LED Light Bar

[TheFlyingFox]

Hi Guys, Seek your advise for a couple of things to fit a LED light bar for the car. I got one off ebay for cheap. Also i have highlighted in red where i plan to install it.

 

 

What i want to know ,

1.Is there a way to wire it to the high beams as well as for a manual mode.

2.Is there a way to get a switch that will fit in the the following pic ?

 

 

 

 

[tiv]

2 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Hi Guys, Seek your advise for a couple of things to fit a LED light bar for the car. I got one off ebay for cheap. Also i have highlighted in red where i plan to install it.

 

 

What i want to know ,

1.Is there a way to wire it to the high beams as well as for a manual mode.

2.Is there a way to get a switch that will fit in the the following pic ?

 

 

 

 

Well switches can be easily bought off ebay and aliexpress, use existing switches to compare dimensions

I'm no electrical engineer, infact I am a medical person, but I tend to DIY a lot and always sketch sub par wiring diagrams and leave them in my cars documents incase a glitch turns up along the way. The following diagram is what I used sometime back in my Hilux. Use at your own risk! with proper parts. The only part hard to find was the diode

When taking a direct line from the battery be sure to use a fuse within few cm before proceeding and of course with proper insulation.

Do excuse the poor diagrams and symbols, it was done on Ms Paint!

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by tiv

[TheFlyingFox]

Hi @tiv, Thanks a lot! Does this diagram means that the light bar will work with the high beams (when they are on) and as and when i want to switch it on manually i can do that as well ?

[tiv]

yes

[fiat fan]

Take it to a competant electrician, I got a pair of fogs for my old car.30 mins and 1000 bucks later it looked like factory. The guy gave me a switch off a Nissan that fit like a puzzle!

[Twin Turbo]

Have you considered the legal compliance of this  ?

 

[TheFlyingFox]

3 hours ago, Twin Turbo said:

Have you considered the legal compliance of this  ?

 

Yes but since I am only going to use it on manual basis, I don’t think there will be a big issue. I would never use it in Colombo , only outstation when vehicles are less, that too not when there is oncoming traffic. I know the pain of oncoming drivers having 100w bulbs, having leds in reflector housings  and how they effect me ?, so wouldn’t do it to anyone else. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by TheFlyingFox

[vag2]

17 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

I got one off ebay for cheap.

hmm,dont think it will last long then. These Cheap ebay ones dont do well against water,dust at this position. Maybe applying an additional strip of silicon glue at the joints might help? Otherwise the effort and money spent on fixing would be wasted when  one by one the bulbs fail.

[TheFlyingFox]

12 minutes ago, vag2 said:

hmm,dont think it will last long then. These Cheap ebay ones dont do well against water,dust at this position. Maybe applying an additional strip of silicon glue at the joints might help? Otherwise the effort and money spent on fixing would be wasted when  one by one the bulbs fail.

Thanks Machan yes your right although this says IP67 water resistance I have my doubts on it for the way it’s made (build quality is just not there). Since i got it for about 4.5k I will go ahead and fix it. If it goes for a 6 I can replace it with a good one since the wiring is already done. 

[Magnum]

12 hours ago, Twin Turbo said:

Have you considered the legal compliance of this  ?

 

Isnt there a rule that states the light bar must be covered when not in use?

 

[TheFlyingFox]

Update

So i ended up wiring it to the Fogs. Very simple operation. Aimed the light bar a bit towards the ground. So far im happy with the results. This setup should be good in bad weather.

 

 

Only the Dipped beams

 

 

Dipped beam plus Fogs and the light bar

 

 

[kmeeg]

2 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Update

So i ended up wiring it to the Fogs. Very simple operation. Aimed the light bar a bit towards the ground. So far im happy with the results. This setup should be good in bad weather.

 

Just my personal thing. I like if your fogs also have the same color temperature as your headlights. But not sure how will it effect performance on rainy and foggy days..

Love to see a pic on a day time to see how the finish is.

 

[TheFlyingFox]

15 minutes ago, kmeeg said:

Just my personal thing. I like if your fogs also have the same color temperature as your headlights. But not sure how will it effect performance on rainy and foggy days..

Love to see a pic on a day time to see how the finish is.

 

Yes i see your point. The things is im running Osram Fog breakers in the fogs. Their output is quite good for the price. This light bar too produces a similar light pattern as the fogs. They are not focused as a projector or reflector main beam. The light beam is short but lights up a wider range in that "short" area. I think in bad weather they should perform well, yes the color temp (of the light bar, 6000k) is not suitable for that kind of weather but the mix of lights , have to test and see

 

But really not bad for a cheap unit like this

[tiv]

14 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Update

So i ended up wiring it to the Fogs. Very simple operation. Aimed the light bar a bit towards the ground. So far im happy with the results. This setup should be good in bad weather.

