Learn me- led light bars.

Yes, the ones on brodozers. But, hear me out.

On my egress from mn to fl, miyuki the corolla suffered a debris strike that rended one of her fog lights in twain. (Got busted all to berkeley for you non poetic types). Now I've been considering this for a while anyhow and decided to do some checking. As far as i know, rigid industries is the standard when it comes to light bars. But, are some of the other ones really that bad? Ive seen "cree" branded ones for about 20% of the price of a rigid bar. Given that a 22" rigid bar costs more than i paid for the damn car, i am loathe to spend that sort of $$$. The bar would sit in my lower grill opening, where the fogs are now. 22" is about as big as i want to stuff in there. I'd not be opposed to smaller or even a pair of fog style ones, but....i dont really want them to start my car on fire. Am i ok buying off brand?

I'd wait for others to chime in, but in my experience, the Jeep forum guys know all the "good" Rigid knockoffs. Some companies will even assemble them in the US and give half-decent warranties (at least before they're sued to oblivion).

I've had a good experience with the knockoff I bought on Craigslist. If they're bad, they'll vibrate to death after minimal usage so "used" means "battle-tested".

I have a set of these on the front of the Samurai.

They put out a good bit of light, but are not very directional. More of a flood pattern. They work well as a off road light and are built like tanks with all aluminum housings. They replaced a set of Hella lights that the alternator couldn't keep up with.

Linky

Cree is a brand name for one of the companies that makes the individual LEDs. As far as I know they don't actually make any of the bars themselves.

I have several of them, from the little 6 led ones on my lawn mower to a 30" white and amber one on my truck and not a one of them puts out anything more useful than OEM fog lights. For my tractor and mower, where generator output is limited, they are great for the light vs load. For the highway, I'd only recommend amber or red ones as fogs or white for cargo or backup lamps.

As a warning, amber covers make the light output worthless since they won't reflect light off the road or off vegetation, defeating the whole point of using fog lights! At least with uncovered white LEDs, EVERYTHING LIGHTS UP and brighter than your headlights (even the pods). Boonies-use only and consult your local laws before you actually use them on-road (somehow, Missouri and Iowa are good with auxiliary lights as long as there's no more than 4 at a time and they're within a certain distance of the ground; this + no dazzling laws means I can actually drive with my bar on 24/7...probably wouldn't get very far!).

Actually... fog lights are technically meant for low speeds and fog conditions where headlights actually hinder your ability to see the boundaries of the road, so fogs pointed down solve the problem (max is 25 mph). No one in this country remotely adheres to this.

I don't even know the brand but we have a 22inch light bar on our chumpcar that made the 55w hid retrofit (with projectors) from theretrofit source look like a single match compared to a helicopter spot light. We now have to ditch said light bar and go 55w to 35w because of the new rules but just about all of them are the same. I have a whole bunch of rigid pods and they are nice because they come assemble with deutsch connectors and a harness where the other brands you usually have to do that yourself (not that hard).

None of the light bars that I know of have any beam cutoff. They are a flood light and there for are illegal to use on public roads (not to mention a total dick move to do so if there is any opposing traffic)

They will be useless as a fog light. In any appreciable amount of fog they will turn it into a grey wall in front of you. They will blind oncoming traffic no matter how you aim them.

I have a pair of Rigid Duallys mounted in the gap in the front bumper of my F-150. For tiny little things, they throw an amazing amount of light. I paid like $250 for them a few years ago, there are knockoffs on Amazon now for a fraction of that with good reviews.

I don't know if mine are strictly legal or not, but since I'm not an shiny happy person who leaves them on all the time, I've never had a problem. I got them because the factory headlights on my truck are seriously weaksauce, and I drive a lot of rural dirt roads at night, especially in the winter, and we have a lot of deer around here.

All I have to contribute, is if you put an LED light bar on the front of your vehicle and turn it on when I am in front of you, I will stop suddenly, reverse into you at high speed, and swear it was your fault.

Dont be afraid to go generic they all come from the same place. The branding is mostly just middle men taking their cut.

There are differences in leds but some are really cheap and some expensive, price doesnt play a part. Its the same deal with flashlights and anything with leds for the most part unless you want to get really spendy.

You could double check and find out the led diodes each style of bar uses, but sellers lie incessantly regardless. ( not sure what leds they are using in the light bars but cree xml and xml-2 were the best bang for your buck flashlight diode.)

There are different beam patterns flood (short wide beam for immediate area) or spot (long throw narrow beam for illuminating distance) so make sure you get the right ones. If you think you are dazzling oncomingg traffic could try aiming them way down or making simple aluminum tape cut offs roughly for the lower half of the reflector.

For fogs i wouldnt be too concerned as long as they werent aimed way up. They arent going to be worse than the a holes with lifted trucks and unaimed (even factory) headlights.

I plan on getting one for my disco.. for the back of the eventual rack it is getting to help with loading and unloading my boat on the trailer. To be nice, the switch to turn it off and on will be in the back, far out of my reach when driving.

I want to get something to light up mailbox numbers for when I deliver at night. Does a light bar seem like overkill for the task?

