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Mount Location??

Which Would Be/Look Better???

8K views 119 replies 8 participants last post by  brad12kx 
#1 ·
So Im planning on adding some Hella 500ff's to my brush guard but I cant seem to figure out where to mount them. Here are pics of them mounted on the top, bottom, and middle bar of the brush guard. All opinions are welcomed. The only thing I want to remind everybody is, if the lights were mounted in the middle, they will be turned upside down. The image doesn't show it like that, since it took me an hour just to figure out how to do this LOL. And sorry for my sh*tty photoshop skills LOL



 
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#6 ·
Yea I just read in a few different places not to mount the lights upside down
Mainly because it will throw a fd up beam pattern

With that being said, I am wanting a bar in the middle. Not only for a place to mount the lights, but it offers a little more protection as there is nothing there currently.
But Im not sure yet, still waiting on more people to respond
On my Z71, I had all my lights mounted high, but for good reasons

 
#9 ·
I thought about that too, but there's not enough room to mount the lights depth wise unless I fab up a some sorta bracket for it
I vote on the bottom. Keeps them out of the way and I think would eliminate having to worry about turning them upside/beam pattern issues. Plus with that many lights your going to light up the road no matter what. I wouldn't worry to much about rocks..they are just a hair lower than your fog lights and will have covers.
You know Arth, I didn't think about that way. The fog lights don't have rock damage and they don't have covers :smileup:
 
#8 · (Edited)
I vote on the bottom. Keeps them out of the way and I think would eliminate having to worry about turning them upside/beam pattern issues. Plus with that many lights your going to light up the road no matter what. I wouldn't worry to much about rocks..they are just a hair lower than your fog lights and will have covers.
 
#11 ·
Middle upside down. My Hella 500 HID's have been mounted upside down for 4 years and have had no leaking issues. The lamp is round, therefor the beam pattern will be the same at 180 vs 000 deg. Instead of a bunch of small lights, mount a pair of large lights. A pair of Hella 4000's will fill that hole in the middle.

Don't mount them low. You will have terrible parallax problems.
 
#13 ·
I will not be a fan of the covers being upside down, but I might paint them black so it wont look bad. But Im probably not gonna be a fan of having them mounted upside down, kinda looks like shit in my opinion, but IDK. Once I get everything in Ill figure it out

I might be wanting 8 lights actually...but Im not sure how thats gonna affect the alternator
55w * 8 lights = 440w
440w / 12v = 36.666 amps
That's when the lights are all on at the same time, but will probably be 80% of the time
 
#14 ·
Run HIDs. Far brighter, less amperage. A pair of Hella 4000 55w HID eurobeams is hilariously brighter then Six 55w Hella 500, two 55w Hella 550's and and two headlights. I compared it to a customers truck one night in the shop. The difference is that dramatic.

Also, two Hella 4000's converted to HID will cost you $250. 8 500's will cost you around $400.
 
#21 ·
I think you should start small and work your way up.

Take for instance the 'Cab Lights'. Minimal power draw, will not block your view and should have already been installed!!!!!!

OH yah....on topic....

If it was possible to vertical mount them in 3's as suggested, and they were wired in pairs so you could use whichever ones were needed at the time..... :4-dontknow:

If you didn't have the lights already, I would have encouraged you to consider HID's. As much as I don't really like HID's, this is a good application for them. A pair of monster narrow beams out the front and a pair of smaller wide beams mounted low, and you'd have a whole lot of light at a similar cost and lower current requirement.

:doh: I can't believe I'm actually sticking up for HID's! I really don't like them, particularly in conventional lighting positions. :)
 
#26 ·
Finicky for starters. They don't like anything but perfect power. If there is noise in the power, they get all temperamental and tend to make a bad day for you. Slow to start up and get to color temperature. They tend to get real annoyed if you turn them off, then immediately try to turn them back on. They require custom cabling and you need to find some place to mount the ballasts, and that is not always easy if you want everything to look neat and clean.

BTW - As an audio/visual equipment supplier, I use HID lamps in my data projectors and in some of my stage lighting systems. Even in my controlled environment, they can be a PITA, but when they work, they are fabulous. There is a lot of light for the amount of energy they draw.

It is really a personal thing and HID technology has really improved in the last few years. I guess I've had to deal with the issues for long enough to simply not like them. However, I must agree that there are some tremendous benefits and for the most part those benefits out-weight the petty annoyances I've listed. :)



Well I dont have the fixtures yet...Ive only ordered them HID kits as of now
The way they will be switched, if mounted horizontally would be:
3 2 1 1 2 3 or

1 1
2 2
3 3

I hope that makes sense LOL
You bet it does! I have a Ukrainian friend that counts like that too.
The answer is 1 or 2 or 3 or 12. I could be more accurate, but the second column of numbers appears to reverse cancel the first column, so there is no way to complete the calculation until I know how many perogies you had for dinner on Wednesday. Which Wednesday doesn't matter, pick any one.

:)
 
#120 ·
#25 · (Edited)
Makes perfect sense. It also shows us how you want to mount them by your switch pattern up there... hmm...going to look like some sort of spaceship once it's all said and done when you have them ALL on at night.

However I am a fan of lights...

My 05 Ram
 
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