Lighting Strategy
 

Getting some bumpers soon, planning to attach two fogs to bull bar as there are no provisions for the stock lights. Was going to attach five lights to the bar above my windshield that's part of the kargomaster Congo cage. What's a good set up there as far as light types? All the same? Not interested in LED due to expense and just don't like the look.

I'd suggest a mix of 2 spots and 3 floods, separately switched & fused.
For broader lighting during relatively slow offroading, the outer floods may be aimed a bit sideways.

Attachment 458045

Having spent a fortune on lights over the last 4 years, I'd actually go a different way. Change out the headlights (out of the 4 different types I've tried, Hella H4s are my favorite). Lights, a relay harness and bulbs will be aprox $250. I'm anal about my lighting and I could do a road trip with just those headlights. You'll never need your fog lights again.

If you still want some aux lights (looks, more light, etc) I'd look at some of the cheap HID lights that are on the market. RR or Eagle Eye make some very nice affordable lights that work, are effective and are cheap (I've used both and was happy with them). The EE and RR ones that I had are all going strong 2 and 4 years later. Ideally you can mount these on the bumper so that you're not lighting up the hood as you would with window pillar or overhead lights. This will make it easier on your eyes when driving at night.

I wouldn't get a flood light under any circumstances. Go with either a spot or a driving light. A spot should keep a nice tight beam (good for dark highways, but that's about it), while a driving light will get some distance, as well as having a wide beam pattern to light up the corners. As a bonus, it should still throw enough residual light that it'll light up stuff up close as well.

But I can't stress enough about changing out the headlights. I know it's not the sexy option... but just changing the headlights and the harness was much more useful than running a bunch of aux lights (even my HID ones). You get to use your headlights everywhere... you can only use the aux lights when they will not bother other drivers. There's also times when you can't use the aux lights due to the weather.

Edit,

On a side note, a cheap HID will outperform 95% of the halogen lights on the market. And is likely on par as the other 5%.

Generally you want to keep the longer range lights up high on the pillar and above the windshield. You should keep the more diffused lights like fogs and floods down low to better illuminate the road or trail in front of you. If you going to mount rear facing lights on your rack, I'd say go strictly with floods.

Fog is very thin low above the road, that's why fog lights are mounted low. Also, for better fog penetration, the light color should be towards the longer wavelengths, towards yellow/amber. Therefore, headlights are not a substitute for fog lights.

For offroading, on the other hand, the higher the lights are, the better the visibility. Lights which are lower than the eyes, cast shadows that block pits from view. When the lights are above eye level, those shadows are shorter than what the eyes can see:

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For offroading, a flood lights a large area with pleasant light. A spot throws a narrow beam -- the closer you look, the smaller the lighted area is, until it becomes worthless near the Jeeps' front. A small bright area hinders viewing the rest of the area.


I totally agree with this. What's the point in adding lights before improving the existing ones?

If we're talking real fog lights, I agree completely. However if we're talking the stock ones or some cheap ass substitute, then I'll have to disagree. Most people (myself included) used the stock fogs to augment the crappy stock headlights. With some decent headlights, this will not be the case.

As for light placement, it really depends on the purpose. And the speed one is driving.

Some very good advice . But here is another alternative. Upgrade the OE headlight bulbs with something like Silverstars. I've had mine for about 4 years now. They are not going to melt the road. But they are cheep and hassle free. Install a pair of Driving Beams and a pair of Long Range Beams on the bar. You can use the driving beams to compliment your high beams. Finish off your lighting schem with rock lights under your Jeep.

Headlights already done, first thing I did as the OEM ones were crap. Daniel Stern set me up.

Thanks for all the input and keep it coming. What's a good way to go as far as switches? Also, what are the max light specs to use the existing fog light switch/circuit?

Agreed – "Crappy stock lights since 1941" … :wink:

For higher speeds, the lights should reach further, however, the difference between lights above or below the line of sight is the same for any distance or speed:

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The only reason for not locating headlights higher, is that they would disturb on-coming traffic.

The arrangement I suggested for offroading, gives both spots for longer distance and fast driving and floods for shorter distance and slower driving. The floods are especially helpful for frequent and/or tight turns, plus the advantage of using either spots or floods, or both:

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With an aux light, they should be shutoff whenever there's oncoming traffic. I turn my HIDs off the second I see headlights - regardless of how far away they are. And I get pissed when people don't turn their aux lights off when coming towards me. However a quick flick of my HIDs usually solves that problem :)

One of the draw backs to having lights overhead or on the window pillar is that they light up the hood. This causes glare and depending on how bright your lights are (my current pillar lights are 100w HIDs, old ones were 35w HIDs - both light up my hood and caused a ton of glare). When I had a rack on my XJ and the lights were on the rack, the glare wasn't really an issue (I don't remember it bothering me at all)... but the lights were mounted behind the cab, and the XJ was a dark color. Having the lights right above the window, I can't see them being that much different than lights on the pillar as I do now.

Having had two light colored jeeps (white and silver), glare is an issue. To the point where I weigh the benefits of having the lights vs how it bothers me... usually the lights win - but not always. I bought some black magnetic panels that cover the center part of the hood and I use these whenever I drive south (lots of night driving). They cut down the glare - but it's still there, and I still contemplate between using the lights and dealing with the glare, or not.

I guess my point is, from my personal experience, I'd be mounting the lights down low on the bumper (if possible) long before mounting them on the window pillar or a light bar. I've never once had an issue on the highway or on the trail regarding what I could/couldn't see.

I guess the other part of the equation is how bright your lights are. I've always used HIDs (and I'll never use a halogen light again). One of the draw backs to an HID is it's bright as fuck, and I'm assuming that will amplify whatever glare the hood gives off (when compared to a halogen light) due to the amount of light being put out. Maybe the glare a halogen light produces is tolerable... I'm honestly not sure, but then I'll never buy a halogen light to find out either.