Lighting

[motas]

Hey guys. Topic for the week is lighting. LED, HID, Halogen etc. What is best for what? Best brands etc.
Discuss.

[maggoo]

I bought an ebay HID kit for my headlights on my TJ.
Cost about 160 i think.
The light output is amazing a definitely recommend them.

Only problem was i had a ballast blow up while i was on a Simpson desert trip So only had 1 headlight on the trip home.
My spotlights are halogen so i still had those though.

So cheap HID is great bang for buck but not the most reliable.

[wes]

I've got 4 x 100 watt KCs on my TJ and always been happy with that - 2x pencil beam, 2x wide beam.

One night about a year ago we had a spotlight comparo/demo in Perth.

I turned on my spotties and highbeams and was feeling pleased with myself until the bloke next to me fired up his HIDs and LEDS - the difference was unbelievable. Made my 4 Halogen KCs look like crappy yellow candles - turning my lights off made no difference!!

The LEDs light up EVERYTHING in all directions but didn't have much to offer long range.
The HIDs have great range but don't come on instantly - they take a while to warm up and reach peak brightness.

The guy with the LEDs and HIDs said he very rarely uses them on the highway because the reflection off signs, reflectors on marker posts and even catseyes is blinding.
Then when he turns them off, he can't see anything

Is it possible for lights to be TOO bright?

I imagine LEDs would be sensational offroad though - and HIDs too if you are offroading in a very open area.

[Dustbowl]

It's interesting there wes, I use 2 Fyrlyt spotties, they have a better range down the highway than my mate with 70W hid light force, they made the HID look a bit ordinary i had a better beam down the other end while showing more diversity of the terrain... yeah the reflectors and signs can be a bit irritating but the way they pickup the roads surface is amazing, you can see everything down to the last grain of sand 800m up the road!!
Plus they are fully adjustable between pencil and spread, have all serviceable super high quality components, highly recommended

Ps they are still a halogen bulb

[layback40]

I am at the cheap end when it comes to lights.

130/100 globes in the headlights with relays up front ~ a little like JJ's loom.
I have a pair of 150w Kent sealed beam aircraft landing lights.
They must be 30 years old. because of where I drive, the full lights are on more than 50% of the time.
One of my headlight inserts has been replaced ( a rock hit it) with a Narva replacement insert. Its beam pattern is not as good as the original Cibie on the other side.
Could easily stop in the distance I can see at 120 km/hr.
I am happy with the lights, though the driving lights do light up the trees a bit.
The thing thats good about them is if a stone hits them, its a $20 replacement & they dont get water & dust in on the reflectors. A couple of years ago they would only make $30 on ebay, recently they have been selling for around $200 !

Have a look around & you will find plenty of cars & 4wd's with dirty/damaged lights ~ a big deal to replace reflectors etc.

Most HID I have seen are way to blue, lots of light but you cant see things very well. The roos blend in with the trees.

Have a pair of Cibie 9" super oscars (100w) on another car. They are probably better but they may not last as long off the bitumen.
We have a couple of baby oscars as well. They are not on anything at the moment. They are straight spot. I think spots are good on cars as you have the spread of the headlights to light up around you.

I had never heard of Fyrlyt, they look good, when they have been on a 4wd in the country for 10 years we can see how good they are. Same goes for other lights.

[SeaComms]

I upgraded the stock headlights with Philips +80 globes and was impressed with the difference.

I then added some 100w halogen Britax lights, one spread one spot and the highway coverage is fantastic, but like mentioned before the spot almost light up the signs too much. Was originally going to upgrade them to HID, but I dont think its warranted for me as the long distance vision is great, but I don't need to see the nits on a roo at 1000m!

I have just stuck a set of 15w LED's in place of my factory fog lights to test them out and was very surprised at the result (I first was going to use them as reversing lights, but discovered they were too bright!).

After playing with them I really like the colour and spread of the LED lights and might look at grabbing a couple more of the 15w ones I tested as they can be physically linked together into a solid bar, so another 4 or so locked into a 6 x 15w LED bar would be perfect on the front for closer range work. Or to keep them 'legal' with the current QLD regs I can leave them split into 2 lots of 3x15w blocks.

Lighting seems to be a very personal thing, and I think the best recommendation I could give is find someone with lights like you are considering and see how they look.

[Dustbowl]

Very true layback, how they last time will tell.
Seacomms- you are right, I personally love amber light, others have the blues