Lights

ok, i know nothing, so clue me in here.

looks like lights are about 100 bucks a pop. what should i get? how many? can i get four that are small enough to fit without blocking the factory lights?

HID's...damn them things are expensive. worth it? can i get away with two? still way more cash than 4 non-HID's, thinking I am going to pass on those right now.

any thoughts on perma-mount versus removable mounts versus expensive fiberglass pods?

You've got Pencil, Euro, Fog depending on the degree of the light spread.

Most people run a pair of fogs and a pair of pencils along with the stock headlamps.

Some people use all pencils and figure if you have THAT MUCH light waay down the road, you've got enough right there a few feet in front of the car.


There are a few HID options out there nowadays for $100 a pop.

Most fog lights use h3 halogen bulbs. So if you're so inclined you can convert them to HID's easily with H3 conversion bulbs.

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Michael LeCompte

I think HIDs are worth it.

If you go that way, you can get new hella lens assemblys for about $130, and buy the emmitor and ballast (hella gen.2) on ebay for about $100 and have great HID light for ok money. Get the wider (euro) beams especially if you are only going to get 2.

I think fewer people are running pencils these days.

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Ted Mendham
www.rensport.net

Forget pencils, forget fogs. Get the driving/euro pattern beams.
Pods are good. Pods are simple. Pods are nice.
Round here I think you can get a universal (shave to fit) fiberglass pod for like $150.
Throw 4 KC's in there for ~$190 per pair and you're good to go.
~$530 for 4 lights and a pod.
Thats like less than the cost of 2 HID's with no pod.
Hell, you may even be able to get the lights cheaper if you're clever and look at www.kchilites.com in the replacement parts section. All you need for a pod is a lens and a bezel. Replacement lenses are like $30-40 depending on the model/size.
Options options options...

Carl S Wrote:
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> Hell, you may even be able to get the lights
> cheaper if you're clever and look at
> www.kchilites.com in the replacement parts
> section.

just FYI, just about anything on kchilites.com can be found on ebay (NOT knockoffs) for quite a bit cheaper.

I got the KCRally 800's full kit ($433.oo) for like ~$250. They're mounted on a removable bar on my bumper.

For 'corner' lights, I'm going with the kC Slim Lights 'driving' beam ($150) on ebay.

4 bright ass lights, all the wiring, etc...for $500 + shipping.

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Jon Burke - KI6LSW
Blog: http://psgrallywrx.blogspot.com/

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=CSM&MfrPartNumber=99004&CategoryCode=3151
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=CSM&MfrPartNumber=99000CSK&CategoryCode=3151



HID and less than $100 per lamp.

http://www.causa.com/

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Michael LeCompte



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2009 04:37PM by pikespeakgtx.

Both my cars are set up the same:

Each has a pair foul weather/fogs mounted to the cars permenently. They are primarily for bad weather and in case we get caught on a long turn-around.

Then we have a pair of halogen euro beams, and a pair of HID aux lamps (only had one pattern from Hella/PIAA for the HID glass) on a removable pod or bar.

On the Integra we run Halogen Infrared headlight bulbs. On the Civic we run HID headlights.

These days I'd go with HID all the way around, just for the lower amperage more than anything.


Having good lights can help big time on night stages--can't go fast if you can't see. But honestly, it should be about the last thing you spend money on. We just don't have that many night stages.

If you were are just starting out I'd make sure you have nice clean glass stock headlamps and perhaps do a HID conversion and call it good.

yeah, this isnt for night stages in particular, just PNW NASA events that run late.

thanks for the beta, keep it coming. more thoughts on mounting? right now i am kind of leaning towards a permanent mount. any major reason not too? (other than smashing them off).

I <3 Pods!
$175 here
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/lightpodinfo.htm
$120 for their rings too, though theres gotta be a cheaper source for those somewhere. Anyone know?
Then 4x Kchilites rally 800 Lenses @ $45 each = 180.
Bulbs ~$7 each at www.rallylights.com
$20 in wiring/relays.
Just over $500 for 4 bright ass lights and a nice pod thats easy to mount and very simple to aim.
$:light ratio is better than hid, unless you go with cheapie hid's of unknown quality.

Autozone FTW (or FTL, lol!)

I've got this on my Mazdog Protege, for night-time iceCrossing on Lake Winnebago (we've got a 1-mile course plowed out on it):




The 100W 6" "off-road" pencils in the center were $50, the 55W "driving" 5.25" on the outside were about 25, and the 4" walmart lights in the bumper were about 20 a few years ago. some scrap metal for the bar and mounting to the bumper, and a couple of hours to wire it quick-n-dirty for the nights hijinks. Turned out a lot better than I thought it was going to.

I just used the fuse holders that came with it, and like a dummy, ran the in-bumper lights on the same circuit as the outer-upper lights. Didn't blow the fuse, I melted the shit out of it and the holder. Gotta find some better fuse holders, and maybe even split the in-bumper and outer-upper lights to their own circuits (I only had two relays on hand at the time).

Needs to be redone at some point anyway, because the trigger from the highbeams is using one of those in-line splicer deals,the switches are in the fenderwell, the relays are zip-tied to the AC lines, and it's just crushed butt-splices everywhere, just with some tape for protection on most of the joints.

I saw that Wal-Mart had some 6" Hella lights in stock the other day, don't know what kind of beam pattern they had though.

--sarge

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---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **---
Jorden R. Kleier
Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA
1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD
1973

I'm still waiting for LED technology to take off in rally applications.

At work, I get to play around with new stuffs in the aircraft landing/taxi lights.

If someone were to make a similar light to this: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aeroLEDs.php but without the overheat and voltage spike functions, without having to conform to DO160E testing, wag mode controllers, etc. It would be cheaper than current lights, brightness similar to HID, and less current draw than anything.

Actually, a pair of those would be similar in price to a pod... and each light contains both landing and taxi light beams which are very similar to our spot/driving patterns.

Now thats a really cool alternative.

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Michael LeCompte

600 bucks for two of those? damn and they are tiny too. i think i might pick up a pair of those for now, actually. thanks for the heads up Matt. I could add another pair later and be good to go for real night stages. The fact that the are sealed and ready to go with mounts is pretty nice.

Remember they are 24v not 12v

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-Jason

The spec sheet on those say they can run on 12V or 24V.