| Author | Message | ||
     Ethan Makarowski (Ethan) New Member Username: Ethan Post Number: 34 Registered: 04-2003 |
What are the "proper" places to mount some aux Hella lighting on a bumper and a roof rack? I want to mount both driving lights and fog lights to enhance nighttime offroading (and driving in rural, deer-plagued areas). Would mounting Hella's fog pattern on a roofrack cast too much light on the hood, making it a distraction while driving. I'm aware that I would not be able to utilize these lights while driving on-road if they were roofrack mounted. Thanks for any advice... Regards, Ethan | ||
| Rick Neff (Lostinboston) Member Username: Lostinboston Post Number: 201 Registered: 06-2003 |
the only use for putting lights onthe roof rack is to get them over obstructions. I put a set of small spots on my rack just to have some light when Im in deep grass or water over my headlights. My main Hellas are on my Bumper. plus lights on the rack are easy targets for branchs. | ||
| Sergei Rodionov (Uzbad) Member Username: Uzbad Post Number: 206 Registered: 08-2003 |
Also you might want to find out how high from the ground your driving/fog lights can be in your state. There are some regulations, actually (i.e even if you put them on bumper, but your truck is VERY high lifted  ) And Rick right - if you aint looking for spot/working lights - you better off setting them up on bumper. | ||
| carl J. Drumgoole (Carl_kps) Member Username: Carl_kps Post Number: 81 Registered: 02-2003 |
I put my hellas on my bumper and I put some 100 watt spotlights I got on sale at Walmart on my Roof Rack. I put the hellas on the bumper because there is less chance of them breaking there, hellas are expensive. Also my Hella make a nice driving patten in extreme conditions. (I don't use them as fog lights all the time because they are still pretty bright, even though they are legal.) I put the cheap spot lights on the roof rack because they are always being hit by branches. (Those cheap spot lights are suprisingly strong because I have not even damaged them yet.) | ||
| Ray Gerber (Raygerber) Member Username: Raygerber Post Number: 160 Registered: 09-2002 |
Ethan- I have a pair of 4000's on my ARB and four 1000's on my roof rack. I have found the lights on the bumper were good, but adding the roof rack lights was a tremendous step forward for long range lighting. I went with 1000's merely for asthetics, if I had a SD style rack I would have gone for the 4000's all the way around, but I found the size of the 1000's to be better for the Brownchurch. I've thrashed the lights pretty hard in the woods of VA and had no problems with them-yet. I don't know that a Fog pattern would be good for the roof, even the pencil/driving beams put a lot of light onto the hood (which gave me reason for a hood blackout) so a fog would probably exacerbate that situation. Starting from scratch I would go with the bumper first b/c they are better protected, and then move on to roof rack. One mod I saw that I really liked at MAR was a rack on a DII that appeared to have added protection around the lights (it appeared to be tubing just like the rack, that was in front of the lights to deflect objects like a bull bar). I'm not certain but I thought it was on Frank 'Mongo' Rafka's DII, and that was definitly something I am thinking about doing somewhere down the list of projects I have. r- Ray | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2171 Registered: 02-2002 |
Ray, I think you are talking about the Trek Outfitters light bar attachment. A lot of guys like it as an attachment point for Limb Risers. Now when are you coming back to Lejeune?! | ||
| Ray Gerber (Raygerber) Member Username: Raygerber Post Number: 162 Registered: 09-2002 |
Paul- Thanks for the info on the attachment point, I can see how that would be useful for limb risers too. I'm killing myself to get out of here but the monitor won't let me leave till around 24 months on station, which is still a year from now b/c I was TAD enroute for the first 3-4 months I was here so it doesn't count. So next fall I should be heading that way, assuming I don't get swept up to augment the guys going to Iraq/Af in March. One can always hope. | ||
| Victor Biro (Vabiro) New Member Username: Vabiro Post Number: 20 Registered: 10-2003 |
Hi Ethan, My understanding is that all fog lights are most effective when mounted closest to the ground. I think this is because when you drive in actual fog the light reflects off the water droplets creating a 'wall of light' at the level of the lamp. This is why they recommend not using high beams in fog and heavy snow. Since you haven't actually mentioned that you're looking for something for use in fog, I'll assume that this isn't too much of a problem, but I thought I'd mention it. If you are looking at lighting patterns for Hella lights, you might find the "Light Tunnel" on the http://www.hella.com/ site useful. From what they are showing there, fog lights are biased to put most of the light immediately in front of the vehicle. If you were to put them on the roof I would think that most of the light would end up on your hood. Maybe something like what they call a "eurobeam" might be the best. It's a driving/spot combination. It sounds like you are facing the same concern I am: lots of deer and moose on secondary highways. From what I can see on the hella site, the eurobeams mounted on the bumper seem to be ideal. I have surveyed others in our LR club, and the consensus is that this is the best protection from these hazards. A pair of driving lamps down on the bumper, and spots and cornering on the roof rack is their preferred choice. Victor | ||
| Blue (Blue) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Blue Post Number: 856 Registered: 04-2003 |
light tabs on aftermarket bumper light tabs on roof rack | ||
| Ethan Makarowski (Ethan) New Member Username: Ethan Post Number: 35 Registered: 04-2003 |
Thanks for all the input, you guys. It's very much appreciated. I'll think I'll end up with a set of Hella 500 fogs on the bumper to accompany the headlamps and put a set of Hella 1000FF's and the 500 driving lamps on the roof rack. Thanks again, Ethan |
