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KC Day Liters or Hella Lights?

FelixstoweF.2

FelixstoweF.2

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I'm looking to add a little extra illumination to my 1971 Walter ACUS and I'm thinking 4 lights- 2 beam and 2 spread pattern types. My problem is I don't know if I should buy Hella or KC or perhaps neither and some alternative brand. I looking for a Halogen type light.

Thanks
 
FelixstoweF.2 said:
I'm looking to add a little extra illumination to my 1971 Walter ACUS and I'm thinking 4 lights- 2 beam and 2 spread pattern types. My problem is I don't know if I should buy Hella or KC or perhaps neither and some alternative brand. I looking for a Halogen type light.

Thanks
Click to expand...

you are going to have a hard time finding a name brand halogen.

2 spot, 2 euro has been my go to for hellas.
 
crazybluerider said:
Tough to go wrong with hella 500's if you want halogen.


You can go up to the 700 if you want something bigger than 6" too.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm just worried that the new Hella 500's are going to fall apart on me. I've read some bad reviews. Now of course on my roof they are above 10ft tall and the truck only does 30mph so not exactly getting the Baja treatment.
 
i stank corrected, i was looking for HIDs a while back and struck out and assumed on the halogens


it looks like summit has spot and driving in stock

www.summitracing.com

Hella Rallye 4000 Metal Lights - Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing

Find Hella Rallye 4000 Metal Lights and get Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing! Hella Rallye 4000 metal lights are exceptional, competition-grade, off-road lamps. They feature a rugged die-cast housing and a revolutionary mounting system, which holds the beam steady, even on...
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com

amazon has them as well

 
Looks like this is a wide load vehicle so looking for OFFROAD Killer lights. To complete the "old look" I would think the Hella 4000 Xenon lights would be the choice. Big...Bright...and LONG RANGE. Watch in the classifieds of Race-dezert.com . Many racers are turning to the LED so selling for "cheap." 200-250ea. Make sure they have the Hella external ballast.

As a FYI... LED's put out all the heat to the rear so pack up with snow. You can almost fry an egg on a Hella Xenon so that would never be an issue. Bulbs are easily replacebale and fit in glove boxes. SHOP!!!! They have been great lights for years but are big and have some wind resistance for the racers. If it wasn't for the blade the lights should be mounted on the grill and lowest possible. Airplanes have landing lights on the front wheels so you look down thru the possible snow or fog reflection. If your present lights light up the hood... That is not good either as it messes with the eyes. A clear set and a yellow set is also an option. Really popular today.

Great truck.

Summit is no longer relevant for good prices. When they started they were trade pricing...slowly the executive creep for profits has moved them to retail pricing, which is easy to beat and their shipping time has also suffered. Whatever YOU want... there is someone out the with old or over-stock. Do the work with the internet as those lights are not cheap ...nor do they loose brightness with use like a LED. BUT there are a ton of people that are armchair parts companies using Summit and others to pull from. This last week, I have been burned twice ordering on Ebay and then getting feedback one to two weeks later that the part was not actually in stock .... So now, If it is important, I query the seller first. Many times they really can't answer because they can't walk into the "warehouse." I am not sure where we are all going on this for the future. But it is not healthy.
 
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Before we start, this thread needs some pictures so people can understand.
You are not going fast at all and probably not on a long straight road? So you don't need a spot or pencil beam. A flood or driving would be more than enough for what you doing. LED is going to have more output than incandesant. A good brand like Rigid is going to have comparable color to incandesant. LED is going to be more resistant to the weather as well. High power LEDs have more than enough heat to melt the snow. Cheap ones might be cold enough for snow build up.
I would search Amazon for Rigid Industries. Look under the discounts filter. They clearance a lot of stuff at stupid prices if you wait and watch for it to drop. Or on the Rigid website under discounts or clearance or reduced price. That's where I buy most of my Rigids for the new buggy, sometimes its cheaper than the race sponsor pricing.
If you are in the snow you are going to want a Selective Yellow or Amber lens cover as it reduces glare when its snowing.
4 Duallys or 2 DXL or Q's in the flood pattern or driving pattern fanned out will do good for that vehicle. These models all have amber covers available. Round models do as well, but the round models are newer and never go on clearance.
Whatever you do don't get the cheap China made lights in super blue 5K+ output as that creates the most glare and poor color rendition makes everything look black and white, you cant see all the colors of what you are lighting up.

Image 12-12-23 at 5.20 PM.jpeg


1971 Walter ACUS.jpg
 
What' I'm looking to do is put two extra lights on the roof by the high beams on the roof already. That way I have 6 lights on the roof and two on the hood. You're right about the fact that I'm not going fast. So, four Driving Beams you think will give me more than enough lights? My neighbors are going to love me doing the drive way at 3am...
 

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Cool rig.... hydro, where's this clearance section you speak of for rigid? I don't see one on the website. Even signed into nothing shows up on my end
 
NDCjeepsmith said:
Cool rig.... hydro, where's this clearance section you speak of for rigid? I don't see one on the website. Even signed into nothing shows up on my end
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Thanks,
I've never seen a clearance section on Amazon either.
 
