Roof Rack Mounted Lighting Options/Configurations? (1 Viewer)

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Dan Higgins

Dan Higgins

Joined
Jul 24, 2016
Threads
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Location
Bend, Oregon
In a few weeks Gobi will be installing a new Stealth rack for me. I am also having them wire it for lighting. But, to be honest, I have never had lighting on the roof (or any auxiliary lighting for that matter.) So I'm looking for input as to what and where.

Of course the rack has a number of options for the front: from 40" bar to 4 separate (and shorter) bars. I am only looking at Rigid LEDs at this point. My initial conversation with Gobi had me planning to do 4 6" bars with the center two being driving configuration and the outer two being floods that I couid angle a bit outward if I wanted. But that setup would run nearly $1300! That is a lot more light than I believe I need and that I am willing to pay for.

Soooo...here is how I could possibly see myself using auxiliary lighting. A few times a year I will be driving forest or low-traffice back roads at night to get to a sunrise photo shoot or after a sunset photo shoot. (I am aware that it is illegal to run these lights on normal roads in Colorado.) I am thinking (maybe incorrectly) that the lights will help me spot large animals before it is too late. Aside from that I might find a bit of extra lighting helpful if I am hitching or unhitching our trailer at night. And there may be a couple times camping without the trailer where extra light would be useful but I don't want to run down the battery.

I spoke to someone at Slee while having my sliders installed today (yep, did that today) about this and he suggested 4 6" bars would probably be a lot more light than I need. I can't disagree, or agree, as I don't have any experience.

Would a single 10" bar work for me with a Dually at each of the rear corners (I already own a couple Duallys)?
Would 2 6" bars be better than a single 1" bar?
Or could I even get away with a single 6" bar?
And what about the apparent problems with glare on the hood of the truck? Am I going to create more problems than I fix?

BTW, I couldn't care less about making the truck look good. I am only interested in the functionality and balancing that against cost.

Thanks in advance for your input.
 
Just a couple ideas to consider:
  • Think about a dust light in the rear if you are off road much... especially in dusty places, obviously.
  • I have a 40" bar on the front of my rack and 4 6" bars (one on each side and two in the back). I use the side/rear lights much more often than the front bar; however, I was grateful to have the bar in front the few times I've used it traveling off road at night. I switch my lights from the inside but would like to have external switches on the side/rear lights as well.
  • There's a bit of glare on the hood but nothing problematic in the least.
 
ProjectLM has a wide variety of options that might suit you. A set of bars would probably be the best, but you can also do some nice combinations with a bar and a couple of spots for longer distances. I would definitely ensure that they're aimed high enough, so that they don't reflect off the hood too badly.
 
If you are going to spend top dollar on Rigid you might as well get Baja Designs. With Rigid you are buying a name while with Baja Designs you are buying a superb light.

IMHO 4 six inch lights up front is running a lot of unnecessary wiring. You can get a slim single row 40" combo bar with spots in the center and floods on the two outer edges. Not sure why Gobi suggested running the driving on the center but that would cause a lot more hood glare than running spots in the middle.
Anyway, this would be a lot simpler than wiring two separate pairs up front.

As for the sides and back... one small cube in flood pattern on each should be sufficient for your described purposes.

Also get a rear fog for running in dusty/foggy/low vis conditions. I have found the PIAA red LED to work great for this purpose.
 
My $0.02

Front:

I have a 40" light bar. It has floods on the edges and spots in the center. It was a ~$200 LED bar, not a $1000 one. It's bright - I mean BRIGHT. I don't feel it makes a significant difference in distance over the high beams, but it does throw light to the sides. If you're hoping to spot a deer jumping out from the woods it likely would help. I do see a lot of glare off the hood, so while I like the look of the rack-mounted light bar, it's not as functional as I had hoped and I don't use it much.

Whenever I get around to putting on a new front bumper I will get a set of LED driving lights and mount them on it. Honestly that's a better lighting solution since it eliminates glare off the hood.

Rear:

I have a pair of 6" lights mounted on the underside of my rack in the rear. They're better than nothing when I'm hooking/unhooking my trailer in the dark, but the spoiler above the rear window blocks most of the downward-facing light. It's disappointing because where I really need the light is close to the bumper, and it does little there (mostly just whatever reflects off my white trailer back towards the truck).

Whenever I get around to putting on a new rear bumper I will get a set of small LEDs and mount them in the bumper (or I may just rig up a single 6" LED to my trailer, which honestly would put the light precisely where I actually need it)
 
Check out derby city led - these guys are out of Lexington KY. I went with them for cost and to support local. The attachment is a 43" but they have smaller ones as well for what you're thinking about. Price it out if anything.
Good luck Man
43.5" led light bar test run
When I went to the link only half the photo is visible on my phone. Maybe it's just my phone? Check my media file.
Thanks
 
The way I figure it is you have a $40-80k vehicle (not sure which year you have) with a Gobi rack. You're already highly invested in your rig, what's a little more $.

Why skimp on forward lighting that could help you overt a possible threat?

The sides and back are a different story as they are intended as camp flood lights/ work lights. Going cheap on those probably won't affect you hitting a dear or not.

LEDs can be bright but how far do they throw the light?

That's the difference between cheap chinese lights and a quality engineered beam. With my 40' BD Stealth bar on, I can't even tell when I select the high beams other than the blue high beam indicator on the cluster. The throw is further than my 10" LightForce HIDs.

I agree that putting some lights lower on the back I.e. Bumper, makes sense due to the wing being in the way.
 
