LED / HID offroad light positioning

[K20chevy]

Hi,

does anybody have HID driving lights or LED light bars installed on their square body Chevy or GMC?

I´d like to see different set ups for the bumper and roof/roll bar to help me decide what to do on my truck. Getting a new winch bumper and I want to get the setup mocked up before getting the bumper powder coated.
(Has someone maybe frenched in some LED light bars into the grill?)

Thanks

[K20chevy]

Ok,

I should have mentioned that in my first post, I already have a ton of HID lights on the truck (4x Hella Rallye 4000 HID euro & 3x Hella Rallye 4000 pencil). Two euros are on the bumper and the two others plus the pencils are on a light bar in the bed. The light output is amazing.

BUT, with the light bar on the truck, it doesn´t fit inside the garage, it´s too high with 8" lights up top. Therefore I mostly leave it off to not mess with it every time I go in and out of the garage.
Another problem is, if you turn them on an off a lot, they won´t last very long. Not so much an issue for the top lights, but more for the ones mounted on the bumper.

That is why my idea was to maybe mount a LED bar up top that is shallower and would make the truck fit in the garage. But since I´m unsure about the distance (up top, pencil lights make more sense) of the LED bars, I´m wondering wether that would be a good choice or not, considering the Hella pencils have 1 Lux at 1290m! That is f&%$ing far! Even the Euros have one Lux at ~500m.

So I made up these scenarios for the truck:

1. LED bar up top and LED bar on the bumper with small LED cornering lights, ditching the HIDs all together

2. Keeping the HIDs on the bumper, just adding the cornering LEDs and the LED bar up top

3. Ditching the roof lights all together and keeping the HID euros on the bumper and add two HID pencils on the bumper as well, also LED cornering lights. (Problem might be that the 4 8" lights block a lot of airflow to the radiator)

4. LED bar on bumper with two HID pencil beams for distance and the LED cornering lights

5. Some kind of LED setup in grille or bumper that does cornering, close range and long distance

[for a cleaner look, the OnX 1 cell would fit in the grille openings, so that could be hidden very well]

Therefore I was wondering what other people run, their experiance with the HID vs. LED and how they mounted theirs.

I really hate to ditch the 4000 HIDs, they were $$$ and put out more than enough light...

(sure I could mount them on a fold down light rack up top, but if I motorize that, that´ll be big $$$ too and even more wiring)

Wiring on the LED´s should be easier too with only one realy for en entire bar versus multiple relays for all the HIDs.

Thanks for all the input!

[K20chevy]

Ok, so here is what I went with:

3 Cell OnX bar in driving combo from baja designs and two wide cornering squadrons from baja designs. Also in the bumper are two Hella fog lights from a Mercedes ML55 AMG.

Didn´t get a chance to try them out driving around yet, only lit them up in the garage, but they seem extremely bright!

[wraprail]

They don't take up much space do they? Is that all you are using to replace all the lighting you mentioned above?
I didn't know LEDs were even used in off road.
Posted via Mobile Device

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by wraprail

They don't take up much space do they? Is that all you are using to replace all the lighting you mentioned above?
I didn't know LEDs were even used in off road.
Posted via Mobile Device

No, they won´t replace all the lights mentioned, but I set my mind to having the big round lights up top, kind of like they had the round daylighters up top back in the day, but keep the bumper lights more low profile and "hidden", to make it look more classic...

I think the shallow LED bars blend into the black bumper well and are not that much "in your face". They only replace the two hella 4000 HID and two 2000 cornering lights that used to be on the bumper (see my profile pic). One more bonus is less restricted airflow to the radiator.

LEDs are used a lot offroad now, but they don´t quite get the distance of good HIDs yet. Therefore LEDs on the bumper, but HIDs up top...

[wraprail]

Nice truck.
Thanks for the info.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by wraprail

Nice truck.
Thanks for the info.

Thanks!

[78gmc1]

Cool Setup.. I plan to Get some LED's For mine once i start getting it back together what kind of headlights are those?

[Jeepwm69]

I have a set of Daylighters on my Jeep. Swapped in some VVME HID's from ebay ($50), mounted the ballasts under the front crossmember. The H3 bulbs in a Daylighter take an HID bulb just fine. Might be tough to find a place to mount the ballasts up there where they wouldn't be visible though.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by 78gmc1

Cool Setup.. I plan to Get some LED's For mine once i start getting it back together what kind of headlights are those?

these are 90mm hella bi xenon mudules in the ECE (european) version. So true factory HID´s with high and low in one light. perfect sharp cut off and great light output. And since it is mandatory in europe on hid lights and makes sense anywhere else, these have an ultrasonic leveling system. So when you accelerate or load the truck, the lights adjust down to not blind traffic, when you hit the brakes hard, they adjust up so you can still see where you are going. so they always stay leveled and never blind oncoming traffic...

Not cheap though!

