Functional Supplemental Lighting

For the people who get out and do serious wheeling, what are some useful light upgrades you've made? I've seen all kinds of people running ridiculous light bar setups but what's actually useful when you're out in the desert or the mountains in the dark?

I've done most of the upgrades recommended by @crashnburn80 to the lo/hi beams, foglights, and reverse lights which have helped a lot - what's the next useful upgrade?

 

For me, retrofits and ditch lights made a huge difference.

 

I have one of the DD stealth 30” bars and DD Ss3 pro fogs. The stealth bar was nice out on the dunes as it was getting dark. I compared it to the light bars on our friends sxs’s and it seemed very comparable.

 

A quality set of Ditch lights, pointed about a 45 degree angle outwards gives a ton of visibility that is most useful when driving slower speeds or offroad at night. I'm running Baja Designs Squadron Sports in wide/cornering pattern. Plenty bright for the near field for Ditch lighting. I'm also running Squadron Sports in my fog holes that are Driving pattern. They throw slightly better than my high beams. If I was doing it again I'd get the Squadron Pros in the Driving pattern and call it good. I'm not the biggest fan of light bars, simply due to the form factor. They take up a lot of space and don't necessarily put out any better lighting than a much smaller/easier to mount pod style light.

 

BD S8-20 in "driving combo" configuration light bar in winch bumper.

BD S2 pro in wide cornering mounted in mirrors for ditch lights.

About all I could want for front and ditch area lighting. Really lights things up well with about a 180* arc of light from a-pillar forward.





Then BD S2 Pro work scenes in rear bumper for backup lights, and more recently BD S2 Pros (work scene) rear facing on roof rack, and BD S2 Sports in work scene to the sides.











With that I'm done with exterior lighting. Next up BD interior led's for inside the canopy.

 

For everyday driving: fog lights
For off-roading: ditch lights and fog lights
For camping: I have Baja S2s and rock lights on the bed rack to light up my campsite

 

Fog, ditch, and rock lights for the most functionality and use. Light bars are great but I use them 1/4 of the time. Diode Dynamics has great lights for all of that

 

Now if that ain't a trick way to mount some ditch lights. Was that your idea or a product that is sold by someone? Either way super creative! How's the angle? I like my ditch lights pointed way over to the side, does it spread wide enough?

 

I have a very similar setup and have found it works extremely well when driving into the night in the desert or arriving late at camp. 30" driving/combo lightbar stealth mounted in stock bumper, BD S2 Pros (wide cornering) for ditch lights (no fancy custom mirror mounts, just plain ol' brackets) and BD S1s (work/scene) mounted on the sides of my ARE CX HD canopy for getting situated at camp. Ive got another set of BD S1s that are going into the bumper and want to do a few rock lights (in amber as camp scene lighting), just have to find time.

 

Okay, that is clever. I love that it doesn't have the big ugly cubes sticking out. Alas, probably not for me because I'm always using the foliage to fold in my mirrors.

Also probably not for me:

 

Not my idea. Meso started the mirror mounted ditch light thing with Rigid Ignite Floods as I recall, and then this was robmpii's take on that using BD S2's.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/mirror-mounted-baja-s2-diy.599067/

It was quite the little project. Fun, and came out well, but with cutting, painting, positioning, etc., it was not a quick job.

I've had quite a few people come up and ask where I bought them, then they get disappointed when they learn it is a DIY job.

They give good lighting off to the side for cornering on sharp turns on the trails. If more light is needed to the side, it is as simple as pulling the mirror in a bit. But these work just fine for me in the standard mirror position. Plus I've now got the rack mounted side lights (which can be turned more forward as well) if I need more lighting to the ditch area.

 

BD S8 30” x2
One in the bumper one in the grill
Bumper is flood pattern and grill is spot pattern combined with BD squadron sports in the fogs. All the foreground and distance light I need with no hood glare.

 

As I did this in a 2nd gen, not positive it'd be as easy in a 3rd gen...

I installed Feniex Cannons in place of my Reverse bulbs. The location where the bulbs/wiring locked in was exactly the right size to be drilled out for the Cannon's lense to fit in place of the bulb. They are MUCH brighter than the standard reverse lights, but admittedly not as good a throw as a nice wide, purpose made work light like those BD S2s in the bumper above.

I installed them as I wanted some strobe lights for Search and Rescue. They have 3 trigger wires. I ran one to the reverse wire for brake pop (couple flashes) then steady on White Only. Another I ran for a separately triggered strobe function. I contemplated wiring the 3rd trigger to my blinker wire for an added blinker, OR wiring it to a bed mounted switch so I could run the backup lights without having the truck in reverse (or even on). Got lazy and did neither, lol.

later half of video linked below shows the strobes flashing, gives you an idea of what they look like.



https://youtu.be/h6fg5vXLnbk