 

 

 

Only the Dipped beams

 

 

Dipped beam plus Fogs and the light bar

 

 

There is a still a bit of scatter towards the upper part of the field (above windows) thereby you will be illuminating bus drivers faces also!?

[RWD]

12 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Yes i see your point. The things is im running Osram Fog breakers in the fogs. Their output is quite good for the price. This light bar too produces a similar light pattern as the fogs. They are not focused as a projector or reflector main beam. The light beam is short but lights up a wider range in that "short" area. I think in bad weather they should perform well, yes the color temp (of the light bar, 6000k) is not suitable for that kind of weather but the mix of lights , have to test and see

 

But really not bad for a cheap unit like this

The LED bar is not really my cup of tea- but definitely a neat job done. The stock headlamps are halogens right? You could also explore LED conversion kits for the headlamps for a more OEM look

[TharanaW]

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 6:31 PM, TheFlyingFox said:

Update

So i ended up wiring it to the Fogs. Very simple operation. Aimed the light bar a bit towards the ground. So far im happy with the results. This setup should be good in bad weather.

 

 

 

Only the Dipped beams

 

 

Dipped beam plus Fogs and the light bar

 

 

Could you please give an update on how this light is performing? 

And if its still working well, could you give some information for me to find this seller on ebay.

Thank you.

[TheFlyingFox]

9 hours ago, TharanaW said:

Could you please give an update on how this light is performing? 

And if its still working well, could you give some information for me to find this seller on ebay.

Thank you.

Still going strong :). I only put it in heavy rain so far in the night. 

 

You can search for 13" Led light bar 36W. It will cost 25-35$

[sathyajithj99]

3 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Still going strong :). I only put it in heavy rain so far in the night. 

 

You can search for 13" Led light bar 36W. It will cost 25-35$

 @TheFlyingFox

Machan this is an out of topic question.

I have seen some Swift RS turbos without safety features like pre collision brake, lane departure warning, but those models had bird eye view camera system.

Is there any model with both the safety features and bird eye view camera?

[TheFlyingFox]

12 minutes ago, sathyajithj99 said:

 @TheFlyingFox

Machan this is an out of topic question.

I have seen some Swift RS turbos without safety features like pre collision brake, lane departure warning, but those models had bird eye view camera system.

Is there any model with both the safety features and bird eye view camera?

Yeah machan,  both models (Safety and without) came with the original bird eye view camera system. Its an optional extra i believe. The car i got has the safety features but without the 360 camera system. I fitted a 3rd party 360 system locally. There is a big difference in quality however. The original system shipped with the car is of very high quality compared to the cheap systems they fix here.

[TheFlyingFox]

On 10/25/2018 at 9:47 AM, RWD said:

The LED bar is not really my cup of tea- but definitely a neat job done. The stock headlamps are halogens right? You could also explore LED conversion kits for the headlamps for a more OEM look

The stock headlamps are LED, the Fogs are halogens, however i upgraded the fog lamp bulbs to Osram fog breakers.

[TharanaW]

14 hours ago, TheFlyingFox said:

Still going strong :). I only put it in heavy rain so far in the night. 

 

You can search for 13" Led light bar 36W. It will cost 25-35$

Thanks for the update. I'm looking to purchase a light bar but probably something a bit more powerful. 

Meanwhile, I hope you'll tell us if this stops working suddenly.

[kmeeg]

Sharing my light bar project;

I installed this Auxbeam 32 inch light bar behind the grid to look discrete. At first I was bit hesitant to remove the front bumper but YouTube had all the instructions how to remove.

For sure it blocks some of the light from the grill but I like the discrete look. Also I don’t think I could expect more light on these comparatively cheap light bars vs those crazy expensive light bars.

 

[ZoeSkinner]

On 10/21/2018 at 10:23 PM, fiat fan said:

Take it to a competant electrician, I got a pair of fogs for my old car.30 mins and 1000 bucks later it looked like factory. The guy gave me a switch off a Nissan that fit like a puzzle!

I recently did that. Looks great

[lyingaround]

As long as I know, you can buy switches on the sites like amazon, eBay, aliexpress. What I am sure of is that you will find there anything you need for your car. Even if you will need to change, then you can do it by searching on amazon light bulbs. Lighting is such an important topic, especially night driving while speaking about driving. It is pretty essential. That's why I see why you are so concentrated on changing and installing those things. Investing now in your car will provide you with good quality for so many years on, and you will be happy and pleased you have decided to do it earlier.

Edited November 6, 2022 by lyingaround