need off-road lighting advice

iroc409 · Dec 12, 2011

stunt man hans said: ↑

most every halogen bulb has the tip dipped in something to prevent glare but, usually there is still a reflector covering the bulb.
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I agree that most do have a covering on the tip, but one of the 9005/9006 units (can't remember which) that fit in place of the 9145's do not. Someone installing the "upgraded" halogens without the coating would have the same issue as HID.

H9 doesn't I don't think, maybe H11 doesn't either. They are usually used in projectors, from what I've seen.

stunt man hans · Dec 12, 2011

yeah glare city brother lol.

stunt man hans · Dec 12, 2011

David K said: ↑

LED Light bars are expensive, but put out a hell of a lot of light... Not good if you are in dust (behind others) as it really reflects off dust in the air...

Halogen are cheap, but use more power and are not pure white... slightly yellow. Get 100-130 watts for enough light.

HID is expensive, use less power (35 watts), and there are some deals and cheap ways to go. HID can be any color from yellow (3000ºK) to blue (6000ºK) to violet (12000ºK). The brightest, most white lite is from 4300ºK to 5000ºK... too much color dims the lighting of the road to human eyes.

I had a custom light bar made for my Tacoma and have 2 Kragen HID lights with driving beams (Euro beams) and 2 Hella 4000 pencil beam lights. They were 100 watt halogen, but I converted them to 35 watt HID bulbs (5000ºK)... which was close if not the same as the Kragens...

Notice how yellow-ish the stock headlights and fog lights are compared to the HIDs...

If you are shopping for new lamps or even LED light bars, do check out Baja Designs in San Marcos... http://www.bajadesigns.com
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this is the reason i went with the solstice pods from vision-x instead of popping for one of their light bars.

first off the configurations can be move/changed at will extremely easily. and if one goes down you can just replace the one unit instead of having a light bar with one dead diode.

the square solstice pods can be hooked together in such a way that they feel like a solid light bar and perform like one but they are all modular which is freaking awesome! imo it makes the bars kind of obsolete unless you have a couple of thousand dollars thats burning a hole in your pocket these guy's are the way to go when considering leds.

Pugga · Dec 12, 2011

Anyone have experience with the LED bar that slim is offering in his group buy? Seems pretty cool and his prices are a fraction of what you'd see from Rigid Industries.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/group-buys/190745-hid-xenon-group-buy-ends-12-15-11-a.html

Redgrom · Dec 12, 2011

stunt man hans said: ↑

it depends on what your trying to accomplish imo. ie, what color and beam pattern your looking for and their intended use. i built my set-up with different situations in mind. i wanted to have superior lighting abilities in any weather so each set of lights serve there own purpose to the fullest when i decide to run them.

what is the lighting situation on your truck as it sits? like i said i built my lights according to situation. for example the pure white light from the 5k 55watt headlights cut's through snow amazing and really beyond those i don't need anymore light at all. in dust however they do not do so well much better than the factory halogens but, thats what led me to do the s2k retrofit in my arb fog lights 3000k bulbs which are yellow to piece through the fog and dust much better they are like yellow headlights mounted a little lower. my leds are hooked to my high beams so when i hit them the solstice pods activate.

that throws out a huge amount of light for the darkest roads or conditions but, will blind you in fog snow or dust. i plan on in the future swapping out my black magics behind my grill for a set of light force lights with yellow diffusers on them to further increase the light in foul weather as well.

my lighting has gotten so much attention lately i have people following me places to ask me questions about my headlights its wild. on a dark road i light up at least 6 full lanes across and it is intense light.

if i where you i would start with a set of the leds either vision-x or rigid i prefer the vision-x personally but both are good. the rigid lights can be had in amber which is also nice so you get the benifits of an led set-up and the amber light which may prove more useful to you in the desert. however they are not as bright as there white light counterparts. mount them low in a suitable location ala factory fog light holes and you will have a bomber set of fog lights. this will of course have you fabbing some type of small bracket to hold them in place securely but, you could do that with your eyes closed.

a true retrofit with tweaked projectors is probably the single baddest up grade lighting wise you can do to your truck. bjorn over at customlightz.com made me a set of fx-rs like i have never seen before. i have seen plenty fx-r projectors but, none like mine. mine seem to be wider way more intense and have a huge color flicker! basically it means these are the best all around lights on my truck right now. in the future you should check out doing a set for your truck you will not believe the difference they really almost negate the need for any other light on the truck at all. only in extreme conditions would i actually have to resort to my other lights to get the job done.

here is a link for ya to the round solstice pods.
http://www.visionxusa.com/LED-Solstice_Prime-2"_Round/c1_106_124/index.html
hope this helps buddy
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"hope this helps buddy"
Yeah just a bit!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

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need off-road lighting advice

#21
iroc409 Well-Known Member

#22
stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

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stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

#24
Pugga Pasti-Dip Free 1983 - 2015... It was a good run

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Redgrom [OP] http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/29

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Welcome to Tacoma World!

need off-road lighting advice

#21 iroc409 Well-Known Member

#22 stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

#23 stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

#24 Pugga Pasti-Dip Free 1983 - 2015... It was a good run

#25 Redgrom [OP] http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/29

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#21
iroc409 Well-Known Member

#22
stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

#23
stunt man hans DISPLACED VIKING LIVING IN WYOMING

#24
Pugga Pasti-Dip Free 1983 - 2015... It was a good run

#25
Redgrom [OP] http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/29

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