Light upgrade

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

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.

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!

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 .

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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.

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.

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

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Originally Posted by Thiloow

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.

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'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...

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

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??

Driving at night on a round Australia trip is unwise. If you really think that you'll need to do so then you would be far better off choosing a shorter route & enjoying a more relaxed (& safer) pace. There is no 'badge of honour' for circumavigating the country just to have done so. Why not do half a lap over the same time period?
When money is tight spending on lights for the trip makes little sense in my book, they would be way down at the bottom of my list ....if they were on it at all.

Agree with Cuppa night time driving in the Outback should be avoided unless absolutely neccessary.
Chances of an animal strike are very high. night time 4x4ing in ths mountains is a different kettle of
fish all together. Night time HWY driving on the main hwys will still see animal strikes, and if you happen to hit
a decent size roo that could be the end of your holiday right there

I agree with Cuppa and TD almost 100% in what they say but IMHO there can be more to it.

I personally prefer and enjoy driving at night and when doing long endless kilometres of GAFA in NT, SA, and WA or the outback of QLD and NSW or crossing the Nullabor again and again it is quite a valid option IMHO

I'm not sure if night driving is statistically more or less risky but it certainly has an entirely different set of risks to be managed.
At night I am more than happy to toddle along 80 ish or even less and in Winter even that low speed eats up a shitload of K's.

Animal strikes, well, in one stint a few years back between Brewarrina and Wilcannia I clipped around 1/2 dozen but the fastest I was doing at impact would be maybe 30KPH and that is 'cause, aside from dirty great scrub Bulls, Camels or Wombats (rocks with fur) I don't stop and let them move I just let the Bull Bar do it's thing if the critter jumps in front.

Two things that suit me about night driving are that when I drive A to B (say Perth to northern NSW) I will just drive until tired, pull over and nap, then drive again till tired and repeat. That means sometimes I may only drive for as little as 2 hours between breaks and/or break for an hour here or 4 or 5 there.
Second is I like to set up "home base" for at least a few days and explore an area so oftentimes I can be several hours from camp at sunset.

Totally agree that high speed night driving in Oz is an 'all or nothing' deal tho... if you wack Big Red at 100 K's or so it isn't pretty

So would you guys recommend a curved 50 inch roof mounted light bar a straight 50 inch roof mounted light bar
And what would be the best brands for the above light bars


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I agree I just installed the led light bar from ledlightco and could not be happier.
Took minutes to install and once I could find a street long enough to try it out I was fully impressed.

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Originally Posted by Redline nissan

I agree I just installed the led light bar from ledlightco and could not be happier.
Took minutes to install and once I could find a street long enough to try it out I was fully impressed.

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Haha. The first time I turned on my LEDLightCo light bar with my wife in the car she said "well that's just Rude!!" Best this ever.

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Originally Posted by the evil twin

I agree with Cuppa and TD almost 100% in what they say but IMHO there can be more to it.

I personally prefer and enjoy driving at night and when doing long endless kilometres of GAFA in NT, SA, and WA or the outback of QLD and NSW or crossing the Nullabor again and again it is quite a valid option IMHO

I'm not sure if night driving is statistically more or less risky but it certainly has an entirely different set of risks to be managed.
At night I am more than happy to toddle along 80 ish or even less and in Winter even that low speed eats up a shitload of K's.

Animal strikes, well, in one stint a few years back between Brewarrina and Wilcannia I clipped around 1/2 dozen but the fastest I was doing at impact would be maybe 30KPH and that is 'cause, aside from dirty great scrub Bulls, Camels or Wombats (rocks with fur) I don't stop and let them move I just let the Bull Bar do it's thing if the critter jumps in front.

Two things that suit me about night driving are that when I drive A to B (say Perth to northern NSW) I will just drive until tired, pull over and nap, then drive again till tired and repeat. That means sometimes I may only drive for as little as 2 hours between breaks and/or break for an hour here or 4 or 5 there.
Second is I like to set up "home base" for at least a few days and explore an area so oftentimes I can be several hours from camp at sunset.

Totally agree that high speed night driving in Oz is an 'all or nothing' deal tho... if you wack Big Red at 100 K's or so it isn't pretty

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Yeah I'm with you ET on this one, I tend to prefer night highway driving. I regularly commute 650km on a rural highway to a holiday shack in the summer time for my breaks. For me this is a far safer alternative due to the amount of dangerous drivers/caravaners on the road during the day.

Ive seen my fair share of near misses and knobs on the road and I'd much rather contend with wild life at night then the idioacy of some of the reckless day-time city dwellers in a hurry to get somewhere. Of course it has it risks, but with little traffic, good lighting, front protection and a steady pace, the risk of a day time/multiple car crash far outweighs the danger of an animal strike at night. Just my two cents.. Cheers

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Originally Posted by Toy-Eta

Yeah I'm with you ET on this one, I tend to prefer night highway driving. I regularly commute 650km on a rural highway to a holiday shack in the summer time for my breaks. For me this is a far safer alternative due to the amount of dangerous drivers/caravaners on the road during the day.

Ive seen my fair share of near misses and knobs on the road and I'd much rather contend with wild life at night then the idioacy of some of the reckless day-time city dwellers in a hurry to get somewhere. Of course it has it risks, but with little traffic, good lighting, front protection and a steady pace, the risk of a day time/multiple car crash far outweighs the danger of an animal strike at night. Just my two cents.. Cheers

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Agree if it just point A to B ( and I prefer night driving as well and have only hit 1 roo in 50 yrs after putting the old cortina sideways on a dirt road to avoid taking out the radiator and lucky for me he was on the down cycle of his hop and just hit front left wheel and no damage) but if touring, you don't see much at night.
If you already have spotlights, best and cheapest option is a HID upgrade kit for around $200/$300