Brain fart driving lights.......

[Paul1566]

How about fitting 2 of these in the lower valence as driving lights ?



Only £2.30 from screwfix and can handle 12v 50w halogen bulbs.

May no be water proof or stone resistant but 2 for a fiver, wait till they rust and buy some more..................

Actually looking at it could even encase the rear with a pilchard tin and drill the FLANGE for mounting..........

[Chris W]

There may be some issues with beam pattern on 12V GU10s and with them not being 'E marked' they'll likely be illegal to use on UK roads.

[kamaangir]

How about fitting 2 of these in the lower valence as driving lights ?



Only £2.30 from screwfix and can handle 12v 50w halogen bulbs.

May no be water proof or stone resistant but 2 for a fiver, wait till they rust and buy some more..................

Actually looking at it could even encase the rear with a pilchard tin and drill the FLANGE for mounting..........

They are 12v ac not dc. I have some I may try it with 12v batteries and let you know how they work.

[Scorpion]

No real point to fitting them unless you just want extra lights on the front of your truck for show. I assume they are for domestic use and if so they won't throw a beam of light any useful distance, all they will do is illuminate the front of the truck.

[Paul1566]

Well i will be trying some bulbs from wilkos at £1.17 each to see what the pattern and light is like.
As i said they are for driving lights not spot or fog, the driving lights on our celica only appear to spread
the available light out to the sides giving better illumination of the kerb and road centre line.
They have a 35 degree beam pattern.
As for E marked i have a permanent marker......

[geordie john]

Well i will be trying some bulbs from wilkos at £1.17 each to see what the pattern and light is like.
As i said they are for driving lights not spot or fog, the driving lights on our celica only appear to spread
the available light out to the sides giving better illumination of the kerb and road centre line.
They have a 35 degree beam pattern.
As for E marked i have a permanent marker......

if you get zone one lights they should be water resistant,

[Paul1566]

Had a play with some lamps



Side light only



Head lights



Little lamps only



Head and little lamps



Going to find somewhere with less abient light and see what beam i get...

[Apache]

Looking forward to the results of your experiments! If you've seen X-Lites (which sell in Landy mags) you'll note they look VERY similar!

As far as e-marking goes, I *think* these days it only covers safety critical items, and *secondary* lamps probably aren't. CE marking covers the rest, and they will be CE marked.

[Paul1566]

Results..... held on with selotape mind...

Side lights



Head lights dipped beam



Little lamps



Pretty bright me thinks for two 51mm diameter 50watt lamps....

Wonder what 4 would be like on a roof bar....mmmmmm...

Have seen the x-lites (http://www.x-eng.co.uk/X-Lite.asp) even quotes that you can get replacement bulbs for £1.....
£29 each in nice cnc machined shell..... pilchard tins are cheaper.

[Apache]

Dont nick my idea for a roofbar! I have a cunning plaaaan (and the materials)

[Paul1566]

Just been on fleabay and you can get 10 x 50w lamps for £4.99 plus free postage ha ha

My roof rails set my roof bar too far back and would mean adding another mount
nearer the front or make something that adapts to me wind deflector
like this



Projects for when the sun is shining me thinks.............

[Sancho]

They don't really light up the road though do they? They just make a big cone of light to dazzle everyone else. Please don't do it.

[dyte]

cant beleive you guys are thinking about this they have no ip rating what so ever the terminals will just rust causing poor connection and possibly fire its a cheap way to burn a truck and your insurance company will laugh at you when you go too make a claim you can get a proper set of similar looking spots for the job for 15 bucks with a wiring kit prob work out chaeper than buying seperate relays and cables

[Apache]

a) Why do you want roof lights to 'light up the road ahead'?

Offroad, you want to see the 20 - 30 yards around the truck - and on a roof, ANY roof light willl dazzle everyone anyway.

Ergo, they are 'offroad use only' - like ANY light bar, and only any use then anyway.

b) The enclosed ones are IP rated from the front. Whether they are fully IP rated depends on how clever you are with the housing of them. See X-lite. They use them.

Dont shoot Paul down yet simply because you dont yet see where he's going with this, or perhaps don't have the skills to engineer this properly.

[Paul1566]

Firstly this was and experiment into the use of said lamps as "off road" or driving lights.......note the use of smileys......

So in response to your replies......

Er look at the photo i think i see a road thats lit up by two 2" lamps, yes thats two 2" lamps, not 9" like some guys need, i have just two 2".......
And as for dazzling everyone, who the hell drives on the road with thier roof or spot lights on, you just don't, when you see another car coming and your
on high beam you go to dipped beam, so my little lights ain't gunna dazzle no one but bunnies and very large monsters.......
According to Pat and Carl driving lights are illegal to be on during the day and must face down onto the road anyway, so unless your lying on the floor
in front of me you are not getting dazzled.....

As for ip rating have you ever looked at the back of a sealed beam headlight on a mk2 escort or a old fiesta or a landrover even......
Terminals sticking out of glass just like me little bulbs (sorry lamps).... see mr nach i'm learning....
Now if i mount me lamps in a pilchard tin fitted with an ip rated cable gland
and seal them in with high temp silicone, my home made lamps will have a better ip rating than any headlight on any classic car on the road or even
my 1994 Honda motorbike which has about as much ip rating on the headlight as a nun has sex....... (couldn't find a nun)
Also things like the temp sender on your engine thats just a brass spade with a connector pushed onto it, no ip rating there.......
The pins on the lamps appear to be of some wierd material as could not solder to them with ordinary flux solder and did not have any arex to hand....

Why buy seperate relays and cables when my truck has the factory fitted loom designed to run 2 of those big un ip rated shite yellow things they come with from japan.
The wires in the loom for the spots are bigger than the wires to me headlights so no worries about curent capability........

All i need is a way of securing the lamp and connecting the terminals, x-lite use cnc machined housings and the lamp is held in with circlips, i aint got no cnc machine
or circlip pliers so i am inventing my own take on them.
And fire risk in my truck is more likley to happen when me sat nav tries to light me fag with the window down and a gallon of petrol on her lap....

And what Andy (i know its not and apache) said its work in progress...........


Wish someone would put the smileys in alphanumeric order........