Front Bumper Round Lights (3 Viewers)

[suboptimusprime]

Following this. Can people comment on utility of the round lights vs a light bar? I see a few with both. Do you really use both and if so what for?

 

[geanes]

Following this. Can people comment on utility of the round lights vs a light bar? I see a few with both. Do you really use both and if so what for?

A lightbar simply provides a lower profile. On the roof, that could be a big deal. Some would say that the 9" round lights on the bumper block the "cooling" of the radiator more than a bar would. But, I don't see that all.

Having said that, a round light will be superior to a bar light if you're looking for "focused" spot patterns. The round lights can be designed with a "deep" cone that concentrates the light more. This is why you see pencil beams only in round housings. The "spot" beams in my light bar don't compare at all to the round "spot" beams on the bumper.

 

[BEG]

Following this. Can people comment on utility of the round lights vs a light bar? I see a few with both. Do you really use both and if so what for?

Depends on what you're after. Light bars are great when you don't have room for something larger or need lots of fill light but their form factor is limiting for better performing optics.

The old school reflector housings that rally cars run, sometimes molded into the hood, offer some of the smoothest, longest reaching beam patterns available because of their size and depth. A lot of lighting manufacturers stick with this kind of setup, even with high performance halogen bulbs, for that reason (Cibie, Hella, Fyrlyt, Lightforce etc.). I would say that these are still the gold standards for true high beam auxiliary lights off road. They have very few artifacts in the beam pattern, if any, and halogen light still has the highest color rendering index of any bulb type, which is important if you're trying to distinguish objects and terrain at high speed, in the dark.

For more modern bulb setups, the better offerings from manufacturers are still mostly in the round style because they offer more options for optimal lens types and arrangements. They will typically have fewer LEDs with bigger lenses (eg: Baja LP9, JW Speaker TS4000, Hella Rallye 4000 LED et al). If you're truly interested in long-range spot beams for high speed night driving, off-road, be wary of round lights with a million little LEDs crammed onto the surface. While they provide a lot of intensity, the beams are poorly defined and create a lot of foreground fill which make long distance night vision even worse.

 

[suboptimusprime]

Thanks @BEG and @geanes! Super helpful and clarifies my decision making.

 

[chudly]

My post here Adventure Chaser build has all the stuff i used.

I'll relink here for those lazy I'll copy and paste here. Photos are in original link above.

this is the link to the one I got.
185W black Amazon.com: Northpole Light [2 Pack] 9 inch 185W CREE Round Front Bumper LED Light Bar Roof Driving Headlights LED Driving Fog Lights Work Lights Off Road Spot lights for Truck, Car, ATV, SUV, Jeep (Black): Automotive

The lights arrive with the brackets and hardware and lights themselves. The lights themselves just have 2 wires coming off the back of them. So you need a wiring solution. I was going to make my own but then I found this wiring on Amazon also for some auxiliary lights.
I ordered this wiring kit Amazon.com: Primelux Universal 12ft Relay Wiring Harness for LED Light Bars Driving Lights Fog Lights Work Lights - 2 Leads(2x15A/16AWG): Automotive with the 2 way wiring. 16 gauge wiring 30 amp fuse with DT connectors should be good.
and then I ordered this switch http://amzn.to/2DSu2Sx to swap out the switch that comes with the wiring.