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Hey Peter thanks heaps for clarifying about sealed beams. As I said I hope not (although you never know) to need to put my bonnet under water, and tough luck if I did cause I aint got a snokel! I'm gonna try stay as dry as possible, and yes long distance illumination is something I want for straight outback roads, but conversely I'm paranoid about roo's (former owner tells me one hit a side door) and so I want wide illumination, closer in, too (maybe that won't stop 'em but at least I'll see 'em!). This is why I'm seriously wanting people's perspectives on the Cibie Oscar SC so called CORNERING light and whether the beam patterns are to be believed, especially the width?: http://cibie.valeoservice.com/html/uk/p ... 24DB1108D4
I got the beam patterns for the IPF900XS off a kind young lady from ARB in the US (the Aussie male ARBers were too lazy and too ready to sell instead of giving advice). She says they have them on their company desert racing vehicle (as they would, of course!)...My reading of the patterns she provided shows they are (apparently?):
1) Spot/Pencil: about 620m-650m (out) x 4m (spread), and
2) Driving/Spread: about 500m (out) x 12m (6m left & right, at around 80m-100m out)...
...These IPF900 patterns aren't 1/2 as convincing for my needs as the Cibie SC's (if either pattern is to be believed?). Trouble is its hard to find anyone who not only sells the Oscar SC's, but who have any real experiential knowledge of them (4x4store in Brissie say their supplier no longer supplies them, despite their ad: http://www.4x4store.com.au/Cibie-Oscar- ... 25164.html), but I suppose like your Super Oscars they'd fill up with water too....Where's Moses when you need him!
Considering your mention of your 250W Lightforce seems just the thing I want from spread beams, but would I need an alternator upgrade for something like that? I saw some dirt cheap Wagner Spitfire 150W sealed beam lamps at Auto One store, maybe I should give them a whorl since they're only $79 a pair!
I guess I want spread and distance (but don't want to screw aorund with HID upgrades - thanks anyway RRTurboD ) - this is why I was thinking 2 spreads and one spot. Waddaya think?
Had a set of cibie oscar SC "slim" on the front of my hybrid. They used the H2 bulb and the entire design sucks. Pulled them off as soon as possible and replaced them with IPF 800d kit - one spread, one spot.
The high/lo beam light and housing on my hybrid are also Cibie Oscar with a H4 hi/lo halogen bulb. They originally come with 55/65 watt H4 globes. Being a Rangie and having Lucas wiring, upon putting in a 90/110 watt globe, the wiring melted. Then tried some of them dopey white globes. Back to original 55/65. HID's wont fit unless ya cut the rear of the housing, and I dont wanna do that just yet.
Know a bloke who used to rally around with Supar Oscar SC. He reckoned that they were the bee's knees. I took one look at them and laughed. "They crap mate. Check out these Lightforce babies".
If you wanna stay with halogen, and if space is a problem, personally I'd be inclind to stick with the Lightforce 170's. Have four of them if needed. Have two as spot and two as spread with the proper spred clear covers.
If you want awesome pure light outut, (ie for Winch challenge, Tuff Truck cooking roo's at 2 miles etc) and space is no problem - LF XGT's with a 50 watt HID kit in them.
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Just went looking. I wrote the below personal opinion on lights that I've had ages ago. Dated early 2003. Before XGT's were around.
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ok, hopefully this will answer some of your questions. Firstly I am not
affiliated with light force in anyway at all, although from reading the
following some peeps may think I am. I welcome any comments (good or
bad) from anyone.
The 240 Blitz lights were originally designed to sit on scopes for
rifles. They saw that there was a bit of a market for vehicle driving
lights a few years ago and designed a mounting bracket for the actual
light bit itself. The actual light bit is interchangable between the
brackets on rifles, and brackets for vehiclular mounting.
The mounting bracket on the 240s are actually not low enough to clear
the bottom of the lens, hence the need for spacers of approx 20-30mm.
The bolts supplied, are long enough that if you were to slip a bit of
cut off, say 12 to 14mm diameter pipe (20mm in length) over the bolt,
then bolt it to the bar - should be fine. The only thing to look out for
is the top of the lens not hitting your top loop on your bullbar.
