could be severe, anything from a big fine to having your vehicle towed on the spot and impounded, jail time, and more.

You may want to check your local and state laws and those of the area the canyon is in, to see what the regulations for driving lights are. Some states, cities, counties, etc. do not allow driving lights on the road at all, others allow them with high beams but require they be wired such that they switch off when the high beams go off, and some only allow them on two-lane back roads but not on highways.


It may be worth pointing out that many exotic high-speed capable vehicles do fine with just the stock headlamps, using halogen bulbs. If the headlamp design is a good one, low beams for general driving and high beams for higher speed driving (when you're the only vehicle on the road) is all you need. Driving lamps, light bars, etc. are more for off roading like rock crawing, trail driving, rally racing, and stuff like that because you NEED more light all around and to see what's going on half a mile ahead. Even high-speed street racers with vehicles that can go way faster than the Explorer don't have driving lights or LED light bars, just really, really good headlights with nice high beams.

 

[jimster502]

[MENTION=3663]Anime[/MENTION] well I have real HIDs that come with ballast, if that's what you mean. And when I turn on the high beams, the light does point up a bit but doesn't illuminate nothing.. Do you think I'd be better off putting clear housings with the HIDs or with a set of GE or Phillips bulbs?

As far as led bars, I was thinking of getting a flood/spot combo or one of each but the point of those would be just for canyon driving ONLY. I would not use them during traffic or anything,,only reason I would turn them on besides canyon driving would be just to show them off lol

 

[DjDom]

I had the same HID 9007 bulbs. The reason it doesn't light the road properly is since the HID bulb doesn't have a filament, it has a gas charged glass bulb in it. That doesn't line up with a 9007 bulb's filament locations, causing a scatter of light.

This pic shows how my HIDs were shining in aftermarket housings:

As you can see, there is no cut off, only in front of my is lit up, and it glares up..

Here is what projectors look like in an Explorer (I haven't done this on my truck yet.):

Here's a member who's done it.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2699536&postcount=8

 

[jimster502]

Wow those projectors pics on the link look f'n great! I've been looking at a kit for quite a while now on the retrofit source..do you guys recommend any other website to buy a kit from?

 

[Anime]

Having a ballast with the "HID" bulb means nothing - it's the housing and reflector that matters. If you are using the factory style housing, either OEM or aftermarket, it's not made for a HID bulb.

Those aftermarket "HID" bulb kits are illegal under federal law for the complaints you mention - not enough light on the ground in front of the vehicle, too much light scatter pointing up - right into the eyes of the drivers in oncoming vehicles.


HIDs are good IF you spend the money and buy the right projectors for them and either do the work adapting them to the vehicle or paying to have it done. Bixenon projectors with good Osram / Philips HID bulbs.

For those who don't have the money, a good set of non-blue/white Sylvania/Philips/GE halogen bulbs in the factory (or quality aftermarket) housings will give decent light output.


An LED light bar will still be illegal for canyon driving only - if it's on a paved road owned by the town/city/county/state. You may not have any trouble, but given how far they shine, there's a risk that a cop could see you coming miles away, even before you know they are there to turn off the LED bar.

You may also want to be careful about "showing them off", and only doing so on private property. Some cops will give you a ticket for using a light bar/driving lights even in a parking lot.

 

[DjDom]

HID kits are brighter, but it's useless since the brighter light isn't actually aimed anywhere.

If you're willing to hold off on your retrofit for a bit, I'm planning to do mine soon, which I'll most definitely be posting a guide here.
I won't be going all out like the link I posted, just throwing the projectors in, and aiming them properly.

Probably going with this:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/co...ts/bi-xenon-morimoto-mini-stage-3-kit-h1.html

 

[jimster502]

Cool..the one I was looking at the one that is 200