Looking to add driving lights - Your likes & dislikes.

[Joanne]

Hi all,

I'm making a few mods to my 96 F-150 and I would like to turn my attention to driving lights. My night vision is getting worse as I get older so I need more light than I did years ago. I explore old mines and have found myself on some narrow hillside tracks where I really needed some additional lights. Years ago I had a truck with long range lights and I liked them, but I would also like a bit more light off to the sides as well. I am considering adding three lights, one pencil beam in the middle and two wider beams to illuminate out to the sides. My budget can't handle HID lights and I'm not sure that the current LED offerings would be what I want.

So in the arena of "traditional halogen lighting", can you share the manufactures, models, and beam types that you like? Any to stay away from? I realize that it's all personal preference, but I would still be interested in hearing from you.

Oh yeah, any recommendations for replacing the factory headlight bulbs?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Joanne

 

[4x4junkie]

Hella in the past has made some pretty nice lights (I've always liked their driving beam lights). Unless you're going pretty fast, I don't think a pencil beam would offer a whole lot, unless it's just out of pure curiosity you want to see what's waaaaayyyyy down the road ahead of you (a hand-held spotlight might be a little more versatile).
Fog pattern lights throw a bit more light off to the sides, you might consider a set of those as well.


As for LEDs, I've been avoiding them until they start offering stuff with more natural color light. The bluish color of current offerings seems to cause more glare than anything else for me.

 

[rb70383]

I have been looking at lightforce, IPF, and hella. Just some brands for you to research.

I agree a set of foglights, for immediate front lighting, and I read of another style where they pair up a spot and driving light together. A good mix of light patterns. I have 2 vehicles so my idea is to buy one set of each style and mix and match them here. The IPF combo is $$.......... well not too bad. I thought it was more.
http://store.arbusa.com/IPF-901XS-Extreme-Combo-H9-Kit-901XSDSCS-P3640.aspx

A another thing is to upgrade the vehicles stock lights. Do a relay upgrade to get more voltage to the lights. REplace them if they are yellowed. I did the buffing thing and still turn yellow.

For a search light I have an old unity light from a 80's diplomat cop car going on the A-pillar of my Ramcharger
http://www.unityusa.com/

 

[crazyeyez]

yea, be sure to upgrade/update the stock lights on the rig. i've got KC Daylighters myself (130w). long rang is way to far for what seems you need. driving is still a bit more reach then regular hi-beams, but i have my driving set pointed out, so it covers the shoulder of the roads good, but still down the road. i find LEDS are great. got a set on the roof, but those are 24v lights (powered by power converter). but they arent cheap. Rigid industries has some nice 12v LEDS.seen ppl use their 2" Dualys as fog lihts. but they arent cheap.

 

[ColinTheCop]

I've got a set of Hella Rallye 3000's with some quality bulbs up front. I find they throw a great amount of light out infront of you.

I'd recomend them, however I've just bought a set of http://www.rigidindustries.com/ duallys, and it has to be said, the LED's seem to be so much better than standard spotlights.

The only downside is the price of the Rigid LED's. Although like most things you get what you pay for. When I've got some spare cash I'm gonna dump the Hellas and get a 10" LED lightbar instead.

 

[crazyeyez]

yea, i totally want to pick up a couple Duallys to add to the lights i already got. lol

 

[Sirocco]

PIAA 80XT Driving beam - very happy with these on the Defender. If you look around you get the coverage from each manufacturer. For example, PIAA spots are 5 degrees (narrow) driving 10 degrees and flood/fog was IIRC 60 degrees.

I guess it depends on your speeds. I find that when we are on pavement in the mountains the PIAAs are awesome for all speeds (usually 20-50mph avg). use them offroad also but they don't give much 'wide' space so not great with tight terrain, low trees etc but generally acceptable.

Ideally I would pair my driving beams on my ARB bumper with 2x floods on the rollcage/roof on separate switches so I can pick choose coverage. But I probably wont get around to it as the PIAAs are doing 80% of what I want them to.

