Light Bar deal for anyone looking for one

[JVC8790]

It looks like they all sold out pretty fast. So instead doing work I looked up the seller and they have tons of stuff. Check out the single row light bar for 10” that you were looking for to install with the C4 hood light. I’m still torn aside from being broke between hood scoop light bar or bumper light bar.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...af84-136975ca703d&ref_=bl_dp_s_mw_10718189011

It’s only $16

:mad2:
Wrong time for me otherwise I be buying.

I got tracking info that said it would be here tomorrow, so I'll see how this one turns out before buying another one (also see how bright it is).

That being said, a friend who also bought one said that a previous China bar he bought he took the screws out, put a dab of rtv on the end then re-assembled and he hasn't had any moisture issues since. It seems like a bad seal can cause moisture to get inside which kills them faster than normal but people have reported decent luck by sealing them a bit better off the bat to ensure they are "water tight"

 

[JVC8790]

Got 1 of 2 of mine in yesterday. Interestingly enough one of them is shipping from Jacksonville, FL and this one came out of Chattanooga I believe?

The box looked like it had been opened before, but it was taped closed again.

Everything in the package laid out, comes with a harness and brackets/hardware.

Brackets

The switch feels cheap so more than likely I will cut this off and wire in something that fits better to the dash. It does have double sided tape on the back though if you wanted to just stick it somewhere and run the wires in behind some trim.

"waterproof" connector on the light bar to the harness.

More up close pics of the bar itself.

30a Fuse and a Relay on the harness, ultimately for $11, its not too bad of a pre-wired harness even if the light bar is junk as we discussed.

I'm going to try to light it up in the backyard tonight to get an idea of light output, I'll use my DSLR so that I can maintain the shutter speed etc to get the best comparison of dark vs light.

The other idea that I had if I don't decide to mount it in the bumper is to make two suction cup mounts (with Harbor Freight suction cups) and then arrange all the wiring so that it could be temporarily "hooked up" to the battery and then suction cupped to either the hood or roof. This might be a good option for me as I don't have to havev it on the car all the time and can just bring it with me if I'm going offroad or somewhere I might need it. Of course then I don't have it all the time unless I leave it in the car, but I don't find myself unexpectedly offroad ever given my normal schedule/travel route.

 

[TenTwelve]

Maybe mine will show up today. I look forward to playing with it.

 

[JVC8790]

Maybe mine will show up today. I look forward to playing with it.

My other one is set to show up Tuesday (from Jacksonville).

Looking at it last night and this morning, I definitely am going to look into pulling the cover off and adding a bit of RTV and re-torquing the bolts for the lens. Maybe it was just placebo but it looked like some were tightened a bit further in than others (just eyeballing at first).

 

[RivMan]

I installed mine last night, looks great in the lower grill! Pretty good light output, better than I expected for $11!

I ended up using the brackets that came with it, but I had to cut ~3/4" out of them, and weld them back together to get it to fit in the lower grill area. I also flipped them, so that they're installed backwards. This allowed me to install the light right where I wanted it, but caused the wiring to get pinched a little. After a blown fuse, I removed the bracket and made a little more clearance for the wires.

I'll try to grab some pics later today, I got it installed just in time for an ice storm here.

-Rob

 

[blackjackck]

I installed mine last night, looks great in the lower grill! Pretty good light output, better than I expected for $11!

I ended up using the brackets that came with it, but I had to cut ~3/4" out of them, and weld them back together to get it to fit in the lower grill area. I also flipped them, so that they're installed backwards. This allowed me to install the light right where I wanted it, but caused the wiring to get pinched a little. After a blown fuse, I removed the bracket and made a little more clearance for the wires.

I'll try to grab some pics later today, I got it installed just in time for an ice storm here.

-Rob

Thanks for the update, did you use special brackets from places like Rago or did you just used the brackets that came with the light? Didn't think they would be strong enough. Also does it sit between the bumper horizontal vents/ slats or did you have to cut some of those off?

I'm procrastinating my decision either bumper light or hood scoop light.

appreciate the update.

 

[JVC8790]

I installed mine last night, looks great in the lower grill! Pretty good light output, better than I expected for $11!

I ended up using the brackets that came with it, but I had to cut ~3/4" out of them, and weld them back together to get it to fit in the lower grill area. I also flipped them, so that they're installed backwards. This allowed me to install the light right where I wanted it, but caused the wiring to get pinched a little. After a blown fuse, I removed the bracket and made a little more clearance for the wires.

I'll try to grab some pics later today, I got it installed just in time for an ice storm here.

-Rob

Definitely interested in seeing pics! I'm thinking more and more that I probably will install this, I mean, why not right? I was also thinking maybe some very very light tint on the lens would be nice to give it a more "stealth" look without interfering with light output too much.

Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it!

 

[RivMan]

Thanks for the update, did you use special brackets from places like Rago or did you just used the brackets that came with the light? Didn't think they would be strong enough. Also does it sit between the bumper horizontal vents/ slats or did you have to cut some of those off?

I'm procrastinating my decision either bumper light or hood scoop light.

appreciate the update.

I used the brackets from the kit, but they had to be modified quite a bit to work like I wanted.

I removed the lower grill, and mounted it flush to the body. If I wanted to, I could have mounted it recessed behind the grill.

-Rob

 

[JVC8790]

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...af84-136975ca703d&ref_=bl_dp_s_mw_10718189011

It’s only $16

:mad2:
Wrong time for me otherwise I be buying.