I always hated super bright roof mounted lights when plowing snow. Not that you have much of a choice with that V blade.
 
Slander said:
I always hated super bright roof mounted lights when plowing snow. Not that you have much of a choice with that V blade.
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What about mount flood lights on top of v blade? Not sure how prone they’ll be to damage from plowing.

More lights where you need them beyond the plow, not lit things up between roof and v blade with snow, stack, hood, back of plow, etc, harming your night vision.
 
TrailTamer said:
What about mount flood lights on top of v blade? Not sure how prone they’ll be to damage from plowing.

More lights where you need them beyond the plow, not lit things up between roof and v blade with snow, stack, hood, back of plow, etc, harming your night vision.
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They would get knocked off I think. But, it would look scary as hell.
 
I’ll not rule out running standard halogen “KC style” off road lights if they’re all metal and glass, no plastics (nothing to melt or set on fire) with replaceable bulb.

Replace the bulb with “off road use only” halogen bulb. They’re only like $5-$10 each.

I have the h4 conversion headlamps on my XJ with high watts off road only bulbs.

Radiate heat a lot, enough to keep my bare hands warm in winter when in front of them. Very similar light output to led headlamps jerk people put in their jeeps but without the glare or weird color.
 
TrailTamer said:
I’ll not rule out running standard halogen “KC style” off road lights if they’re all metal and glass, no plastics (nothing to melt or set on fire) with replaceable bulb.

Replace the bulb with “off road use only” halogen bulb. They’re only like $5-$10 each.

I have the h4 conversion headlamps on my XJ with high watts off road only bulbs.

Radiate heat a lot, enough to keep my bare hands warm in winter when in front of them. Very similar light output to led headlamps jerk people put in their jeeps but without the glare or weird color.
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On the plus side most of the time when I use this truck with the lights on it will be below 32F so that will help and I can always pack some snow on the lamps to keep them cool.
 
I would definitely only be considering ambers in your case to mitigate glare reflections too.

And also possibly, depending on your seeing needs... to cut down on un needed glares that a spot or flood would produce maybe a driving beam pattern so you're cutting thru and lighting at an angle from top down ahead, versus a spot or flood lighting up from the roof everything forward.

Kinda hard to explain but I see a bunch of snow being lit up say 9ft + above the ground and in front of plow causing eye fatigue because it doesn't need to be lit up.
 
I think that sounds like a good idea driving beams. I'll look into those.
 
NDCjeepsmith said:
I would definitely only be considering ambers in your case to mitigate glare reflections too.

And also possibly, depending on your seeing needs... to cut down on un needed glares that a spot or flood would produce maybe a driving beam pattern so you're cutting thru and lighting at an angle from top down ahead, versus a spot or flood lighting up from the roof everything forward.

Kinda hard to explain but I see a bunch of snow being lit up say 9ft + above the ground and in front of plow causing eye fatigue because it doesn't need to be lit up.
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Yea that's why I hated plowing snow in trucks with roof lights. If it's snowing you cant see shit and if you hit drifts at any speed (talking 20 mph +) it was basically a white out.
 
Just my recent experience with LED lights. Driving home Friday night in weather in the teens and snowing hard, my light bar never iced up or lost brightness. This was on a 2 hour drive home on empty roads in BFE. It is a 30" DiodeDynamics amber light in combo spot/flood pattern mounted behind the grill. I also have a pair of Rigid D series SS pro lights in a white driving pattern mounted on A pillar mounts. Using the clear lights while driving in the snow was not good at all with the glare from the snow, the amber light bar was impressive. Due to the shitty weather I was only doing about 30-40mph and the amber bar had the distance for those speeds. Normally in clear weather I use the Rigids and they are damn impressive as far as distance and spread while driving at 65mph, I'd say on par with the Rigid 20" light bar I have on another truck. Neither of these brands are cheap like the Chicom shit, but in the 2 years I've been running them I have not had any issues.

These lights were on this truck. I have amber light covers on the cubes and no covers on the bar in this picture:
IMG_0206.jpeg
 
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Wheelerfreak said:
Just my recent experience with LED lights. Driving home Friday night in weather in the teens and snowing hard, my light bar never iced up or lost brightness. This was on a 2 hour drive home on empty roads in BFE. It is a 30" DiodeDynamics amber light in combo spot/flood pattern mounted behind the grill. I also have a pair of Rigid D series SS pro lights in a white driving pattern mounted on A pillar mounts. Using the clear lights while driving in the snow was not good at all with the glare from the snow, the amber light bar was impressive. Due to the shitty weather I was only doing about 30-40mph and the amber bar had the distance for those speeds. Normally in clear weather I use the Rigids and they are damn impressive as far as distance and spread while driving at 65mph, I'd say on par with the Rigid 20" light bar I have on another truck. Neither of these brands are cheap like the Chicom shit, but in the 2 years I've been running them I have not had any issues.

These lights were on this truck. I have amber light covers on the cubes and no covers on the bar in this picture:
IMG_0206.jpeg
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very nice set up. I like it.
 
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