My Dust Light install.

After travelling in some convoys this winter, where the truck in front of me slipped in and out of visibility, and the guy following me, I’m sure, was subjected to the same thing, I decided a high mounted “dust light” / “chase light” was warranted. I recently brought power to my bed cubby and some lighting relays so I added a high-mounted LED dust light to my new Rhino Rack.





Conditions that inspired this mod:

Still in sight:


And gone!


I had a single Rigid “Ignite” lying around that I planned on mounting in my stock bumper, opposite the trailer plug, before my stock bumper got destroyed and I upgraded to RCI. The RCI bumper came with lights so that single Ignite sat on the shelf.

I thought it would make a perfect dust light as it is super bright (insane actually, pictures don’t do it justice), but also the right amount diffuse to be visible at many angles, and not piss off the following driver when the dust subsides at intervals.

My challenge was to find a way to make the ignite amber so I didn’t have a white light shining backwards, which is both less able to cut through the dust, and an improper indication all round. The Ignite has no available amber lens that I know of.

I tried amber fog light film from
Amazon (LaminX), but the ignite runs so very hot (surprising for an LED, but literally burning hot....comes with a warning not to touch it) that the amber film bubbled and burned.

My solution, which I admit isn’t as clean as it could be, was to adapt the Amber snap-on lens from a Rigid 4-LED cube and custom mount it in front of the ignite. This lens is a gorgeous rich colour, and there is an air gap behind it so the lens won’t burn. The Rigid lens produces a much deeper amber than the film did, which pretty much looked white when on. I will likely need to clean the lens from time to time, but I made it so it’s easy to remove.









Hope this thread inspires some others to add this safety feature.

And yes.....I’m sure it breaks all kinds of motor vehicle regs......sue me!

 

Nicely done. Do you have any more pics or details about how you modded the amber lense?

 

I will take some tomorrow when it’s light out.

 

Just don't follow so close, problem solved. Follow the dirt. Your cabin and intake filter will thank you.

 

Uh, I think it's the idjuts following him that need that advice.

 

The dust light is on the back of MY truck. I did not install it on the truck in front of me. It is to prevent ME from being rear-ended by someone else whom I have no control over. I could yell at them to slow down, but would not see them in my rear view mirror due to dust.

 

Beat me to it. Thank you.

 

Amber is illegal color for a rear facing light. Red or white only and white only while in reverse. Otherwise great idea. You need to try Army convoys at night in "Blackout" drive

 

Not true in Canada. Millions of cars here have amber rear turn signals.

 

OK got me. I still wouldn't use it when police are around.

 

Only if they are chasing me down a dusty road.

 

A note: I am not here to promote this idea to people who don’t understand the function of this light or it’s necessarily judicious use. I would only use it in a convoy where the truck behind me was aware of it, or if dust conditions were so crazy I feared for my life.

The subject has been argued to death here:

https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...of-a-rear-dust-light-in-the-southwest.165554/

The reason it is amber, and not red, is so it is not mistaken for a brake light. Amber also penetrates the dust better and is the colour required by many offroad racing authorities for a rear facing light when racing in dusty conditions.

 

Nice install, looks good. And who cares if it's illegal to run on the roads? The intent is to run it off road. He isn't going to be running this while on the freeway.

 

I modified a standard Rigid amber cover. I removed two of the mounting feet with a Dremel cut-off wheel and sanded it smooth. The amber lens is screwed to the side of the thick aluminum pedestal mounts I used to attach the Rigid Ingite, which happened to be the surface-mount version of the Ignite (because it was originally going to go in my OEM Bumper). The amber plastic is very durable and flexible and drills and can be cut without shattering or becoming weak.

The amber lens cannot move or rotate around the screws as it is wedged into a channel in the roof rack between the rack and the pedestal mounts. The screws are mostly there just to keep it from popping out.

As mentioned, this is just me making a bunch of left-over parts work the best I could, and it turning out OK in the end. Buying a Baja S2 in factory amber, or another brand, would ultimately be easier and cleaner that going through these steps. This makes sense if, like me, you have a white LED kicking around you want to repurpose as a dust light.





This is the Rigid amber cover I ordered to make the right colour:

https://www.cjponyparts.com/rigid-i...MI5a3f1fzJ4gIVmMhkCh1n5AQxEAQYASABEgLlGfD_BwE

This is what I used to mount the light. Only half of the parts in this kit were used. The round clamps were not used, just the pedestals. Just stuff I had lying around.

https://www.amazon.ca/Lightronic-Ro...s=tube+clamp&qid=1559451487&s=gateway&sr=8-14

 

Bump.