Far-reaching driving light

[Das Delfin]

^ the wire in our cars is generally accepted to be of greater quality than wire used today so I wouldn't be concerned with voltage drop

I want to get LED's but I'm afraid they will ice over in a snow storm due to the lack of heat inside the headlight.

although I can get an LED bar from my work and may mount it below the bumper in place of the fog lights. I have a pair of yellow harbor freight fogs and I'm not sure I like them..

I have depo smileys. Maybe I should just break down and buy an HID kit.

[e30davie]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is voltage drop in your wiring causing low voltage at the head lights. It was a big problem with older corollas i used to play with, wouldn't surprise me if old BMWs suffer from it as well.

Quick check would be with engine running check the voltage at the headlight bulb (with it still plugged in drawing current). Compare it to the voltage on your battery, if the two don't match you got some voltage drop.

My old corolla would have ~13.5volts at the battery and closer to 11.5 at the headlights. I put in another relay and a dedicated wire from the battery (with a fuse) to run the lights (using the original wiring as trigger for the relay). 2 extra volts at a ~55w bulb makes a huge difference.

Edit, damn just realised this thread was bumped by the bloke above me. Oh well, ill leave the rest of my comment.

[berlow94]

Fog lights aren't pictured, but with those she's got about 32,000 lumens of total light output.
DV8 off-road 50" light bar
Depo euro smileys
55w HID low beams
100w Hella halogen high beams
100w Hella halogen fog lights


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[Das Delfin]

I see what you mean. Reset your service lights!

[spike68]

Pics are nice... Link to the seller is also useful for anyone considering the same upgrade.

Link is right above for seller. Pics of car were posted earlier as well.

I've used this thing more often than I thought. Being in a small town in Alabama there can be plenty of dark roads or highways. Even if conditions dont look bad I still use it. Deep can pop out anywhere and I like to think this could help in spotting them before they've already made it through my windshield.

Here are some distance pics

First with no headlights. Some street lights down the way.

20160712_220333 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


And With light bar only


20160712_220338 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr



Sorry that I wasnt centered in the road. I just snapped the pics really quick before I parked my car and I didnt want to block any traffic. It reaches pretty far. Only issue with it being mounted so low is that it exaggerates bumps on the road. It can cast shadows on the smallest bumps, but I got used to it quickly.

[spike68]

Here is the Amazon link where I got it from. As a note, I'd measure out how far apart your mount holes for your bumper are spaced out if you choose to mount the bar like I did. Unfortunately I didnt check that so my light bar is technically offset toward the passenger side because the mounting points for the light bar matched up with the mounting point for the bumper. yeah. Complete coincidence. Its not a big deal to me, but Id either go with a larger or smaller light bar than I did because of that. Id also recommend getting a different switch. The one that comes with it sucks.


https://www.amazon.com/Autofeel-Phil...ds=autofeel+5d

[Das Delfin]

I might grab one of those. They're much easier to mount below the bumper and most of them come in a flood/spot combination

[spike68]

Sorry for the delayed posting. I keep telling myself to take pictures but I always seem to forget. Here are some pictures I posted when it first got mounted. I dont have one that shows its distance, but this thing has come in handy a lot when driving on dark roads at night. It's plenty bright and pretty much makes my stock headlights look like theyre night lights. The light bar would probably be more effective if it were mounted higher, but I'm not interested in that. I'll take pictures of how far it reaches when I remember to do so.

20160619_110929 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

20160618_220744 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

[spike68]

Seriously, 180 watts? It's an LED bar, correct? I assume you have it on a relay, of course, so that should be fine. What is the output pattern like? with all the LED elements you need to consume 180 watts, you'd probably get a flood pattern.

Pics are nice... Link to the seller is also useful for anyone considering the same upgrade.

I can still provide the Night Breaker H1 +90 lamps if you want to use them in your highs - stock watts, lots more light. I use them, they are great, and there's no wiring to change. Just install, plug them in and go.

Andy

Yup. I'll take pictures when I get a chance. I wasn't going to post it on r3v cause I feel like I'd get he'll from everyone for doing something like that to an e30 lol. It's on its own relay and everything. It came with its own harness which was pretty nice. Only thing that sucked about the harness was the switch, but I just went and bought my own switch that looked cooler. You could even wire it in with stock switches if you want. It thought about tying it in with my high beam switch, but got impatient so it has its own switch.

