Roof Rack lighting options ???

kenallwine

Adventurer
I have a pretty general question regarding the choice of lighting for the forward facing light on a roof rack.

I have hear various conversations about what type of lights to install. Some say fog/flood lights others say pencil beam/driving lights other say a mixture. I would like to get some input from everyone here.

I'm currently looking at the Hella 500 series lights 6" round. They come in the driving and the fog beam patterns. I have space for a total of 4 lights on the Gobi rack.

My initial thoughts are to have the two center lights as the driving light pattern for forward distance lighting. The two outer lights would be the fog light pattern for side visibility and slightly angled outwards.

Any thoughts?
 

07 Elephant

Adventurer
I have a pretty general question regarding the choice of lighting for the forward facing light on a roof rack.

I have hear various conversations about what type of lights to install. Some say fog/flood lights others say pencil beam/driving lights other say a mixture. I would like to get some input from everyone here.

I'm currently looking at the Hella 500 series lights 6" round. They come in the driving and the fog beam patterns. I have space for a total of 4 lights on the Gobi rack.

My initial thoughts are to have the two center lights as the driving light pattern for forward distance lighting. The two outer lights would be the fog light pattern for side visibility and slightly angled outwards.

Any thoughts?

A problem with lights up top is light scatter. There can be a lot of reflective light from the windscreen and a well painted hood. For that reason I like spot beams up top because they don't scatter the light as much as driving lights do. I run ipf 868's with 100wt bulbs on my gobi stealth rack. I'm happy with the setup. :smiley_drive:

46c35a54.jpg
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
Yeah, I thought fogs would be the ticket for close in lighting, but have heard from several places they are not suitable.

I'm using 4 Hella FF500 driving lights on my truck. Even though they are not a pencil beam, I still find that they "spot" a little too much for my liking. I'm only trying to light up the ground within about 200 feet of the truck. I don't need long range where I live. My long range lights are Hella FF1000's on my brush bar. Those are legal to use on the roads, and that's why I have them. The roof lights are not legal to use on the roads, and trails here are tight, so there's no point trying to project light too far. I think what many of us who travel on tight trails need is actually Worklights, but those aren't "cool" so...
 

kenallwine

Adventurer
Yeah, 200 feet is about all I would need. I am anticipating that most of my travels will be in the woods anyway. So already the concensus is - NO FOG ligts.
 

craig333

Expedition Leader
Fog lights are fine mounted down low and used as fog lights. They don't work well as flood lights. Lots of options for flood lights but they aren't sexy so you don't see them advertised much.
 

PhulesAU

Explorer
spots over your head, everything else front of the hood line, and down. at that distance driving will work fine.
 

link30204

Observer
Fogs down low below the bumper if possible
Driving lights at or near bumper level
Spots up high pilar mount or roof rack
Floods make good side or back up lights mounted high
 

craig333

Expedition Leader
Most of us really have no need for spots. If I need more distance than I get out of my lightforces, I'm driving way too fast :smiley_drive:
 

frumpy

Explorer
I also forgot to mention, if you look close at my set up you will notice I have a small 55w light on each end of the lightbar (on a seperate switch). They light up the ditches and sides of the road great.
 

Mr. Leary

Glamping Excursionaire
I chose the Vision X Xmitter light bars 4" (4 of them), with flood beams for peripheral placement, and at some point I will add this in the center for longer range lookin'. Expensive, but my motto on this truck has always been pay the money, cry once.
 

kenallwine

Adventurer
Thanks for the input everyone. Based on what I read, how often I will use them and the short range I would need, I picked up two sets of the Hella 500FF driving lights. I'll post my impressions one I get them installed.
 

87FoRunner

Adventurer
To cut down on hood glare, I have heard of some people running black electric tape at the bottom/corners of the lenses to block off light shining.
 

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