Roof lights

imatthew · Guest

HIDs are expensive for what they are. But I don't think that house lights are going to offer much off road at night. The problem with roof lights is that they light up your windscreen and bonnet. This makes it harder to see anything past your bonnet. You can buy cheap 100 watt driving lights for a couple of pound each.

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 3:15 pm Post subject:

My truck will be road legal.. I ment no roof lights are legal to use whilst driving on the highway..

Does this mean you wouldnt use roof lights on a green lane then?? I would and do..

As said above.. its an idea im toying with.. and by no means making out its the best option.. Its only an idea..

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/48-LED-white-light-spot-l...dZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Terranosaurus · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject:

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject:

Cheers.. I dont know much about LED lighting..

Thanks for your response..

big_patrol · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 8:07 am Post subject:

Legal or not i use mine at any given chance Laughing

I know i touched some would when writing that. The good thing with the light force is that as allan says it depends what type of light your looking for and with these i can buy filters that clip on and change them from flood to driving or fog or snow or sand infact any type you want. I run long range on the two in the middle of the roof fllod on the outer two, three KC 8000 raylles with driving beam and piaa 130 high beam in my head lights.

If i had a pound for every time i had been asked questions like

"are you scared of the dark"

or

"have you got bad eyes"

Then i could have nearly paid for all my lights Laughing

Danny

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2007 9:15 am Post subject:

I may well end up going down the light force route.. but will be copying the clever Oz idea of lowering them out of the way..

But before that I just wanna try a couple of home made units.. if they aint good enough for my needs I'll have wasted about Â£12..

4x4menow · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:

instead of using air rams to raise and lower your lights why not use pop up headlight motors you see lots in scrapyards
just a thought
Nick

Anthony BathMat Rushton · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:47 pm Post subject:

danny...

scared the bogeyman's going to get you?

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject:

Thats a really good idea Nick...

Worth a go..

Little Toe · Guest

Hi Allan,
How about this for an alcohol fuelled idea....
Use a pair of electric door locking motors off a car, as these push and pull, dead cheap from a breakers yard. And now the clever bit.....

Fit a set of reversing sensors to the front of the roof or next to your roof mounted lights and use them to trigger the electric door lockers to lower the lights when any branches/objects get close. They seem to trigger at about 1m-1.5m, so if fitted to the front of your roof, they'll lower the lights as a branch gets to your front bumper - kool idea or what hey?

Cheers
"Another bright idea" Shaun

ps hope you're feeling better!

Shimmey69 · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject:

hi guys

I'm new here, like most been hiding in the background for ages but this post has interested me enough for my first proper post!!!

Well i hate to say it but kitchen down lighters are actually great off road at night! as well as off roading in my rangie also go off roading on my mountain bike. a friend of mine has the mr16 12v normal everyday downlighter bulbs in his handlebar lights, and they work great, they give good enough light to go blasting down the side of hills on very narrow tight and twisty 3ft wide tracks at 20 mph, with no problems!! and they last surprisingly well on the bumpy stuff. only thing is with normal downlighter they get ...king hot!!!

As for the LED ones LED technology is getting better and better i have a single big LED light that is more than capable of providing enough light so i would imagine that a couple of those 48 LED bulb ones would be very bright.

If your after more info on very light weight, low energy drain lights then check out www.mtbuk.co.uk or any of the mountain bike forums as a key to a decent set of lights is that they last a good few hours on batteries and they are very bright!! One HUGE advantage with having a vehicle is you don't have to worry about carrying the battery but these guys are great and know how to get cheap long lasting lights!!

I personally use these http://www.bikelights.com/Products/arc_liion_ultra.htm
and i can honestly say they are way way way better than the full beams on my road car, a fiesta ST. they are amazingly bright. they will probably be way too expensive to put on an off roader, but you never know!!

Don't know if any of this will help you guys but thought i would add my 2p worth.

You could always go the manly way and buy some of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Night-vision-lightweight-...509QQcmdZViewItem

LOL

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject:

Shaun.. not only is it a top idea.. but your drawing a really acurate.. for a second I thought it was a photo of my truck!! lol

You need more wine!!!

Sadly for me I cant drink at the mo so im not having any top ideas.. lol

sajseven · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:21 pm Post subject:

So what did you do in the end?

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject:

Nout yet.. aint had the time to spend on it.. lol

Apache · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:55 am Post subject:

My tuppence worth...

I have a pair of 130w on the bumper which give good light at fairly long range (it's a Surf, so the standard lights are woeful!) but I have a lightbar with 6 x Ring Microline. Cheap and cheerful, but strong, small (so dont protrude too much into branches above).

It's all in the setup really. I have the inner two pointed about 50ft in front of the truck dead ahead, the two outer to them about 30ft just left and right of centre, and the outer two about 20ft about 45 degrees left and right. This means I can see exactly where I'm putting my wheels, and it's a proven system for night laning. Very effective and cheap!

Having said that, I've just sold the bar because I've bought a big rack, and have just fitted lamps to the front of that so I'll set em up the same way.

It might look odd to the average Joe in the street when your lights point in funny directions, but you dont care about that - do you?

Diesel Destroyer · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:16 am Post subject:

Just watch out for low slung branches... Twisted Evil

Apache · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:18 am Post subject:

Regularly get whacked. They are small enough to have a small, thick glass face so are harder to break than a large glass face.

No damage as yet, and there have been times recently where I've almost literally driven through the bl00dy tree itself! Rolling Eyes

tacr2man · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:13 pm Post subject:

What I don't get is if these lights give such great illumination why do all keep hitting them on trees? Rolling Eyes

By the way just putting in higher wattage bulbs wont give any extra range as most reflectors are designed for the filament position of a 55w bulb and so when the larger filament is not in the correct position you just get more light scatter ,
If you want a light with good range try Cibie turini apollo Very Happy

I have my ''off road lights'' mounted back under the roof rack no bonnet glare and out of harms way JMHO

Apache · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:01 pm Post subject:

tacr2man, my new rooflights are protected to a certain amount by the rack they're fitted to as well. It's a good plan isn't it? Smile

The front spots are designed for 130w bulb, but for a given bulb type (H3, for example) the filament is in the same place whatever the wattage.

Reflectors are designed for a bulb format, rather than a wattage, all other things being equal.