(Rolls Royce Phantom uses the same headlights)

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

I have a set of Daylighters on my Jeep. Swapped in some VVME HID's from ebay ($50), mounted the ballasts under the front crossmember. The H3 bulbs in a Daylighter take an HID bulb just fine. Might be tough to find a place to mount the ballasts up there where they wouldn't be visible though.

true, better than the halogens in there, but nothing beats a HID light that was made to be hid. I had two Hella 4000 HID lights on the bumper before and 5 more on a removable bar behind the cab. I´ve seen HID converted hella 4000´s and they were impressive, but compared to the real thing - BIG DIFFERENCE in light quality and spread. But sure, all of this comes at a price...

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by K20chevy

true, better than the halogens in there, but nothing beats a HID light that was made to be hid. I had two Hella 4000 HID lights on the bumper before and 5 more on a removable bar behind the cab. I´ve seen HID converted hella 4000´s and they were impressive, but compared to the real thing - BIG DIFFERENCE in light quality and spread. But sure, all of this comes at a price...

Daylighters were probably 20 years old, came on the Jeep. Looked like a flashlight with weak batteries shining through a beer filled glass.

HID's wer $47 shipped.

Wired them in through a Bosch relay to a mini toggle switch. They're bright, and the price was definitely bright.

True, they work better in HID specific housings, but I only run them off road, and they're better than the old Halogen headlights!

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

Daylighters were probably 20 years old, came on the Jeep. Looked like a flashlight with weak batteries shining through a beer filled glass.

HID's wer $47 shipped.

Wired them in through a Bosch relay to a mini toggle switch. They're bright, and the price was definitely bright.

True, they work better in HID specific housings, but I only run them off road, and they're better than the old Halogen headlights!

Anything is brighter than the stock halogen headlights! I´m sure the HID kit made a huge difference. Optilux has some fairly cheap HID (true HID) lights as well in 4" and 6 or 7". They are "only" $140 a piece. Their light output is decent for the price they come at.

but sure nothing beats lights that were free on the vehicle anyways!

I drive a lot at night, that is why I want it very bright!

[andrewmp6]

K20chevy where you get that front bumper tho?

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

K20chevy where you get that front bumper tho?

it is a GMTC (GM Truck Center) Bumper that has been modified though. the pull points are different from their original design and the light holes, light tabs, smothed welds were done by myself. The powdercoating was custom too by a local guy here (it is semi gloss black).

[andrewmp6]

I never heard of them but your bumper looks good.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

I never heard of them but your bumper looks good.

Thanks!

[K20chevy]

I might actually sell the OnX and replace it with some RAllye 4000 LED/HID or Rallye compact LED/HID Hellas. The LED bars just don´t have enough distance for my taste....

I was hoping to get used to the short distance of the OnX as the spread is awesome, but I just miss the overall light output of my big HID´s. So 4 or 5 of them are going back on the roof and on the bumper I might add some compacts...

[Jeepwm69]

$45-50 VVME HID's in old Daylighter housings.....

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

$45-50 VVME HID's in old Daylighter housings.....

How´s the light output? Better or did the focal length of the hid bulb change so much that the beam pattern is way off??

[K20chevy]

I did play around with MS paint for a while... I think this could be the future light setup.

What do you guys think?

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by K20chevy

How´s the light output? Better or did the focal length of the hid bulb change so much that the beam pattern is way off??

They are bright enough to drown out my stock headlights (run through relays). With the HID's on I can't tell whether or not my headlights are on.

They are a bit too focused. I would prefer a shorter range/ wider beam.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Jeepwm69

They are bright enough to drown out my stock headlights (run through relays). With the HID's on I can't tell whether or not my headlights are on.

They are a bit too focused. I would prefer a shorter range/ wider beam.

can´t you run a diffused lense on one of them? I know in Australia they do that, run one focused pencil beam and one driving/flood beam, to get the best of both worlds. Don´t they make a lense like that for the lights you used?

I´m pretty sure that would do the trick!

[K20chevy]

So I did some more renderings in MS paint. I have no idea how to start a vote thing for the different options... if someone knows, please let me know...

But here they are. What do you guys like the best?

#1 (current LED setup plus 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon pencil beam)



#2 (current LED setup plus 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon Euro Beam)



#3 (2x BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon Euro beam)



#4 (2x BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon driving beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon pencil beam)



#5 (2x BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon euro beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon pencil beam)



#6 (2x BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon euro beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon pencil beam)



#7 (2x HIDDEN BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon euro beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon pencil beam)



#8 (2x HIDDEN BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon euro beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Xenon pencil beam)



#9 (2x BD Squadron wide cornering + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon driving beam + 2x Hella Rallye 4000 Compact Xenon pencil beam)

[Jeepwm69]

Originally Posted by K20chevy

can´t you run a diffused lense on one of them? I know in Australia they do that, run one focused pencil beam and one driving/flood beam, to get the best of both worlds. Don´t they make a lense like that for the lights you used?

I´m pretty sure that would do the trick!

I thought the reflector in the back of the housing was what directed the light, but I can see how a different lens could diffuse the beam and flood it.

These are ancient KC daylighter housings. I'll have to see what I can find.

I like #1. The pics with 4 round lights make the front of the truck look cluttered to me.

I'm weird and OCD though, so I'd go with what you prefer. YOUR truck!