placement and wiring of spotties?

[Middo]

im getting some medium sized cirlce spotties for my bday and i have a couple of questions. firstly the poll question, should i mount them on the front grill area or on the roof? and also how hard is it to wire them up. i already have a switch on the dash and i was wondering if i would be able to do it my self. how have people done it? what does the process involve?

i should probably add there goin on a 91 4runner. if that helps u visualise

[luxoflex]

I suggest you put them on the front grill area as if they are on the roof hooked into your headlights high beam you can get done if they are not covered until you go off road!

[Weiner]

If your not worried about getting done for them, put them on the roof, after having the same lights on the roof and on the bullbar I liked them on the roof more, seemed to work better when up higher.

[chpd80]

Easy to mount yourself,
Easier to mount on the front than have wiring coming from the roof,
Any switch will work but legally must be hooked to your high beam dip,

Good to see you have put more effort into this question than your last one just remember you will get very differing and passionate answers both ways,
just comes down to what you want in the end.

I have had spotties on the front bar and roof and I think they worked better on the front (IMO.)
PS. if they are HID lights you could put them anywhere and they will be great.

[TheOtherLeft]

A bit OT but where do you aim your spotties? I've just installed a combo pair of spotties to the front grill.

Should the spread beam point slightly to the left of centre (it's mounted on the left side) and the pencil beam just point dead ahead?

[krusty182]

I have tried both roof mounted and bullbar mounted. In my experience I have found that when mounted on the roof, some of the stray light seemed to reflect off the bonnet and cause a sort of "haze" which made it harder to see further than when the lights were mounted on the bullbar. So I reckon on the bullbar is better.

As far as where to aim them, I have found that I like to have the spread beam on the drivers side and the spot beam on the passenger side. This gives better visibility because if the spot beam is on the driver's side, I find it is actually harder to see further up the road because the light refracts off any dust ahead and straight back at you.

I aim mine by finding a good flat straight section of quiet road and aim the spot just on the road surface as far as it will shine and the sread beam so that it lights the verges of the road as well as possible. Then I go for a test drive and adjust it until I am happy with it.

[GQ Bear]

This should help with your wiring. Very easy to DIY. I have 2 grill mounted and 2 bar mounted spotties. Have thought of roofmounting them but haven't. Biggest problems i can foresee are routing your wiring from roof, and roofmounted lights are prone to attack from low hanging tree branches, etc.

One if for positive switched headlights and the other is for negative switch headlights.

Just use the diagram that suits your vehicle.

Cheers.

[Middo]

cheers boys. got alot of help there. yeah i thought i better put some time into wording this one better haha. thanks

[purplebus]

with the wiring you can buy looms from tjm etc that are complete units that just piggy back into your h/lights. they have everything you need/plugs/relays/switch etc all ready connected and take about 5 mins to fit. i have one on my truck.

[BundyRumandCoke]

Supacrap has complete spotlight wiring looms for $29. Everything is there, all plug and play. It includes a switch similar to the IPF ones- flush mount on a flat surface and push on, push off. I used one for my HIDs and it took about 15 minutes to do the wiring. Hardest part was getting the switch loom connector through the firewall grommet.

As for where to mount the lights, it would largely depend on where you live. Although technically illegal, in Qld outback country anyway, lights mounted on the roof, or on top of bullbars seems to be reasonably well tolerated by the boys in blue. Seems they have the commonsense to realise that the higher the lights, the more light they give out, and the less chance they have of having to come out to pick up someone who has rolled trying to avoid a roo. The couple of times I have been asked about them in the city, I just explain that I am from the country, and it makes it easier to spot the wildlife. As long as your not a smartarse about it, you can generally get away with it. If your worried about it, mount them in the grill area.

[chimpboy]

I found roof-mounting gave me shitloads of glare through the windscreen and off the bonnet. But I think that just means you have to experiment with the exact position for them more than I did.

[mkpatrol]

I found roof-mounting gave me shitloads of glare through the windscreen and off the bonnet.

This is why ADR13 says thay must be fitted to the front of the vehicle

[ajsr]

I found roof-mounting gave me shitloads of glare through the windscreen and off the bonnet. But I think that just means you have to experiment with the exact position for them more than I did.

X2 I ended up pulling them off the roof and mounting on the bar. the light spread is better on the roof but stray light farks you up.