Some great suggestions and insight here. Thanks! And, BTW, SouthCarolina, your 40' BD Stealth bar would definitely not be stealth. (I think I'll go a bit smaller.) ;)

As for the rear, I placed a small, battery-powered, self-adhering, LED puck light from Home Depot on the little hatch for accessing the manual lift gate release. In other words, in the center of the lift gate. It was simple, cheap and works great when I have the lift gate up to light up the rear cargo area and area just around it.

SouthCarolina has me thinking I will go with Rigid and plenty of light up front. (Not sure the, "I already spent 80K on this vehicle." argument will work with my wife but if I drop back the amount of light a bit - and if I get a bonus next month - I think I'll be OK. We also need to help fund a wedding next month. So she's a bit sensitive at the moment when it comes to pouring more money into the boat, er, truck.)
 
linuxgod said:
My $0.02

Front:

I have a 40" light bar. It has floods on the edges and spots in the center. It was a ~$200 LED bar, not a $1000 one. It's bright - I mean BRIGHT. I don't feel it makes a significant difference in distance over the high beams, but it does throw light to the sides. If you're hoping to spot a deer jumping out from the woods it likely would help. I do see a lot of glare off the hood, so while I like the look of the rack-mounted light bar, it's not as functional as I had hoped and I don't use it much.

Whenever I get around to putting on a new front bumper I will get a set of LED driving lights and mount them on it. Honestly that's a better lighting solution since it eliminates glare off the hood.

Rear:

I have a pair of 6" lights mounted on the underside of my rack in the rear. They're better than nothing when I'm hooking/unhooking my trailer in the dark, but the spoiler above the rear window blocks most of the downward-facing light. It's disappointing because where I really need the light is close to the bumper, and it does little there (mostly just whatever reflects off my white trailer back towards the truck).

Whenever I get around to putting on a new rear bumper I will get a set of small LEDs and mount them in the bumper (or I may just rig up a single 6" LED to my trailer, which honestly would put the light precisely where I actually need it)
Click to expand...

Geoff, this is great input from your experience. Thanks. I hadn't thought about the spoiler but that is a good point. My puck light on the inside of the lift gate will likely do the trick for me for illuminating the hitch on my trailer. Also, based on your comments about the rack-mounted light bar (which I have heard from others like the person at Slee who was helping me think this through) I think I may go with something cheaper initially to see how I like it. If I end up liking and using it then I can upgrade to more light.

The question I have now is whether I will need to change the wiring should I decide to upgrade in the future. Should I run stronger wiring and extra switches in case even if I use lesser and fewer lights for now?
 
So, for those of you who have put LEDs on the roof, what brands would you recommend? Any positive or more importantly negative feedback on one brand vs. another?
 
Can't say enough good thingsw about Baja's 40" S8 if it fits........I had a cheapy on my Gobi on my 100 and while it had lots of light - it wasn't useful light..... the baja lights really project... enough so that I am removing my Hella 4000's with 130 watt bulbs to replace them with some Vision X' 8.7's tomorrow as the BD bar made them useless....

E
 
Dan Higgins said:
Geoff, this is great input from your experience. Thanks. I hadn't thought about the spoiler but that is a good point. My puck light on the inside of the lift gate will likely do the trick for me for illuminating the hitch on my trailer. Also, based on your comments about the rack-mounted light bar (which I have heard from others like the person at Slee who was helping me think this through) I think I may go with something cheaper initially to see how I like it. If I end up liking and using it then I can upgrade to more light.

The question I have now is whether I will need to change the wiring should I decide to upgrade in the future. Should I run stronger wiring and extra switches in case even if I use lesser and fewer lights for now?
Click to expand...

I always run high quality wire. IIRC mine is 14ga high quality SXL automotive wire. The battery cable (I put in a fuse block) was 1/0 SGX. I did the math for distance and 14ga would have been good for a 30'+ run. I have DT weatherproof connectors as well, so if I ever need to remove the rack there's just two plugs near the windshield. Good wire is more expensive but you won't have to run it again years from now when the cheaper brittle stuff cracks and starts blowing fuses.
 
I had big PIAA lights on the front of my 80, never really used them much. The 200 Hi beams are pretty powerful so I don't think I would put up front. I did buy two lights from Gamiviti and was thinking about where to install. My original plan was two on the rear. I may get a third light and have rear and sides. Still pondering over a Crown on the rocks :D
 
Resurrecting this thread because I decided to go with a bar up front and I now need to decide whether to have Gobi install them while installing the roof rack ($400 for the install) or I could have Slee do it (no price estimate yet.) Gobi will run the wires through the rack (I expect Slee does this as well) to the rear then down through the liftgate seal and into an existing electrical plug in the top of the rear liftgate frame. From there they run them back to the front of the vehicle to connect them to the battery, connect up the switch, etc. Not sure how Slee will do all of this but they offer a much more sophisticated switch system (way overkill for what I need).

I'm trying to decide between Slee and Gobi. Any experience with either? Recommendations? It may come down to who can get them done first.
 
Between those two, Slee. Electrical is where a lot of shops skimp on installation. Look at it this way, they give you a quote for install, regardless of it taking an hour or six hours, they're getting the same paycheck. So why wouldn't they just use a bunch of hidden butt connectors and no solder/shrink tubing just to get the vehicle out the door quicker? I'm not saying Gobi does this, just its not uncommon. A little patience, a soldering gun, some shrink tube, a nice hydraulic crimper, you can make some very professional look/performing wiring, plus you'll know exactly how it went together for troubleshooting. Just my opinion.
 
Slee, they do a real professional job on wiring from compressors to lights to lockers and on and on, mostly on Toyota land cruisers and trucks. Gobi buids racks and wires a few lights in many different kinds of trucks

I was just there today picking up my DBA slotted rotors :D
 
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