So find some pipe, grab a hacksaw and cut a few bits off.
However, some peeps (self included), prefer to do the illegal thang, and
put the lights on top of the bar. This does three things, (1) allows
full airflow into the radiator, (2) reduces your vision coz they aren't
exactly small lights, and (3) probably makes you a nice target for the
police. However I have yet to be pulled over for the lights on top of
the bar (yes, they are illegal on top). I have been zapped for having
lights turned on on my roof.
Personal research history:
Years ago a mate bought a 240 for spotlighting for shooting. At the time
I had something like 10 to 12 hella's, night stalkers and one of those
cheap 1.5 millio candeller light. I said to my mate "watch this..." and
tried to light up a hill about a klick away across the other side of a
river (camping spot at the juction holes, barrington for those wanting
to know exactly where). My mate said "thats crap. Watch this". He
plugged his single 240 into the ciggy lighter, switched it on, and boy
oh boy didn't I look like a tool. 8 amps lighting up the whole hill
side, whereas my 90 something amps sucking away from the alternator and
battery and lighting up this piddly little bit on Aeroplane Ridge.
This was new years eve 1996. From that point I said "I want a few of
those babies..."
Spoke to another mate and he said get these "ashdown 130watt sealed
beams". Bought 4 at about $65.00 each. They are ok, but not crash hot.
He reckoned that they were awesome, I said "yeah whatever..." after
wasting my money. Two were then stolen at the 99 Nissan Trials along
with 2 Night Stalkers, and two got smashed in a roll-over.
After speaking to a few peeps after that, I then heard that Air Craft
lights were the way to go. And that there were a 100 watt sealed beam,
as well as a 150watt sealed beam version. Found a mate who didnt want
the 150 watters, bought them off his for $50.00. Stuck them on. They
work for about the first 200 metres. Tonnes and tonnes of light in those
200 metres (more than 240's), but hopeless in the way of distance wise.
I have also since bought IPF 800's (square big IPFs) and yeah... work,
but aren;t crash hot. Most blokes reckoned that they will not survive a
trip to the cape and back. They break, are expensive, and dont really
work too well.
I also have a pair of IPF 900 (round IPF) on the roof of my little
brumby. When the 240's are on, you cant tell if you have the 900's on or
not, unless they are pointing out sidewise. Not real crash hot either.
About 12 months I decided to bite the bullet and bought two 240's for
$165.00 each at the local tyre shop in Leeton, and they just happened to
be a distributor for Lightforce. Two other mates have bought 170's or
180's (whatever they are) since, as well as the local rescue squad and
threw them on our landcruiser.
A few months ago we tested my 240's along side a mates 170's on his
Hilux. There was quite a noticable difference, however I was still quite
surprised as to how well the 170's were.
Driving home from Narrandera back to Quirindi along the Newell highway,
there are many straight sections of road, one in particular is about 45
klicks south of Dubbo. It is about 10 klicks one long straight. I
haven't done an exact kilometre measurement, but the two 240's easy
light up the green road side 3/4 along the way which when I noticed it
was a good 3 klicks away. My sight isn't real crash hot, and I'd love to
have someone with me with 20/20 vision and see how far away these lights
can be when they first light that sign up.
Whatelse...
My list of lights that I have gone thru:
[Haven't I wasted a *heck* of a lot of money on lights over the years...]
5 Hella 151 (rectangular. expensive for performance)
2 Hella 500 (rectangular. expensive for performance)
2 Hella 1000 (round. Very expensive for performance)
2 Night Stalker 220? (biggest round lights in their range)
4 Night vision (130 watt sealed beams)
2 Cibie Super Oscar (Cibies are Overrated!! Utter crap. They break.
Bulbs burn out)
2 IPF 800 (rectangular)
2 IPF 900 (round)
2 Narva 180mm lights. crap.
2 triag Bull Lights (crap, although survived a roll over)
8 super cheap auto $20-$25.00 lights. (ok for price vs performance)
2 air craft landing 150 watt sealed beams
1 1 million candeller el-cheapo $30.00 plastic light. ok for price.
