Somtimes I wheel at night so I'd like to give myself as much light as possible. Brighter headlights, some Lightforces have helped so far and now I'm looking at rock lights.

I know some people use spot light types, but I kinda like the long tubes, yeah sorta like the "ricers" use. They make for a simple install and the pricing doesn't seem too bad.

I remember seeing suchs lights on BruceTS's rig at Pismo last year and I recall them giving off a uniform, bright-enough light that would work nicely on the trail.

He led me to a link on where to buy them - http://www.roundeyes.com/product_inf...products_id=54, but I was looking on ebay and found these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6755

Can anyone recommend one set vs another, or anthing else? I don't want them to be visible from just standing around my 4Runner as they do look sorta cheesy, but tucked up above the slider arms I should be alright. What counts is that they'll help with tire placement at night should the situation call for more light.

 

Charles, you might want to look into making your own LED lights. It's not that hard, there are webpages out there showing how to wire up the right resisters and LEDs.

You can get the superbright LEDs at partsexpress.com for $1-$5 each. I'll be doing this sooner or later once I research the LED types a little more.

 

I think the e-bay ones are cool (white)...and for $15 I wouldn't mess with DIY stuff. (no offense Robinhood)

Just don't use them on the street...or

 

I bought some $9 12V "worklights" and zip-tied them to the frame rails, ran the wires to the battery and then to a switch. They are about 12" long. They came with cigarette adapters on them, you just chop them off.

 

Did I read that right, shipping on those ebay LEDs cost $40?!

 

I didn't see that...

 

cheapo walmart $14 driving fog lights work great as rock lights.
I use them as backup lights on my truck they work great.
A few more as rock lights would work fine also.

 

hm, that is very DIY which is cool and something to keep in mind for the future, but yeah like jim said, the $15 deal is kinda tempting. i think i'm gonna go with a a set like those from ebay.

 

hey charles, i'm running two pairs of wal mart fog lights for my rock lights. they are damn bright, and shine really white too. i just tack welded the brackets to the frame... here's a night pic. i'll post pics of them mounted tonight.


here's the thread... i just updated it with new pics.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f31/rock-lights-installed-60326/

 

Hey, I'm very interested in the LED thing, sounds cheap and efficient. If you could post a link to the sitewith the schematics and some pics. I couldn't find any. THANKS!!!!!!!!

 

Here's some I just googled (key words: led, wiring, driver, faq)

http://unclean.org/howto/led_circuit.html

http://www.leddynamics.com/LuxDrive/...s-a-driver.php

From an hour of searching it seems like I might need a driver to deliver clean, constant current or voltage to the white LEDs. Evidently the white leds are susceptible to static discharge. Drivers cost about $15.

However, I'm tempted to just go without a driver and just use resisters.

I'll have to look into this some more.

 

Remember, there's quite a voltage swing on cars from running just on the battery up to the alternator kicking into high gear.

If you're gonna fab it yourself, I'd run a wirewound resistor as a current limiter to get the voltage down to around 9v, then drop a 5v voltage regulator in there.

A regulator like the LM7805 is spec'd to be able to handle up to 36V at the input, but everything above 5v is gonna get bled off as heat. With the alternator running, you're asking the regulator to soak about 3x it's output voltage... it's gonna get VERY warm.


Yeah.... That's a common scam on eBay these days. You suck people in by selling something for $0.99, but the shipping is $80. It gets around eBay's schedule on auction fees.



Calrokx; I run ricer lamps as rock lights:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...9&postcount=37

They're pretty cool...

 

Thanks for the info Mark. If it's going to be that much trouble maybe I will just get a driver. On the other hand, I think I can also get the non-superbright LEDs and (I think) they can handle the voltage variance.

 

I may just get a driver from George at www.taskled.com. Drivers range from $15-$22. He's local so I could just pick it up and save on shipping.

 

well i got some white LED tube lights on ebay. the pictures don't really do them justice, in person there really is enough light to clearly see what's around the tires and under the truck.





view of the driver side light from underneath


the custom switch i installed in the kick panel. the label says, that's right, "rock lights". i can flip it on and off with my foot, and it's not somewhere i'd accidently switch it on.


i didn't like the original switch that came with it, it's kinda big and bulky. that's becuase it also has buttons for the lights to flash in fancy patterns. so i tucked that up away along with the extra wiring and the junction box that both tubes plug into.

 

Can't wait to see it at Pismo

 

heh... this is fun...

I don't see this picture from where I am now (it could be a firewall issue here at work). So I took the URL, smashed it into a browser, and I get a page from GoDaddy stating:
I figure it's just a DNS burb on their side...

 

yeah, go daddy blows. a friend setup my account, so i need to get the password and username he registered with so i can call godaddy up and yell at them. it works for most people, and has better luck with mozilla firefox than explorer.

 

fwiw, I'm pure firefox. But this looks like more of an issue on their side than anything browser related. The same page comes up with IE.

Your domain resolves, the DNS record is intact, the DNS servers respond, so...

I dunno... I think it's GoDaddy thing.

 

looking good charles. glad to see you got them working. can't wait to see them at pismo too.