Thoughts on Driving Lights

[Old mate]

Hi all,
Apologies if I open a can of worms here but;
My IPF Halogens have seen their day and are due for replacement.
I don't know much about LED's and the info I have read so far state that HID's are still the big hitters for distance and I would prefer a light offering as much distance as possible.
What are opinions on running a set of HID round spots with an LED flood lightbar?
Do you think this would offer a good all round solution?
Cheers
Old Mate

[old Jack]

Hi all,
Apologies if I open a can of worms here but;
My IPF Halogens have seen their day and are due for replacement.
I don't know much about LED's and the info I have read so far state that HID's are still the big hitters for distance and I would prefer a light offering as much distance as possible.
What are opinions on running a set of HID round spots with an LED flood lightbar?
Do you think this would offer a good all round solution?
Cheers
Old Mate

Not sure what your budget is but you could consider trying a quality light bar first and see if you really need more distance and more lights, both these 20ish inch light bars from Stedi have good spread and good range out to 500+ metres.

Bang for your buck you are hard pressed to find anything better!

https://www.stedi.com.au/21-5-inch-st2k-curved-super-spot-8-led-light-bar.html

https://www.stedi.com.au/st3303-21-5-inch-32-led-double-row-ultra-high-output-led-bar.html

OJ.

[Onslow]

I ran halogens for years (IPF 100W). On my current vehicle I changed to HID (Lightforce Genesis 70W). This resulted in a substantial difference in distance gained, and it provided a much whiter light which is easier on the eyes than the halogen yellow. However it didn't give much spread to the sides where I needed to see the roo's, and the worst feature was that they need time to warm up properly which can be frustrating on country roads with oncoming traffic where you're flicking them on and off.

I recently changed to twin LED's (ARB Intensity) and wouldn't go back now - huge volumes of white light in front and to the sides, and plenty of distance for driving on the limit. Much better around when cornering too.

I'd envisage that the combination that you're thinking of would be quite good though. I just found that the LED's had enough distance to do the job anyway, and had other better characteristics in general.

[Alex86]

I've got a similar setup to what you are asking about.

My spotties are HID- Narva 225's. However it's the flood/spot combo so one light is a flood and one a spot.
I also have a 20in 120w single row LED light bar that has a combination of flood and spot.

I find a quite like this setup. The light bar I find so much better for twisty roads or bush tracks, the HIDs for the long open roads.
Both on I get good distance, good flood further out (the HIDs) and a good bit of flood closer in (lightbar).


I used to have IPF halogens instead of the Narva HIDs. The IPFs were both spot beam. I found the combination of the yellow halogen and the white LED a bit weird, still worked for lots of useable light, but better to try and keep them all the same colour or as close to as possible.

Personally, I'm really only concerned with good light illuminating a nice visible area for out to about 200m. Things further than that you've got heaps more time to react. It's the roo 50m away on the edge of the road that worries me!

Good lights have saved the front end of my car once or twice I reckon. Seen skippy coming at me with enough time to react- normal headlights wouldn't have cut the mustard.

[Merts]

I have a set of the lightforce HTX hybrids, so effectively what you are thinking about combined into one fitting. There is a ring of LEDs (80w) and a central HID (70w). The LEDs give great lighting with a wide spread, out over 300m. For virtually all the driving I do they are plenty.

The HID is a narrow beam and lights the road up over 1.5kms from the car. Very impressive, but not all that useful for most driving conditions if I'm honest. Even on the slightest of bends they light up more beside the road rather than on it, and in hilly country they are basically useless.

If I was doing it again I'd probably just go for 80w LEDs and save a fair bit of coin.

[vladguan]

Not sure what your budget is but you could consider trying a quality light bar first and see if you really need more distance and more lights, both these 20ish inch light bars from Stedi have good spread and good range out to 500+ metres.

Bang for your buck you are hard pressed to find anything better!

https://www.stedi.com.au/21-5-inch-st2k-curved-super-spot-8-led-light-bar.html

https://www.stedi.com.au/st3303-21-5-inch-32-led-double-row-ultra-high-output-led-bar.html

OJ.

I can vouch for the ST3303.

[denmonkey]

I've got a light bar and some older halogen narva spots.



I recently changed over the low beam to LED and the change is massive.

thread and video here https://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum...ad.php?t=62290


you will see the positive and negative feedback re the change in the thread.



With that said, the same globes I purchased also fitted into the highs. I will be getting a second set for in there.

Once you have such white light the yellow glow stands out like dogs balls.

I've been pretty happy with the hi beam on the paj but the LED made it even better.

So for maybe 30 bucks, try a set and see if that keeps you happy enough with a small light bar for spread.

If you're after all out sun type light, it might not work.



cheers Brett

[letsgoplaces]

You could upgrade the IPFs to Hid

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/55W-HID-IPF-800xs-900xs-internal-ballast-kit-12v-24v-4300k-5000k-6000k-8000k/181187421575?hash=item2a2f9ca587:g:xvcAAOxyCepScLSQ:rk:1:pf:0

I did this with mine, and they are great.
I have combined these with a lightbar on the roofrack.
They are switched separately, so I can run both or just one or the other depending on driving conditions

[denmonkey]

You could upgrade the IPFs to Hid

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/55W-HID-IPF-800xs-900xs-internal-ballast-kit-12v-24v-4300k-5000k-6000k-8000k/181187421575?hash=item2a2f9ca587:g:xvcAAOxyCepScLSQ:rk:1:pf:0

I did this with mine, and they are great.
I have combined these with a lightbar on the roofrack.
They are switched separately, so I can run both or just one or the other depending on driving conditions

I'd been sussing out a set for my narvas.
I know its a hard question but are you seeing more distance etc over the old ones or just an improvement over the general light.

How slow are they to come up ?

[Phil]

I'd been sussing out a set for my narvas.
I know its a hard question but are you seeing more distance etc over the old ones or just an improvement over the general light.

How slow are they to come up ?

I did this to my Narva 225's years ago, gained maybe a touch in distance, a clearer light for sure.
They are a touch slow first up, but if flicking off for on coming vehicles they come straight back on.

[letsgoplaces]

I'd been sussing out a set for my narvas.
I know its a hard question but are you seeing more distance etc over the old ones or just an improvement over the general light.

How slow are they to come up ?

I did this to my Narva 225's years ago, gained maybe a touch in distance, a clearer light for sure.
They are a touch slow first up, but if flicking off for on coming vehicles they come straight back on.

It's been 8 years since I upgraded the IPF's to HID, so is stretching the memory a bit!
And like Phil says, maybe 5 seconds to warm up, but once warm come straight back if you need to dip them.

[motorazr]

I upgraded my ipf900’s using an eBay 55w hid kit,cost around $100. Well worth it but only do it if your reflectors are in good condition and the body of the spotty is ok. An other alternative is to pick up a cheap set of good ipf’s and do a conversion on them.
When choosing a light colour I went for (from memory) the 55000kelvin as they are the closest to normal light, reason being that it gives, imo, more usable light and isn’t as tiring on the eyes.