OKLEDLIGHTBARS 3W Round 3/4" LED Light and More

First off, I would like to start out saying that Chris, the owner of OKLEDLIGHTBARS.com (zilla68 on TacomaWorld) has top quality customer service. He replies quickly to any questions and is always extremely helpful. Shipping is also extremely fast. I've already participated in two of his groupbuys (ran by Taco Man in HD) and you can bet that I will be in more down the road.

I recently acquired 6 of the 3 watt round 3/4" led lights from Chris.
Link: http://www.okledlightbars.com/apps/webstore/products/show/4424713

For anyone who is purchasing these lights:
Install the lights before wiring them. Since the wire runs through the bolt of the light it is easiest this way.


(Picture from OKLEDLIGHTBARS.com)


(Picture from OKLEDLIGHTBARS.com)

I took a few pictures of the light output, the first picture is on a blue mat, the lights I got are white, not blue. In the second picture the light appears to turn blue after a certain distance but I can assure you that it does not look like that in person these lights are pure white (although the yellow hue around the white is really there looking at it in person).



I took some measurements and in order to fit these lights you need at least 7/16" of clearance (1/2" to be safe) in front of the surface you are mounting these too (the direction the light is shining). At first I wanted to use these as puddle lights mounted under the door speakers so when the doors opened these would light up the ground below it, but I quickly found out that they would not fit while the door was closed.

You also need around 7/8" of clearance behind the mounting surface so there is enough room for the bolt side of the light (less if the mounting surface is thicker).

The light comes with about 30" of cable.

The mounting hole must be at least 10mm (.394") in diameter and no more than 17mm (0.702") in diameter. Although you might be able to get away with a bigger mounting hole if you sandwich the mounting location between two washers or fender washers.

The bolt on the lights are threaded to M10-1.50
They come with what looks like a zinc coated nut (I'm not 100% sure, I'm not a metal expert). I live in Utah where the roads are caked in salt every winter and rust is a big problem. This makes the zinc coating on nuts and bolts disappear very quickly and the actual metal starts to rust. I went to my local Lowe's and picked up a few M10-1.50 stainless steel nuts to prevent this from happening. I wanted to get stainless steel nylon locking nuts but they were out of the right size ones. The reason I wanted nylon locking nuts is because when tightening the nut, there is no real way to hold on to the light and keep it from spinning except using your fingers. My fingers aren't that strong so I wanted to have something that would keep it from loosening while the truck is bouncing around off-road. If you can find the nylon locking nuts in this size I would definitely recommend it. If you can't, a stainless steel locking M10 washer and a stainless steel regular M10 washer should work just fine (which is what I'm using right now).



Since I already have rocklights under my cab and in the back I decided to install two of these up front first (I will probably add one in each wheel-well when I have more time). There are holes on both sides of the vehicle in the front that are not used (at least on the 2008 SR5) and fit these lights perfectly. One is right in front of the battery:



And the other is on the mirror side of it in front of the window washer fluid:



These locations will only work if you have an aftermarket bumper and you trim off the plastic fender liner in each of the front wheel-wells up to the first plastic clips that hold fender liner to the actual engine bay and not the stock bumper. I recently installed the DTF Type B Front Bumper so these holes were perfect.

In order to install in these locations you will also need a 17mm wrench with a tilt-able head.



Here is the result. It doesn't look like they are in the pictures, but trust me, looking at them directly is blinding.






I also purchased two more 6 LED 3x3 CREE Lights from Chris in a group buy. I already have two of these that are mounted on my hood and the two I just purchased were installed on the new DTF Bumper. I got the 3x3 Colored Replacement Lenses in amber to use on the lights on the bumper. When you get the replacement lenses they come protected on both sides by a stuck on piece of paper.

You can also see that the replacement lens is noticeably thicker then the original lens.

To disassemble the 6 LED 3x3 CREE Lights you need a 2.5mm allen wrench. You must use a 2.5mm or you will strip the bolts! Just unscrew the six bolts on the bezel of the light and the bezel will come off. Below will be the lens and a rubber gasket.


When assembling the light, be sure to put the right side of the rubber gasket faced down (you can tell which side is which because one side has a line cut around it to fit onto the light and the other side will fit the lens). When you are screwing the bezel back onto the light you might be worried that the bezel won't seal properly since the new lens is thicker. I can assure you that it will fit just fine. Just tighten the bolts slowly in a criss-cross manner using a 2.5mm allen wrench. This is where the right size allen wrench really matters or you will strip the head of the bolt!

This is the end result and the next picture is the closest I can get to what the output looks like in person.



I also recommend getting the connectors from Chris. If you are not very good at wiring, you can buy the wiring harness from his store and the Deutsch DT Series 2 Pin Connector Kit Option for these lights. The ones listed on his website are the male side, but he also has the female side if you email him. These are very simple to assemble. Just follow the directions on his website and make sure you put the positive and negative wires on the correct sides. The only problem I had with the male side was that the green wedge that goes in through the front didn't want to go in all the way so I had to shave down the back edge of the ramp with a flat head screwdriver so it would slide in easier.
Here is the disassembled male side:

(Picture from OKLEDLIGHTBARS.com)

Here is the disassembled female side (the assembly is basically the same except there is an extra red gasket that goes on in the front before you insert the green piece.

(Picture from Google)

Here is the end result. The lights on the hood are the 6 LED 3x3 CREE Lights with the original lens. The amber lights on the bumper are the 6 LED 3x3 CREE Lights with the Amber replacement lens. The lights in the grill are 3000K 55Watt HIDs in Hella 700ff lights. The rock lights in front of the front wheels are the 3W Round 3/4" LED Lights. The rock lights underneath the body and behind the rear wheels are LED strips I got from a while ago.

This picture was take at ISO-200 f/3.5 and 1/10 sec. Exposure time.


Here is a picture with the same camera settings with no lights on:

 

looks really good and a great write up!!
We have had a huge success with these as a rock light set up in the fender wells, inside cab lights, under hood lights, just about anywhere you can think of putting them, people are sticking them, lol.

Nice rig, great job

 

Just got a camper cover for camping, so I went and got it tinted at 5%. I can see out during the daytime, and at nighttime if someone is behind me. Backing up is a different story though. So, I have been looking at some LEDs trying to decide what to get. And after seeing these little things, and the price, I'm very interested. I see the pictures, and see they are pretty bright for their size.

My question is though, would these be bright enough to illuminate 10-15 feet or so behind my truck? Or should I continue to look at something like the flush mount pods?

Here's a picture of the truck for my reference. If I had the flush mounts I would cut my bumper and install them within it.

 

with 5% tint I'd say pods are your only option. These do put out a lot of light, but with almost black windows I don't think you'd get much with them rear facing. They really light up in fender wells etc. where the light is bouncing off stuff, but in the rear with nothing to reflect off of, I don't think they would do much for you.
I do have a local guy who used them as back ups and he likes them, but he's not 5% tinted and is using them with his backup camera.