1 1.5 million candeller el-cheapo $35.00 plastic light. just...
12 12v 50 watt downlights at $5.95 each. Great price vs performance.
...and a few other dopey looking things that I have sort of modified.
2 Light force 240's. I am happy with them. $165.00 each 12 months ago,
however their prices went up about $40.00 to $50.00 each only a few
months ago.
$20.00-$25.00 little lights from Super cheap auto are awesome for
reverse lights and lights to mount on the underside of your mirrors, as
well as under-vehicle lights. If they smash, who cares. If they are too
expensive, then get some 12v interior downlights from Woolies. Silicon
them into some 2" pipe, and are hell cheap under-body lights. $5.95
each. Or get some pretty coloured lights (red, green, orange, yellow,
blue) from Jaycar at $7.95. BTW: I reckon that the four green lights I
have on the front of my bushranger scare away Roo's. I know that this
sounds stupid, but in roo country when I am driving the old girl, I
always turn them on and for the past three years, I have never hit a roo
yet. They always look up and jump away from the road side. They are
illegal being green --- They do not blind oncoming traffic --- no one
has ever flashed me, however oncoming peeps probably think WTF is this
thing.
At Tuff Truck I was very interested in seeing Mark Cheesman with his 14
light force lights (however I only ever counted 8). He has two of the
new HID lightforce 240's on the roof, (at about $1200 each). However I
didnt see him light them up at night. Unfortunately. They still worked
after he rolled it...
At the second winch challenge at Kandos in june/july, another bloke had
two HID's on the roof on his Patrol. Saw him at one stage turning them
on, and they were just ultra bright pure white light. Though I didnt see
what they were like lighting up a long distance.
Anyone else care to comment on HID's...? Worth the $1200.00 each on
their performance?
And for something stupid, I made a light rotater, took it to both the
Winch Challenge as well as to Tuff Truck. I had it working about 5
minutes straight after the strip show finished at Tuff Truck. Had it
running for about 45 minuytes. Had my two 240's bolted on, and were
facing into the sky. If anyone was still up, and happened to look up
into the sky, they would have seen these two starwars type light beams
pointing into the sky rotating at a reasonable speed. The effect is
quite interesting, and can be seen for quite a distance away. I'll have
it going at Willowglen...
conclusion:
Best combo I reckon is to have the air craft 150 watt sealed beams for
tonnes of light in the short range, and have the 240's for the distance.
Add the yellow covers and they are fantastic to drive at night,
especially in fog. The only problem is with those huge green reflective
road signs the amount of light that bounces off them is usually
blinding, so the need to turn the lights off is sometimes necessary.
Wow what a read, I was tempted to quote you just to make my post longer
As you know I am a sealed beam convert, I used to run those 100, 130 and then the 150 watt bulbs but the action really started when I went to the 250 watt version (GE part #4522) bucket loads of white light and good projection, as you are a automotive auxiliary lighting aficionado I recommend you try a set
Peter.
PS I was happy with Super oscars, but now that I think about it they did fall to bits on me, the rivets that secure the base to the body let go, they let water in like a bastard and if I did manage to pump enough silicone into them to seal out the water the bloody globes would blow and I would be back where I started
Cable bracing is the way of the future!
v840 said "That sounds like a booty fab, hack job piece of shit no offence."
Echoing DroopyPete echoing Bushy555! Bushy555 that script could almost provide enough lighting archive material to do a doco! Thanks fellas - my whole prespective on lights has changed ! I figure though that trial and error will eventually give me an archive list like yours Bushy, but no doubt a little shorter hastening your seer-saying) Thanks.
I wont be able to run them as my sierra alternator is only 35-40A max.
I know some guys running 496w at 24v. There A/C landing lights also. Similar to the lower wattage ones. great out to about 300m then the light is gone. Which maybe a pain on the Road. But off-road, how often are you on a track that straight.
from ARB in the US (the Aussie male ARBers were too lazy and too ready to sell instead of giving advice). She says they have them on their company desert racing vehicle (as they would, of course!)...My reading of the patterns she provided shows they are (apparently?):
) - this is why I was thinking 2 spreads and one spot. Waddaya think?
