Advice for offroad lighting?

LightFoot

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Feb 21, 2016
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I need some experienced advice.

I am doing some modification to my 2018 F150 supercrew. I am adding fender flares, ranch hand grill guard, and bedliner.

I want to add lighting to cover 360 degrees. (On 3 switches: front, sides, rear)

I am trying to avoid wind noise (lots of hwy driving) and heavy modification (it's still new) ... and trying to keep the costs down.

What have you found to be useful and efficient?



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kicker338

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Jun 5, 2016
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post falls idaho
From a light aholic , use led's only, I have a 2017 f150 and did the following, not through either. Amazon is your friend with this, I put led's in my fog light housings, added a 21" light bar on the bumper. If the new ride has led headlights your good there otherwise for low beams the Sylvania silverstars are good as the led fogs really help them. High beams if I remember are h9005, there is a site called candlepower inc. there you can find the infrared up grade's. They have to slightly moded to fit but they have instructions to do the mod.

If you have money to burn then go with the high end stuff from Ridged good stuff but lots of dollars.
 

kicker338

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A little more info on the amazon rout, fog lights I used the lasfit brand h10 30wt cob chip, you will see them advertised as 60 wt but they are adding the 2 together to get that. I wouldn't go any higher wattage than that as those are pretty bright, any brighter and the coppers might not like it. For a light bar go with the auxbeam brand 32" spot flood combo curved bar with the 5D lens rated at 180 wts. I have a combo 12' long one on my 4wheeler and it really puts out the light.
 

N2TRKYS

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I just replaced my fog lamps with Baja Design Squadron Pro driving combo in amber and love them. Super bright and a very clean look.
 

SWOHTR

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I've had good luck with KC (this was ten years ago), but you have to be careful about overloading the electrical system if you're going to run all of them. I think I had 2x 150w HID daylighters. They lived up to the name, but the 100w version (which I eventually went to) were a lot friendlier to the electrical system.


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mtnkid85

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Another vote for Bajadesigns for your forward lighting, thats where Id spend the majority of your funds. They are definitely leading the pack with there beam profiles, brightness and general quality right now it seems.
I run a set of their XL80s along with a 20" bar.
As for the side and rear lighting, thats where Id say go cheaper, millions of chinese cubes to choose from. Just find a form factor that fits where you want to put it and with a wide/work scene pattern.
 
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A slight opinion about the side lighting. I have some high end LEDs on a jeep and they are so bright that plenty of light spills off the side of the beam that I never thought of adding side lighting.
 

BigJoeXD

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Completely agree, you get what you pay for. +1 for Baja Designs! On my F-150, in the front I run a pair of BD Squadron Pro's mounted in the low center of bumper (adjacent to either side of the license plate bracket). In the rear, I have a pair of BD S2 Sport's mounted underneath off the rear shackle, angled down for extra reverse/auxiliary lights. Really help when getting dressed at the rear of the truck during deer season and work wonders when loading the boat at night on the ramps.
 

GotDraw?

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Not sure if you have halogens in your main headlights or not.

If you end up running high wattage halogen H4 or other "off road" bulbs (i.e. 55/100w, or 100/130w) in your headlights, you will need to upgrade the harness (very simple/cheap to do) or the lights' output will be constrained below potential due to low amp availability.

PM me with questions

JL
 
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Jul 17, 2013
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Ohio
Black Oak LED - Good quality(beware of cheaper LED light lens - they will discolor, turn yellow, or hazy over time) at a reasonable price. Also cheaper LEDs may have lower IP6X ratings which can lead to dust, condensation, etc on the inside of the lens.

Black Oak LED: Bright, High-Quality, Durable

Give discounts to Police/Military
 

Muttly

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This coming from an old long haul trucker running mostly Alaska, with excursions through the Yukon, BC, and Washington, maybe a few others...
I like the big Lightforce blitz lights, 2 at least, preferably 4. Blue lenses will let you see in the snow, the darker blue, not the light ones. Get them aimed right, and you will have pretty good forward visibility, and fairly decent peripheral..
I like them on the bumper, used to run in the dark a LOT, roof mount lights look cool, but I get real tired of the glare on the hood real quick..
 

Muttly

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Just to add to that a little, if you do go that route, clear lenses will likely cover 70% of what will run into, a set of blue for snow, yellows for rain if you like..
Check your local laws if using off road lights. We could run them in Alaska and the Yukon, had to have them covered going through BC..
 

fngTony

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I don’t care for the bar across the top of the windshield. Fine on a Jeep Wrangler since you’re using existing bolts but do NOT put holes in your aluminum body f150, chances are the included hardware is steel which you don’t want that mixing with aluminum. Another issue is the set up never takes into account that it needs to be removed if you have to replace the windshield. Sorry for the rant, just trying to save you some future headaches.
 

RAPTOR

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Light bar in the grill. If you're doing a backrack, that's going to be your spot for the chase lighting and side lighting if you still want it. I have a 20" in the lower grill of my truck, hyperspots and diffused duallys in the fog holes and dually floods on the rear shackles under the rear bumper for reverse lighting/boat ramp/anything behind the truck lighting. No wind noise, no holes drilled into the body of my truck.
 
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