Let's talk lights. How much lighting needed? I need suggestions.

[HalfmuleFarmer]

… is the light bar legal to run on-road where you live? If not, then it isn't doing you a whole lot of good most of the time.

Concur with this, which is one reason I haven’t spent the $$$$ yet … good aux lights, that are going to last and be worth the money? Not cheap.

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[Brian_B]

The light are for off road and not on road.

The the only limit is the output of your alternator and however many spots you imagination can come up with the mount them in that case.

 

[Brian_B]

Concur with this, which is one reason I haven’t spent the $$$$ yet … good aux lights, that are going to last and be worth the money? Not cheap.

I threw a decent amount of money at a nice set of Diode Dynamics triple fog lights... two of the three are street legal, but I can only run 1 set of those at a time with headlights on road.

But--- the one set I do run - a very very nice mod that I'm glad I got and I run them full time wired to factory fog lamp circuit.

The other two sets of lamps... kind of a waste of money, but in the rare event I'm off road in the dark they do the job - just only use them maybe a handful of times a year.

I could have just got that one set and been just as happy to be honest, and saved about $600.

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

The light are for off road and not on road. I have plenty of light for the roads.

How about added wind noise on the highway (even tho your aux lights will be off)? That’s also been a concern of mine with lights that protrude from the pillars or roof.

 

[agentdarnell]

How about added wind noise on the highway (even tho your aux lights will be off)? That’s also been a concern of mine with lights that protrude from the pillars or roof.

I don't think ill put them on the roof any time soon. I was thinking about a couple for my brush guard above my winch and some a pillar for ditch lights.

I have no idea how noisey they would be.

 

[dejones64]

Lights were not a priority, until I hit a deer after 1 month of ownership. They went right to the top of my list. Two pair of Rough Country wide angle ditch lights, A-pillar and top corners of the bumper. Diode Dynamics lights in the bumper, yellow SAE fogs, white SAE fogs, and spots. Added a brush guard that attaches to the frame where the tow hooks are, with a 30" Diode Dynamics light bar, by far the brightest light I have. I see a lot of deer in advance, giving me a chance to slow down...

My SAE fogs are DOT approved. The rest are for off-road or country roads, where I find most deer. I try to avoid night driving as much as possible., but have the lights just in case. $1k in lights is still cheaper than hitting a deer.

 

[87-Z28]

Have you ever seen Chevy chase griswold Christmas? Not enough lights IMO.

 

[Oldhippie]

Go out and decide where ya want more light and fix that…Having done rubicon midnight runs with just old sealed bean headlights my DD SAE fog & driving pods along with BD s2 ditch pods (ya may think about rock lights for your spotter) are way more than I “need” for rocky trails and work great on road too but sure more light is more gooder…to a point…

 

[EasternSierra]

How about added wind noise on the highway (even tho your aux lights will be off)? That’s also been a concern of mine with lights that protrude from the pillars or roof.

My ditch lights make a little wind noise that I no longer notice as a separate noise. However, I'm switching to the Blumak ditch light housings which are a lot more streamlined.

 

[CalvinT]

My ditch lights make a little wind noise that I no longer notice as a separate noise. However, I'm switching to the Blumak ditch light housings which are a lot more streamlined.

I really like mine and I haven't noticed any wind noise from them. And absolutely no glare back on the hood.

edit: Because of a quirk in Arizona law I put the left and right ditch lights on separate switches so that it's possible to drive with just the right ditch light turned on. AZ allows a spotlight that shines off to the right less than 600 feet and doesn't blind oncoming drivers. This means I can use just my right ditch light for reading house addresses, etc while on public roads. Now to make sure I carry a copy of the relevant Statute in my glove box.

 

[Gluestick]

I strongly feel (cue Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark ) that MOAR lights is better. Late night rural drives on windy roads being part of that motivation, campsite illumination being another and being able to clearly see the obstacles or during recovery being top of mind.

but I’d note that long throw spots or laser patterns aren’t my jam because they don’t follow my needs: I’m on curvy roads and the Bronco simply doesn’t go fast enough on straight lines or sweeping curves for narrow through.

so beam patterns for me was a key decision: I went with Scene, Flood, and Drive. I have multiple angles slightly to the side or significantly to the side to see both around turns and to light up trail side obstacles.

color choice is also a key: I think rigid Amber is my favorite but you can go white and use lens covers to get that. A lot of people like Baja Amber (yellow). Big fan of cutting through dust, fog, and rain/snow, and less bug activity - solid white just lights up every damn spec of distraction in the air by comparison.

