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I have just completed the installation of an LED Light Bar to the Nudge Bar, along with UHF Antenna.
I did some research on the web, and ebay, regarding Light Bars. It is very confusing as the nominal Wattage of the lights is basically meaningless, as is the info regarding Lumens. I think many ebay sellers multiply the number of LED's by some imaginary factor to arrive at their Lumens figure. I gather a more accurate piece of data is the distance to achieve 1 Lux (supposedly, enough light to read a newspaper), but very few sellers give that figure.
I initially wanted a Light Bar with sliding mounting brackets as that would make it easier to fit to the fixed width mounts on the Nudge Bar. I ordered a 20", 210W light from an ebay seller, but when it arrived the mounting brackets were incomplete - nothing for the screws to fit into. I briefly connected the light to a battery and was disappointed with the light - far too wide, or high. The unit was a combo spot/flood, and I believe the spots were nominally 30 degrees, and the floods were 60 degrees. Too much light was wasted in the tree tops.
I arranged to return the unit as the mounts were faulty, and did some more research.
I finally settled on a unit from STEDI, their 120W ST2000-22". Although is is advertised as 22", the LED area is only 20" wide - this actually suited me fine. The main downside of this light was that it was mounted on end brackets, not sliding brackets, so I had to re-think my mounting. This particular light has better quality LED's, and STEDI advised that the angles are 8.9 degrees for the 24 spot Led's and 80 degrees for the 16 flood LED's.
Link to STEDI is: http://www.stedi.com.au/st2000-22-ul...-bar-120w.html
The unit came with a free 'wiring kit', and although I didn't use it as supplied, I have used some of the cables, relay etc. I also purchase one of their 'security fastener kits' at a good price to help deter thieves.
To mount the unit on the Nudge Bar, I bought some 50mm x 50mm x 4mm thick aluminium angle, long enough to mount the end brackets and extend to the near side for the Antenna. I drilled two holes to suit the Nudge Bar spacings, two holes for the end brackets and the antenna hole.
I do not think 3mm aluminium angle or any flat bar (unless really thick) would be heavy enough to prevent flexing and vibration of the light and antenna, but the 4mm ally seems okay. 3mm stainless angle may be okay, but more difficult to polish. The mounting thread of the antenna was not overly long, so a thick flat bar would have been a problem.
I did find that the mounting brackets supplied with the light were not suitable - the light would not clear the front of the grille - so I made some new brackets from 3mm stainless.
Next problem was with the wiring, where to tap into the High Beam circuit - the Light Bar MUST only be able to operate when the high beam lights are ON. I have a copy of the workshop manual on CD (not cheap, but will be worth it in the long run) and delved deep into the wiring logic. In the end, I found it was going to be best to tap into the High Beam fuses, Fuse 14 or 15 under the bonnet to feed power to the relay coil. I used a 'piggy back fuse'. Now, if you haven't come across these little blighters, you need to. See a separate thread titled "Piggy Back or Wire Tapped Blade Fuses" on this Forum for further info.
I bought a special switch for AoB that has the LED Light Bar detail, and is made to suit the PS blank switch holes. Available off ebay. The switch MUST be used to operate a relay, not the LED Lights.
Overall, I am happy with the result. The Light gives enough depth of spot for our needs as we don't travel at high speed at night, and the flood gives good illumination to the sides to see those errant 'roos.
Edit Sept 2017: Photos were on photobucket - now inserted directly. Hopefully the photos are okay now...
So, on to the next project!
Cheers,
glids
I did some research on the web, and ebay, regarding Light Bars. It is very confusing as the nominal Wattage of the lights is basically meaningless, as is the info regarding Lumens. I think many ebay sellers multiply the number of LED's by some imaginary factor to arrive at their Lumens figure. I gather a more accurate piece of data is the distance to achieve 1 Lux (supposedly, enough light to read a newspaper), but very few sellers give that figure.
I initially wanted a Light Bar with sliding mounting brackets as that would make it easier to fit to the fixed width mounts on the Nudge Bar. I ordered a 20", 210W light from an ebay seller, but when it arrived the mounting brackets were incomplete - nothing for the screws to fit into. I briefly connected the light to a battery and was disappointed with the light - far too wide, or high. The unit was a combo spot/flood, and I believe the spots were nominally 30 degrees, and the floods were 60 degrees. Too much light was wasted in the tree tops.
I arranged to return the unit as the mounts were faulty, and did some more research.
I finally settled on a unit from STEDI, their 120W ST2000-22". Although is is advertised as 22", the LED area is only 20" wide - this actually suited me fine. The main downside of this light was that it was mounted on end brackets, not sliding brackets, so I had to re-think my mounting. This particular light has better quality LED's, and STEDI advised that the angles are 8.9 degrees for the 24 spot Led's and 80 degrees for the 16 flood LED's.
Link to STEDI is: http://www.stedi.com.au/st2000-22-ul...-bar-120w.html
The unit came with a free 'wiring kit', and although I didn't use it as supplied, I have used some of the cables, relay etc. I also purchase one of their 'security fastener kits' at a good price to help deter thieves.
To mount the unit on the Nudge Bar, I bought some 50mm x 50mm x 4mm thick aluminium angle, long enough to mount the end brackets and extend to the near side for the Antenna. I drilled two holes to suit the Nudge Bar spacings, two holes for the end brackets and the antenna hole.
I do not think 3mm aluminium angle or any flat bar (unless really thick) would be heavy enough to prevent flexing and vibration of the light and antenna, but the 4mm ally seems okay. 3mm stainless angle may be okay, but more difficult to polish. The mounting thread of the antenna was not overly long, so a thick flat bar would have been a problem.
I did find that the mounting brackets supplied with the light were not suitable - the light would not clear the front of the grille - so I made some new brackets from 3mm stainless.
Next problem was with the wiring, where to tap into the High Beam circuit - the Light Bar MUST only be able to operate when the high beam lights are ON. I have a copy of the workshop manual on CD (not cheap, but will be worth it in the long run) and delved deep into the wiring logic. In the end, I found it was going to be best to tap into the High Beam fuses, Fuse 14 or 15 under the bonnet to feed power to the relay coil. I used a 'piggy back fuse'. Now, if you haven't come across these little blighters, you need to. See a separate thread titled "Piggy Back or Wire Tapped Blade Fuses" on this Forum for further info.
I bought a special switch for AoB that has the LED Light Bar detail, and is made to suit the PS blank switch holes. Available off ebay. The switch MUST be used to operate a relay, not the LED Lights.
Overall, I am happy with the result. The Light gives enough depth of spot for our needs as we don't travel at high speed at night, and the flood gives good illumination to the sides to see those errant 'roos.
Edit Sept 2017: Photos were on photobucket - now inserted directly. Hopefully the photos are okay now...
So, on to the next project!
Cheers,
glids
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