Lighting advice from the JS crowd.

[FlexdXJ]

I have a set of Lightforce 170's They are probably overkill for around here but If i ever end up on a trail at night or doing yardwork at midnight , I figured what the hell. Now my question is should I do an HID conversion on them. I mean they are stupid bright without an HID kit I am just wondering if its work the price to convert them. Also is anyone running them on a JCR bumper with light hoop? They look like they'll fit fine inside the hoop but wasn't sure because I am waiting on my Tie-ins to come with my rear bumper and the front bumper is at my cousins place!

 

[crazyjim]

There's no such thing as overkill when it comes to lights. Screw everybody and their walmart fogs. On a side note, if you convert to HID, the only advantage you'll see is less power draw really. The lightforce is a 100w light, going from 100w halogen to 35w HID will net you no increase in light output in my opinion from what I've seen, it'll give you cleaner light but not more. However if you wanted to go with a 55w kit, you'll see an increase in output, AND a decrease in power draw.

 

[tcm glx]

Great scoop on those lights, Lightforce makes top notch quality.

I disagree with Jim on this one, 100W halogen not as powerful as the same light using a 35w HID conversion. I did them to my Hella Rallye 4000s and the HIDS are brighter than the same light in a halogen.......... That being said... what you really need to think about it whether or not you can outdrive what you have.... those halogens may be more than enough.

 

[crazyjim]

Well, HID's are roughly 3 times the output of a Halogen, so you're looking to light equivalent of 105w. Keep in mind that's with a 4300k bulb. Move up the Kelvin scale and that reduces. Again, not saying it's not worth the upgrade, the cleaner light output, better bulb life, and less power draw is worth it alone.

I remember I was next to Johnny? Or Kyung? At the meet and greet a long time ago at Grants place, we both turned our lights on, my 35w HID's and his 100w Halogens, both in the same Autopal housings, and they both put out the exact amount of light. All he did was upgrade his harness and go to a bigger wattage light. However, he also had 200w of draw vs. my 70w.


That being said, if you go with HID's, I'd recommend Tony, as I run BajaHID.com stuff in all my vehicles, including the GF's Honda.

 

[tcm glx]

Very true point on the amp draw Jim........ And thanks for the plug

 

[FlexdXJ]

Thanks for the advice guys. The reason I wanted to go with HID is because I have HID's in my autopals. Tony, do you sell a kit that fits them? I have seen them on ebay and they are like 135 for a conversion kit but I'd rather buy from you since your customer service is awesome. This will be down the road but I am just curious! I was looking around and wanting some 140's but got a hell of a deal from a member on these then discovered that they put out like 350k candlepower compred to 100 and something in the 140's. 240's are WAAAAAAYYYY too overkill for a non-race or expedition vehicle, IMO.

 

[silverslk]

I don't know much about the 170's but if Tony can't supply a kit, I would buy Light Force's HID upgrade kit made for those lights as my next option.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

Lightforce's bulb is proprietary, which means they make the bulb, and the housing. AFAIK there are no "aftermarket" sources for lightforce conversions. some people have modified other kits to fit in them, but if you are going to convert them use the lightforce kit.

the 170s should fit your JCR, i had my 6" procomp spots mounted upside down on my JCR for awhile, but the tabs were welded on too high up for me to aim a housing that big correctly - you may have better results with the lightforce housing.

As Jim said, there is no such thing as too much light. I dont care if you are in a forest or the middle of the desert, more light helps you see where you are going, and whats around you... and helps other people see you. they might annoy the guy in front of you on a trail, but you didnt buy the brightest lights in the biz to tailgate, did you?

 

[FlexdXJ]

Lightforce's bulb is proprietary, which means they make the bulb, and the housing. AFAIK there are no "aftermarket" sources for lightforce conversions. some people have modified other kits to fit in them, but if you are going to convert them use the lightforce kit.

the 170s should fit your JCR, i had my 6" procomp spots mounted upside down on my JCR for awhile, but the tabs were welded on too high up for me to aim a housing that big correctly - you may have better results with the lightforce housing.

As Jim said, there is no such thing as too much light. I dont care if you are in a forest or the middle of the desert, more light helps you see where you are going, and whats around you... and helps other people see you. they might annoy the guy in front of you on a trail, but you didnt buy the brightest lights in the biz to tailgate, did you?

Yeah i noticed that they are way different from any other driving light. The wiring harness is so much nicer than the one that came with the hellas I used to have. I found the Lightforce HID kit for $135 on ebay so I'll get that eventually. I planned on throwing a few washers under the mount to get it to clear the bar. May have to get a longer bolt though. Around Here the deer get pretty thick out in the country. Especially around where the remainder of parts from my old Jeep are. I like to be able to see them standing in the road looking at me like an idiot.