HTH

G

 

[AFSOC]

Joanne,

We've got a member on here who is quite the lighting expert. If you PM Hilldweller, he can probably provide you some info that will be worth thou$ands in experimentation. He can get extremely technical and scientific when talking beam patterns, color temps and perception of the human eye but has a knack for dumbing it down for the rest of us to understand. I am certain for the price of a couple of vegan Dutch Oven recipes, Bill will impart volumes of info on this subject.

 

[Beamer pilot]

Mine



LightForce and PIAAs. Good combination for me. Deer eyes glow a mile away :elkgrin:...I do have the upgraded alternator.

 

[Joanne]

Thanks for all the input guys!

Ok, has anyone done the "relay upgrade" on their stock headlamps? Did you see a noticeable difference?

I will certainly be upgrading the stock bulbs, but I was wondering if adding relays was worth the additional effort. I understand the hows and whys of relays, especially on older vehicles. I just don't want to waste time or money if there is no improvement in a modern vehicle.

Joanne

 

[AA1PR]

I just added 4 hella 700ff's to my yukon & love them

the aditional light was just what I needed, like you

& four of them cost only $150

 

[Fish]

Joanne,
Doing a relay upgrade was absolutely necessary on my early Bronco when I upgraded the headlights. The added amperage tripped the stock relay in the switch.

Looks like your F150 uses a 9007 bulb. If you're electrically handy, maybe an upgrade to the 9007 bulb and relays would be biggest bang for the lowest buck. And you'd have more light all the time, not just when you had the driving lights on.

One thing I'm sure of is that Hilldweller will absolutely recommend against upgrading your stock headlights with a HID kit.

Thanks for all the input guys!

Ok, has anyone done the "relay upgrade" on their stock headlamps? Did you see a noticeable difference?

I will certainly be upgrading the stock bulbs, but I was wondering if adding relays was worth the additional effort. I understand the hows and whys of relays, especially on older vehicles. I just don't want to waste time or money if there is no improvement in a modern vehicle.

Joanne

 

[Hilldweller]

Thanks for all the input guys!

Ok, has anyone done the "relay upgrade" on their stock headlamps? Did you see a noticeable difference?

I will certainly be upgrading the stock bulbs, but I was wondering if adding relays was worth the additional effort. I understand the hows and whys of relays, especially on older vehicles. I just don't want to waste time or money if there is no improvement in a modern vehicle.

Joanne

Hi Joanne,

I had an F-150 back then and went through what you're going through.

This is what I'd do:
Make sure the lens is as clear as possible.
Get good bulbs.
You can upgrade your wiring with a plug and play harness from Dan Stern or Susquehanna Motorsports; either of these shops can also rig that harness with a "trip" for the relay for your driving lights.

Now for driving lights, you want a wide flat beam, free of hotspots, weird artifacts, and gimmicky color tricks.
I'm partial to the Hella Rallye 4000 with a Eurobeam ---- I just tested a fresh pair over the weekend on Dendy's Jeep and they are a joy to drive with. Susquehanna sells them and is competitive on pricing; talk to Dave or Ray for your needs.
Also of note for driving lights are any of the fine products from Cibie.

I'm not a fan of Lightforce except for their durability. The beam isn't good at all. I don't like PIAA or most of the offroad boutique brands either; most of them aren't DOT-compliant and have miserable beams.

Here are the Hellas:

And this is the best automotive lighting forum; always double-check your lighting advice here. The forum admin is a merciless curmudgeon that works in the auto lighting industry and literally knows every light ever made.

 

[rb70383]

Easy way to see if you need to upgrade to relays is to measure voltage drop to the headlights. Put the negative of the meter to the supply at the headlight, and the other to the + on the battery. That way you measure the voltage drop of the wire. Cant remember the values but IIRC 10% drop in voltage is about a 30% drop in light output.

 

[FellowTraveler]

Hello there, I use HELLA DynaView automatic driving/cornering lights w/old school CJ headlight grills they have served me well and the suggestion by Hilldweller to improve your existing with harness and bulbs is a great one I've done this too.