Rigid 6” 360s are great as are their D-series. I just installed a pair of D-SS I had on a winch plate for a friend - really great there or ditch / a-pillar location and they are indexed left/right so the side shooting doesn’t require a partial cover to avoid hood glare.

 

[Q1svt]

campsite illumination being another and being able to clearly see the obstacles or during recovery being top of mind.

… I use a Jackery for camp, but interested in what you’re using out back on the bronco?

 

[dejones64]

I really like mine and I haven't noticed any wind noise from them. And absolutely no glare back on the hood.

edit: Because of a quirk in Arizona law I put the left and right ditch lights on separate switches so that it's possible to drive with just the right ditch light turned on. AZ allows a spotlight that shines off to the right less than 600 feet and doesn't blind oncoming drivers. This means I can use just my right ditch light for reading house addresses, etc while on public roads. Now to make sure I carry a copy of the relevant Statute in my glove box.

I thought about doing this with my ditch lights. Can light up the right side ditch without blinding oncoming cars. For now I have my passenger SAE white fogs pointed outward to the right.

 

[Gluestick]

… I use a Jackery for camp, but interested in what you’re using out back on the bronco?

I am a huge fan of the Devos Lightranger 2000 and there are tackform mounts you can use off your roof rack.

the back of my Bronco has the diode dynamics C1R in the hitch receiver normally (not shown in pic), and the 2x DD C1Rs on a spare tire bracket pointed at angles. Since these are all using taillight circuitry, they illuminate with the reverse lights when reverse is engaged but also with the Bronco scene/perimeter lighting modes. I also swapped the rear bumper harness to the euro one and use the OEM rear fog circuit (coupled w changes in FORScan and the proper 2-fog button headlight switch) to trigger the spare tire C1Rs allowing for rearward illumination even when not in either reverse or using scene perimeter lighting.

on the AAL spare tire platform, I took my 20” heretic lightbar that used to be on modular bumper (bumper mangled on an errant Nissan rogue crossing traffic, all heretic lights came out unscathed). It used to be set to an aux switch using the SPV parts mini relay adapter, but is now connected to the Garmin PowerSwitch (which lets you configure scenes beyond on/off, like strobe or flash and you pick the on-time and off-time intervals, and unsure if the heretic LEDs are dimmable but you could dim it via PowerSwitch).

I like to think of it like a chase bar but it’s been used a few times to tell a maniac cutting through traffic and tailgating that it’s time to chill out.

I’d also note the power switch is super slick. It has 2 input triggers, and 6 outputs. So you can use your phone or CarPlay to enable 1-6, or set a “scene” that’s a combination of lights, and set them to flash or whatnot. My OEM upfitter aux3 switch is connected to an input trigger set to turn all forward lights on, so one aux switch turns on:

• 2x Rigid 360 6” Pods - Bumper​
• 1x Rigid 20” RDS-Pro Light bar - Bumper​
• 2x Rigid 360 6” Pods - A-pillar / Ditch​
• 2x Rigid D-Series Scene Pods - Wide Ditch​
• 2x Rigid Ignite Diffused micro Pods - Steering Knuckle​
• 2x Rigid Revolve mini Pods - Roof corners​

The kit from Blaze Offroad is great — the bracket is well designed for above your aux switches at firewall and has a ground bus, making wiring really really clean. Super recommend this setup.

[Placeholder for pic tonight; can’t believe I don’t have one???]

For aux switches, the Aux1 is the roof rack light bar (heretic 40”), and Aux4 are rock lights (incomplete project - front wheel wells 2ea and 1x under front bumper only so far), and Aux5 is alien lasers tractor beams mounted to roof rack pointed skyward. My aux switches use the SPV WP numbered adapters so I can switch things around. Aux6 is ARB underhood twin compressor and I may shuffle things to insert a solenoid for winch at 6 and bump the other things left by 1 spot.

“Boy that’s a lot of lights…you scared of the dark?” “NOT ANY

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