[SS-Traveller]

The trend of using light bars instead of auxiliary driving lamps has been here for some years, and these are being used not only by LMVs, but by HTVs and HGVs on the highways. Unfortunately, it is a terrible experience to drive towards such vehicles as they use these immensely powerful lamps which cannot (or will not) be dipped, and many crashes at night can well be caused by these light bars.

Each one of us is well aware that these light bars are meant strictly for off-road use, and are illegal for street use, and those living in the Chandigarh area are aware that the traffic police invariably penalize vehicles with uncovered light bars within the city, never mind turning them on.

In many countries, including the UK, auxiliary driving lamps have to be installed and wired such that they cannot be switched on when one is driving on low beams, by law. My request to all you folks fixing these ultra-bright light bars is: can you please wire these light bars such that you can turn these on only in conjunction with your high beams? When you dip your beams, these bars will switch off at the same time too, without you needing to reach for another extra switch in the dark.

[sacrust]

Came across this interesting DIY video on you tube where led bar was installed the James Bong style types.

https://youtu.be/wdqWwqFWRvU

[COMMUTER]

Congratulations Stribog!

You have opted for something I have been trailing in futility for a long while now.

The way this sleek LED bar blends in is unmatched. Please do keep updating us about their performance under rain and fog.

People who haven't suffered enough the wrath of oncoming lorries and buses with over 1200 watt arrays while being stuck with poor performing stock headlights would hold idealistic and impractical views. Either that or they are superhuman. Realistically, they must have been against the OEM LEDs and HIDs because they cause way more glare than what their pathetic illumination warrants for and are absolutely blinding.

If one plans to drive more than 20kms on the highways more often than not, they need to have augmented illumination.

I was one among the people who despise augmented lights and horns. I met with an accident because of the augmented lights blazing from the oncoming traffic once. After that I switched over to the practical side and am now having 4 hella rallye 4000s(100w bulbs) and 8 LED cubes. Standing over a man whom you have collided in to changes a lot of things. My horn setup too is equally 'adequate'.

It is very important to have the additional lighting hitched to the hgh beams with a cut off switch enabling us to use the highbeams in stock form.

I would suggest keeping the whole setup detachable through bolts and adapters, like mine as one need not mount them during the day time to avoid trouble with cops or gettong stolen or vandalized.

[abhishek_hch]

Some of the replies here imply that illegality is fine as long as cops and fines can be evaded. The fact that such laws are made for common good and protection of the most vulnerable is being totally ignored. This is atypical attitude of callousness towards ones own and others safety and inconsiderate behaviour that ails our roads. Surprising to see it here - in a conscious driving community.

It's as clear as day that if something's illegal, it's illegal! No ifs, no buts, no what aboutery can justify it. If one is not happy with stock lights then one should install a lawful option and even within them be considerate to others . If not possible, then completely avoid driving at night. Similarly, if sunfilms are illegal, they ought not to be installed. If one has a problem with the heat/light without it, confine driving to night time.

High time we took our own rules and laws more seriously and made our roads, which are amongst the most dangerous in the world, safer. But generally people couldn't care less about these things.

[Stribog]

Update -

Position 1 -



Long view of the positioning of the Light Bar



Close up of the bracket



Position of the switch,

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by COMMUTER

am now having 4 hella rallye 4000s(100w bulbs) and 8 LED cubes. Standing over a man whom you have collided in to changes a lot of things. My horn setup too is equally 'adequate'.

Oh my god. Not going into legality or illegality - but close to 16 lights (including factory fitted) up front?

I think I just imagined a literal nightmare in my head.

[TurboGuy]

Originally Posted by SVMBLR

How much does it cost ? including of fixing charges.. Can you share that car accessories shop location in Bangalore !!

I paid 16.5 (all inclusive) in 2018 and it was installed at High Definition Cars, Jayanagar. They moved to a new facility on Bannerghatta Road a year ago.

[Thatautoguy46]

Wow! This seems like a good solution for the long night drives. I remember the 60/55 lights on our Santro, which were basically useless on the Highways. So swapped them with 100/90 and the difference was so evident. The improvement in the lighting was confidence inspiring. This was like three years ago.
Now we have a Tata Tigor, it has projector lamps and lighting is good enough for the highways.
Recently I have driven my cousins HTK+, the lighting was good enough for the streets but not that good for the Highways. This seems like a good add-on for a better lighting.
But the LEDs of even the Activa are blinding lights! So, please, restrict the use of that Hellaaaa powerful light to empty roads and Highways.
The positioning of the light is good too.
Drive safe ✌

[ManneAtWheelz]

Originally Posted by abhishek_hch

Some of the replies here imply that illegality is fine as long as cops and fines can be evaded. The fact that such laws are made for common good and protection of the most vulnerable is being totally ignored. This is atypical attitude of callousness towards ones own and others safety and inconsiderate behaviour that ails our roads. Surprising to see it here - in a conscious driving community.

It's as clear as day that if something's illegal, it's illegal! No ifs, no buts, no what aboutery can justify it. If one is not happy with stock lights then one should install a lawful option and even within them be considerate to others . If not possible, then completely avoid driving at night. Similarly, if sunfilms are illegal, they ought not to be installed. If one has a problem with the heat/light without it, confine driving to night time.

