Light upgrade

[Thiloow]

Hi Guys,

I'm planning a big trip around Australia with my 1998 GU and before I start I want to upgrade some things. First I want some better driving lights because the normal ones are not bright enough for me. Now I wonder if I'm better off with spotlights or a lightbar. I think they would be a bit more important for highway and country road driving then for really slow driving. What do you guys think is better? As I'm on a budget I can't spend much money. Maybe someone has a good guess for a cheap one?
The other thing I want to buy is a second batteries system to run the fridge etc. I found some that are not so expensive but I don't know what I should look for. So can you may help me what's important to have or can I just buy any system?

Thanks,
Thilo

[MudRunnerTD]

LED Light bar mounted under the roof rack would be my first choice if i could one have one. The gear that our Vendor LIGHTS Sells LEDLightCo are second to none and are great kit. If you r on a super tight budget then the stuff 4WDSuper centre sell is cheap shit but works.

[MB]

G'day Thilo, copied and pasted from another threads kind advice from Clunk & MudRunnerTD

Originally Posted by Clunk
have a chat with Paul at ledlightco - he's one of the vendors on here mate http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...4-LED-Light-Co
Thanks for the link too Clunk mate. MudRunnerTD Darren showed us his rooftop lightbar from 'Lights' this weekend just gone. Awesome design it was, the diodes point upwards into the curved reflectors creating a say 45 degree acute triangle beam keeping harsh reflection off the bonnet and bar. Mine being a white truck absolutely needs them too!

[GQtdauto]

Great advice "mud runner" as for Batteries look around for best price , do you want deep cycle lead acid or gel cell , will your alternator alone handle the charging requirements or will you need a dc dc charging system etc .

[PeeBee]

LED Light bar mounted under the roof rack would be my first choice if i could one have one. The gear that our Vendor LIGHTS Sells LEDLightCo are second to none and are great kit. If you r on a super tight budget then the stuff 4WDSuper centre sell is cheap shit but works.

I read on a post recently from a member in WA that light bars are illegal if mounted above the bonnet height, so bear this in mind if doing this part of the country.
Second point I would make is how much travel are you expecting to do 'in the dark'. Most touring I have done is completed in daylight then it's setting up camp early enough to enjoy the evening. I understand this might happen, but I would focus on a headlight upgrade instead and keep the radiator clear of obstruction from reduce overheating. I mounted a light bar between the vertical uprights of the bulbar and it works well, it's approx 26" wide. Food for thought. I also have a roof rack mounted light bar but my trips are all local area 2-3 day and leaving in the dark on a Friday night thing.

[the evil twin]

Second battery isolation 'on the cheap'...
the cheapest and might I say oldest reliable method of adding a second battery for 'house' use IE Fridge and maybe a camp light or two is simply put a 30 amp relay in the connection from the cranking battery to the house battery and have that relay activated by 'ignition on'.
If the ignition is on then the engine is normally running so the house battery will charge from the Alt as you drive, turn the engine off and the circuit opens.
It is also wise to add a manual switch to isolate the relay in case the house battery is very low and sucks to much power from the main when you try and crank.

Light Bars V Driving lights - I have a Light Bar and a set of LED Driving Lights. The Driving Lights give better light down the road and the Bar a nice flood of light for slower track work.
$ for $ you will not get an LED option that will give you better penetration down the road than HID or high tech incandescents like Fyrlight or whatever.
I used to have HID and LEd tech on my truck but now run only LED as i don't do a gazzillion KPH when I travel and just lope along at grey nomad pace

Light Bar mounting - is different from state to state. It is illegal in WA and most states to have any lights above bonnet level that affect driver line of sight or that may 'catch a pedestrian' and also illegal in WA but not all other states to have lights on the roof. FWIW I have a bar on the roof of my Ute.

[Thiloow]

Thanks Guys for so many reply. I'm sorry that it took me so long to answer. Yeah we probably would rather travel at daylight but as we want to do the big loop it could happen that we will travel sometimes in the dark and therefore we would like to have good vision. What options would I have to upgrade the headlight and would they be cheaper? We are very relaxed drivers and cruise normally around 90 KPH so I don't know if that's already to fast for a lightbar? We wouldn't do 4x4 at night as we are only beginners. Our car is registered in WA therefore I will have a good look in which height I can mount it. I will write to Paul from Lights, but what I saw on there website they are not quite cheap. Also keeping the radiator clear seams to be good advice.

For the battery maybe evil twins solution would be enough as we will so far only have a small waeco fridge (CDF11-10,5Liter) running on it and maybe charging phones and laptops plus maybe a few lights. What battery size would you buy and which type? As I don't know much about batteries.

Hope I answered to all.
Thanks,
thiloow

[the evil twin]

snip...We are very relaxed drivers and cruise normally around 90 MPH so I don't know if that's already to fast for a lightbar?

...we will so far only have a small waeco fridge (CDF11-10,5Liter) running on it and maybe charging phones and laptops plus maybe a few lights. What battery size would you buy and which type? As I don't know much about batteries.

'Relaxed' and '90 MPH' shouldn't ever be used when talking about a Patrol :-)

IMHO 90 KPH means an LED option is quite suitable and Bar or Driving Light would be OK.
I also don't think they affect the Rad airflow as long as you have a decent space between the lights and the grille.

House battery option kinda depends where you put the Battery.
I use Cat Batteries (IIRC about $150 + GST available from Caterpillar over near the Airport) for cranking/winching so they have to go outside the Cab (cheap, 3 year warranty and excellent quality).
If you want to put the extra battery inside then an AGM or Gel is the go (much more expensive).
I would go for a full size N70ZZL myself as you can use it as the Cranker if your battery craps out for whatever reason but a smaller one will easily suffice for the load you have mentioned.

Note, these are my opinions only and others may vary but bottom line is there are many options that will all work well...

[balwayne]

There are spot/flood combo LED bars. Be sure to get the one that uses Cree LEDs.

[threedogs]

If you have a petrol GU it will be difficult to fit and aux battery
Redarc do a set and forget dual battery controller.
A light bar will never out do a set of HID driving lights.
If you get a light bar go the spot beam about 15 degrees I think
plus paint any antenna flat black...
What area are you from thilo??