Roof Rack lighting options ???

[FLYFISHEXPERT]

...The whole point of a high mounting is to get the light further out ahead of you.
My personal RoT: The closer the light is intended to illuminate, the lower it gets mounted.

X2. I originally had my IPFs on the bumper, but moved them to the top for better distance. I spend quite a bit of time in the desert and the lights on the roof just work better for me. Having the lights on top better illuminate the 'low spots' in the rough road.

Also, in my experience, if you are going slow in the woods having low lights are fine. If you are going fast in open areas, lights up high are better.

Just my two cents.

[kenallwine]

I run tractor work lights on the both sides of my Jeep rack and they work great.

Not to highjack my own thread; but what awning is that?

[R_Lefebvre]

If 200' is the outer limit of your lighting needs I'm wondering why bother to put them on the roof at all? I'm assuming that the 200' requirement is due to trees. The whole point of a high mounting is to get the light further out ahead of you. I'd think that for 200' that you could easily do that with a top of front bumper location and avoid smacking the lights (be they cheap or not) with tree limbs (not to mention not adding them to your frontal area).

For up high I've found that the so-called "Euro" or Driving" beam is a better option than the pencil beam. The range is very close, but the Euro/Driving beam has much more lateral light distribution.

My personal RoT: The closer the light is intended to illuminate, the lower it gets mounted.

When mounted up top, and projecting downward, the light fills "holes" that are left by low-mounted lighting. The low mounted lights leave a shadow behind any high points on the trail. When the lights are higher than your eyeballs, it projects down and fills the hole. This allows you to determine how deep the holes are, or what might be in them, before you get too close.

The only disadvantages I've seen are the risk of damage from trees, glare on the hood and windshield, and glare from atmospheric conditions. All are manageable.

Glare on the hood and windshield is easily controlled by shields such as Antichris posted, or by moving the lights back from the edge of the roof a bit, which is what I did. I have zero glare.

Glare from atmospheric conditions is easily controlled by turning them off if required, and leaving you no worse off than if you didn't have them.

Damage from trees...well... I haven't had a problem yet, but some people can break anything so... <shrug>

[07 Elephant]

Not to highjack my own thread; but what awning is that?

That's an eezi-awn awning.

[ntsqd]

Interesting, I want those shadows created by projections on the ground. It gives them definition. Without the shadows they can be misleading as to how big they are.
The hardest time of the day to drive in the desert is the middle 1/4 of the day. Even the 12" tall rocks can look flat and bland.

Just another example of different topography requiring different approaches.

[sleeoffroad]

Shameless promotion, but the new LED technology in light bars are ideal for roof mounts.

Here is a cross posts and some info and pics.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-te...light-bar.html

[AlexJet]

I'd recommend going with 2 driving in the middle and 2 fogs a side.
I have 5 Hella 500 on the roof (3 driving and 2 fogs). Driving are great for high distance lighting while side fogs give me great visibility on the front corners. In my perspective this is the best option. Unless you do high speed desert racing where I'd recommend going 4 driving as you drive fast and need as much light as possible far upfront of you.

[ntsqd]

Even in desert racing you need peripheral lighting or you're racing in a "tunnel". And that's darned difficult to do.

[UNI]

Ken,

Rob is correct, thats a Eezi-Awn (Awning) Series 2000 (2m). They are available at Equipt.

Eezi-Awn Available @ Equipt Expedition Outfitters
Click Here: Equipt Expedition Outfitters
Eezi-Awn
Click Here: Eezi-Awn

[Mr. Leary]

Even in desert racing you need peripheral lighting or you're racing in a "tunnel". And that's darned difficult to do.

I think your sig line applies to that quote!