I really wish some company would come out with these configured as driving lights ... with shaped lenses, and cut offs and aimed appropriately

the OEM (new replacements) on my F150 are pitiful ... low beams spread and pattern are safe up to maybe 35 mph, and the high beams not much better ... when you flip back and forth between them, it's hard to tell when you're on highs and when you're on lows ... lenses design is part, if not most of the problem ... I'm guessing

Toyman01 wrote: I have a set of these on the front of the Samurai. They put out a good bit of light, but are not very directional. More of a flood pattern. They work well as a off road light and are built like tanks with all aluminum housings. They replaced a set of Hella lights that the alternator couldn't keep up with. Linky

I just ordered the flood version of those lights for reverse lights on the Too Fiddy. Should be here tomorrow. There are two version on Amazon - on flood and one spot. I don't know how much difference there really is. If I have clearance issue or if I ever replace the beat to hell rear bumper I'll probably go with one of the flush mount sets.

Toyman, have you put these underwater much? I'm a little concerned about repeated submersion while boat launching. I may disassemble them and RTV all the joints before install.

Toyman01 wrote: I have a set of these on the front of the Samurai. They put out a good bit of light, but are not very directional. More of a flood pattern. They work well as a off road light and are built like tanks with all aluminum housings. They replaced a set of Hella lights that the alternator couldn't keep up with. Linky

I have the same Cree LED cubes on mine (spot-type). They put out plenty of light and they've stood up to all the abuse I've thrown at them so far, including submersion. A little water has got into them before though. A lot of offroaders recommend sealing the lens up with clear silicone to prevent this.

I like them aside from that fact that they've become the latest brodozer must-have. A few of them in town run around with them on all the time and the light is completely blinding.

My local advance auto now carries round, single LED fog/driving lights in a proper housing that has an actual cutoff line. Pretty nice and only $40.

Rigid actually sells some DOT-cert Duallies now that look pretty interesting. No, it's not a cutoff like a good bixenon light, but it's not much different than a normal foglight.

http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/50481

I have a set of non-DOT duallies on my KTM, and they are fantastic for lighting everything up at night and off road, but definitely not for use around other vehicles. They're just too bright if there is any kind of traffic.

I have a 39" light bar on the roof rack of my xterra. it was this $80 amazon light bar. it is a spot/flood combo and does a good job of both. It was easy to install and works as it should. I did have to buy a wiring kit also which was $10 on amazon as well and had no problem with hooking that up either. It has been though ice and snow and rain and so far i havent noticed any moisture inside the light yet.

but like stated in this thread before, they are really good for spreading light in every possible direction, but as a fog light i dont think it would be great.

obligatory picture:

We used bars from Lang Racing in the 25 Hour a few years ago. I've also used them on a customer build. I was quite happy with them, and they come with a variety of patterns.

http://store.langracing.com/motorsport-lighting/ and http://store.langracing.com/10w-evolution-motorsport-led-light-bars/

Spoolpigeon wrote: I like them aside from that fact that they've become the latest brodozer must-have. A few of them in town run around with them on all the time and the light is completely blinding. My local advance auto now carries round, single LED fog/driving lights in a proper housing that has an actual cutoff line. Pretty nice and only $40.

any data on them yet ? anyone have any reports on how they actually work that you've heard ?

sounds like what I'm looking for ... assuming they actually reach out far enough to help my pitiful OEM headlights

gearheadE30 wrote: No, it's not a cutoff like a good bixenon light, but it's not much different than a normal foglight.

I have bi-xenon in my E46 and the cutoff is razor sharp and usually hits the beltline, just below the mirror on the car I'm following. They're also self-leveling. Every car I've ever driven with Xenons, I still get jackholes that will highbeam me because the light isn't yellow.

We're replacing two Hella driving lights with 7" LED housings on our Chumpcar for the next race. If you aim them appropriately, they work great and everyone can play nice.

The big bars I've seen remind me of KC lights in the 80's...vinyl covers and all. The driving lights can be pretty good though.

on an assorted take on this.. anybody played with the Hella LED stuff yet?

Derick Freese wrote: I want to get something to light up mailbox numbers for when I deliver at night. Does a light bar seem like overkill for the task?

A lightbar will be overkill. A spotlight that you can aim would be perfect. Worst case, a single flood pod aimed >30 degrees right (into houses and away from traffic) would be the best cheap solution that doesn't involve drilling into your A-piller. It will be bright and flood into houses, so hopefully you aren't delivering too late!

One note: most states have separate spotlight and aux light laws. Usually one and only one spotlight is allowed. If you're doing this on a Jeep marked "Rural Mail Carrier" no one will care.

wbjones wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: I like them aside from that fact that they've become the latest brodozer must-have. A few of them in town run around with them on all the time and the light is completely blinding. My local advance auto now carries round, single LED fog/driving lights in a proper housing that has an actual cutoff line. Pretty nice and only $40.

any data on them yet ? anyone have any reports on how they actually work that you've heard ? sounds like what I'm looking for ... assuming they actually reach out far enough to help my pitiful OEM headlights

Here's a thread I made on a Ford truck forum when I installed mine. It shows the view with low beams, high beams, and with the Duallys: http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1203093-my-led-driving-light-installation.html

^^That's some retina-roasting goodness in terms of total output.