Based on the "quality" of the 32" bar that I got, I went ahead and ordered a 10". It'll give me a reason to install the C4 Bracket I just got Monday, and install the Sport Hood that has been sitting in my shed for 2 weeks since its been cold and I wanted to mount the light/bracket to the hood loose from the car then install the hood on the car rather than install the hood then have to do all of the light installation over the engine bay.

 

[blackjackck]

Based on the "quality" of the 32" bar that I got, I went ahead and ordered a 10". It'll give me a reason to install the C4 Bracket I just got Monday, and install the Sport Hood that has been sitting in my shed for 2 weeks since its been cold and I wanted to mount the light/bracket to the hood loose from the car then install the hood on the car rather than install the hood then have to do all of the light installation over the engine bay.

I was looking at that too. When you install it, let me know if there’s room for me to put a clear plexi- glass between the hood scoop grill and the light. Just thinking about a way to keep stuff out even though most people say the dirt was minimal.

 

[TenTwelve]

My order got cancelled. Apparently I got in too late. Oh well.

 

[JVC8790]

I was looking at that too. When you install it, let me know if there’s room for me to put a clear plexi- glass between the hood scoop grill and the light. Just thinking about a way to keep stuff out even though most people say the dirt was minimal.

Will do! Amazon says it'll be here on Friday so at a minimum I should be able to mock it up in the hood off of the truck and snap a few pictures.

I'm hopeful that the bracket/light work as I imagine, I know C4 Fab makes this bracket specifically for the Rigid SR 10" light but I'd assume any other single row 10" light is going to be within a close enough size to "make it work" even if I have to impart a little creativity.

Weather this weekend is going to be crap again here in Ohio so it'll be at least 2 more weeks before the 32" curved bar gets installed. That'll give me time to pick up some more switches and parts to complete a quality install.

 

[RivMan]

Here are some photos of mine installed.

-Rob

 

[TenTwelve]

Looks good in there.

 

[JVC8790]

Agreed! Got any up-close pictures of what you did with the brackets?

 

[JVC8790]

Agreed! Got any up-close pictures of what you did with the brackets?

Fired mine up in the backyard last night just to see how it looks.

(tipped it up a little bit to hit the trees further)

and for what it's worth, here's a picture of the yard with no lights on and with an over 10x slower shutter speed. (The picture at the same settings as the lit up picture just looked black)

It has a nice amount of flood light near by and the spot seems to have a good amount of light. Overall, I'm pretty impressed and happy with the $11 I spent, I just want to get another switch to put in the cabin since the stick on one is cheap.

 

[JVC8790]

Got mine installed this past weekend with the CaliRaisedLED Brackets! I also put some smoked film on the light bar itself so that it wouldn't stick out behind the grille too much! I love the stealthy look! The install was pretty easy and I think I'll have to line it up with a wall to make some aiming adjustments and move the light bar down a little bit so it's centered with the grille opening rather than behind a few slats of the grille.

The other thing I did was go over all of the allen bolts on the front of the light, each one took about 1/8 to 1/4 of an additional turn without feeling like I was over torquing them. Hopefully this helps to keep them sealed long term.

And with it turned off!

Light Bars only (rainy, including my 10" hood scoop bar)

Light Bars and stock headlights with the 9005 bulb mod.

 

[Bumbo]

I have bough some pretty low budget lights in the past… and for me most of those options didn’t fare well as driving lights, but they do work well for other things.

Just to give an idea of what I experienced… most of them really just had way too much flood and made the terrain close to the car too bright, essentially washing out any light that was going further down. The reflectors / lens assembly was either nonexistent or very poor in controlling the light and where it really needed to be.

That said, still better than not having it at all, and the pictures posted above do look better than some of the other junk I bought. At the price seems pretty good.

I still haven’t started buying high dollar brand name stuff, but I did find some generic eBay stuff that wasn’t particularly cheap, but it sure was better in performance.

 

[JVC8790]

I have bough some pretty low budget lights in the past… and for me most of those options didn’t fare well as driving lights, but they do work well for other things.

Just to give an idea of what I experienced… most of them really just had way too much flood and made the terrain close to the car too bright, essentially washing out any light that was going further down. The reflectors / lens assembly was either nonexistent or very poor in controlling the light and where it really needed to be.

That said, still better than not having it at all, and the pictures posted above do look better than some of the other junk I bought. At the price seems pretty good.

I still haven’t started buying high dollar brand name stuff, but I did find some generic eBay stuff that wasn’t particularly cheap, but it sure was better in performance.

Good 2 cents. I haven't actually driven with it on, for a few reasons, 1. I don't do much of my driving at night, and 2. I'm not trying to be "that guy" with the light bar on on any road where there is oncoming traffic.

I did notice that there was a lot more light scattered up close rather than thrown at a longer distance. For this reason I'm considering doing ditch light mounted spots of some kind to help out with the true long range light output when it's necessary.

+1 for cool points and as I mentioned before "the best light bar is the one you have", it's certainly better than no light bar!

 

[Bumbo]

I would never use this stuff in street driving… All my use with a light bar has been off-road, primarily in desert conditions. It can get pretty dusty if there are good winds, or if you are following someone.

The amount of glare in some of those conditions is almost unbearable, especially if its mounted on the roof. Bumper mounted has been the absolute best for me in terms of viewing comfort and performance.

I can absolutely attest to the “less is more” argument. The color temperature surprisingly plays a big role in this too… I much prefer a yellow fog color over a bright white, at least to my eyes, it helps a lot with contrast.

I would still love to own a nice Baja Designs bar, really curious what it would be like to drive with something like that, but I really don’t use it enough to blow a lot of coin on this stuff.