High time we took our own rules and laws more seriously and made our roads, which are amongst the most dangerous in the world, safer. But generally people couldn't care less about these things.

This is a highly debatable topic all I can say. When we talk about rules, legality, conscious driving community, this post should not even be available in this forum, at least by now.
What percent of members you think here don't have a single speeding ticket on their vehicle so far? I'm sure the answer will be in single digit, kudos to all who are driving by confining to MV rules but are the others are all wrong here who broke the law? Answer is Yes and No.
Not all laws are made commuter friendly and stocks lights are one of those I feel. Installing LED light bar is not a fancy thing but more like a driving comfort thing. Imagine me facing a travels bus or a lorry at night and getting blinded completely with all those glittery lights (please don't say I should drive in day time then, just kidding here ), I may end up hitting someone if my luck goes bad. I may end up spending my life behind the bars for no reason of mine, instead I get a decent light setup on my vehicle and use it when necessary. Hope I made my point clear

[COMMUTER]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Oh my god. Not going into legality or illegality - but close to 16 lights (including factory fitted) up front?

I think I just imagined a literal nightmare in my head.

The hellas are usually left in the trunk these days.

I use them in very short blips only when some one is blindng me just to see what is ahead and avert an accident.

[parathmaniraja]

Originally Posted by TurboGuy

I had a Hella 350 (high beam) installed on Polo and used for couple of months before I let it go for Morimoto Mini H1 retrofit. I got it installed inside the fog grille (Polo's fog grille doesn't block the individual lenses on the lightbar) in the same level as fog lights.

Thank you for sharing. I was considering this for my 2013 skoda rapid for sometime. Now it's a big no as I don't want to put oncoming traffic in trouble. The stock headlight is pathetic with single bulb setup for hi and low beam. I am managing night drives with the help of fog lamps. Car was rarely used for first 5 years, so never had any problem with lights. Now we are using extensively and with new swift & dzires flashing white leds, it's extremely hard in night drives. Please recommend if anyone had good option for old rapid.

[aashishnb]

Originally Posted by Stribog

I had a very long conversation with the Hella distributor in Chennai, Ashwin (can provide number if you need it, just DM me), over 30 minutes he explained to me the intricacies of these systems.

Hi Stribog,
A general question that perhaps Ashwin can throw more light on! - yellow lights (warm) are considered easier on the eyes of incoming traffic than white light (cold), but most LED mods come in white.
Is there any specific reason for this? Or is the premise I mentioned itself is incorrect?

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by parathmaniraja

Thank you for sharing. I was considering this for my 2013 skoda rapid for sometime. Now it's a big no as I don't want to put oncoming traffic in trouble. The stock headlight is pathetic with single bulb setup for hi and low beam. I am managing night drives with the help of fog lamps. Car was rarely used for first 5 years, so never had any problem with lights. Now we are using extensively and with new swift & dzires flashing white leds, it's extremely hard in night drives. Please recommend if anyone had good option for old rapid.

The Hella 470 DOES NOT dazzle oncoming traffic. I have myself literally stared at it from various distances and it does not affect you (I did get some challenges AFTER I actually stared at it for 2 minutes continuously, but this scenario won't happen when you are driving).

Its beam is pointed, very little scatter and if you mount it low (I have mounted it just above the fogs in my Seltos), acts like Fogs but with longer reach in terms of distance.

I encourage you to try it and maybe demo it before you come to any conclusions.

Originally Posted by aashishnb

Hi Stribog,
A general question that perhaps Ashwin can throw more light on! - yellow lights (warm) are considered easier on the eyes of incoming traffic than white light (cold), but most LED mods come in white.
Is there any specific reason for this? Or is the premise I mentioned itself is incorrect?

Warm lights are easier on the eyes, but when it comes to eye strain or dazzle my surmise is that it depends on the wattage and luminous intensity. So you can have Halogens that exceed say 3,000 Lm and it will burn a hole in your retina or you can have white LED's with 1,750 Lm (like the stock Kia) and it won't dazzle.

MORTH rules specify a max wattage of 35-50 watts iirc for Fog lamps, and for some perspective, the Hella 470 is at 1,900 Lm and 35 Watts.

The second challenge is position, if you position the same bar for instance at roof level, then it will cause difficulties for oncoming traffic given beam patterns - sort of like how a moderately powerful halogen on a car is different from the same mounted on a truck purely because of its position.

Which is why the CMV / Morth revisions have 2 specifications - power / output and position.

Not an expert, but am sure experts here can chime in with a better view.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Stribog

[*]Costs - Total cost inluding brackets, accessories + the labour is Rs 35,000

Why didn't you consider a Rigid 10 incher? I have one on my Fortuner and this thing beats everything else on the road hands down.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by fine69

Why didn't you consider a Rigid 10 incher? I have one on my Fortuner and this thing beats everything else on the road hands down.

Honestly I didn't even know about this brand. Spent a lot of time researching the Hella though. Is it available in India?