I got it off amazon and I'll post the link to it when it post pictures

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[Mo Brighta]

180 watts?

I just mounted a 32" 180w light bar below my bumper and its pretty dang sweet. Got it off amazon for $150 and it came with a harness. Im very impressed for the price. Thats always a fun ridiculous option...

Seriously, 180 watts? It's an LED bar, correct? I assume you have it on a relay, of course, so that should be fine. What is the output pattern like? with all the LED elements you need to consume 180 watts, you'd probably get a flood pattern.

Pics are nice... Link to the seller is also useful for anyone considering the same upgrade.

I can still provide the Night Breaker H1 +90 lamps if you want to use them in your highs - stock watts, lots more light. I use them, they are great, and there's no wiring to change. Just install, plug them in and go.

Andy

[spike68]

I just mounted a 32" 180w light bar below my bumper and its pretty dang sweet. Got it off amazon for $150 and it came with a harness. Im very impressed for the price. Thats always a fun ridiculous option...

[Mo Brighta]

Price on old Cibie lights...

That's some good stuff. Those cibies are out of my price range ...

Amen, they are rather pricey. If you can afford them, you'll be happy for a Loooooong Time.

... but I would love to run them. I'm leaning toward the KC spots but I'm not sure if I even need 2x 100w bulbs. I'll have to pick up a set of those +50's and play around with different set ups

Let me know when you need a pair, I have a bunch of the +50s on hand. It's a good idea to start with the lower wattage high output bulbs.

[Das Delfin]

That's some good stuff. Those cibies are out of my price range but I would love to run them. I'm leaning toward the KC spots but I'm not sure if I even need 2x 100w bulbs. I'll have to pick up a set of those +50's and play around with different set ups

[Mo Brighta]

Far as the eye can see?

I want as much light as possible while driving along a road with no street lights at all on a dark night with trees over the roadway. When I'm the only car around I want to be able to see everything.

I haven't put LEDs in my highs because the high beam pattern is more or less a flood light, and I want a spot light.. but it would still be an increase ... :)

I am with you on this, there's something reassuring about seeing ALL THE WAY down the road to next bend. When I was upgrading my BMW K100 motorcycle, I added a light bar and two Cibie aux. lights. One was a flood, one a spot. The flood was wired with the low beam, the spot with the high beam, as you'd expect. The spot had around 2 miles of range, very nice.

Both used 55W lamps, but with the huge (8-9 inch) reflectors, they worked quite well.

If you can find these old lights, they are fabulously effective, and a single 55W light should do the job for you. Two will do it twice as well.

My records indicate the Super Oscar Pencil Beam is the one I had. Takes an H1 lamp. It's big, mounts with a single bolt (upright or pendant) with an optional stay for stability. It has a dished lens, and I would not use this light without headlight protection film. They run about $145 - 200. This spot has NO fluting in the lens, just a clear glass to allow the reflector to do it's job.

There are also other good lights - the Oscar has a good light pattern in the spot, and the BiOscar is a high/low version, but not available in a spot beam pattern. There are other variations- Oscar Plus, Super Oscar, Oscar SC, most are hard to find.

You may find them on ebay, of course. Quick search - 'DemonTweeks' in Wrexham, UK has 4 Super Oscar spots available at a little over your budget.

Good gravy, I wish I had a source for these old lights from Cibie, they were fantastic!

And by the way, Osram has an H1+90. Their 55W 'NightBreaker Unlimited' has a slight blue tint in the glass but not noticeably tinted in comparison to my clear Narva RangePower +50 lamps. It is noticeably brighter, though, and is made in GERMANY. Maybe a set of these in your existing highs will do a better job? If not you can put them in whatever new lights you get.... just another option to consider.

Andy

[ELVA164]

I drive on wooded streets all the time, no problems whatsoever. I'm thinking your reflectors are boned,your adjustment is off, or the bulbs aren't very good. But if it makes you more comfortable, that's really what matters :)

P.S. Where in CT are you? You should come to the vintage race at Lime Rock this Friday and Saturday with the E30!