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Auxiliary Lighting

5K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  OnATrail 
#1 ·
I am in the process of considering some auxiliary lighting for my Commander. Since I drive in rural areas quite a bit as well as head up North in the winter quite often, I think they would be a helpful addition. I am considering both an extra set of fog lights and an extra set of driving lights. I have my eyes on the PIAA 540 series lights.

Does anyone have any input on the wiring process for either one set or how they should be properly wired if there are two sets as far as connecting to the battery? Also, any advice or experiences you have had with different auxiliary lighting would be helpful too.

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Well some wiring tips I can give you is solder and heat shrink your connections. Chose a ground under the hood best to tag along with the other ones under there. Hooking to your battery is fine just don't forget to turn them off. Some people have been tapping into the power box under the hood picking an empty fuse location. But as long as you put an in line fuse you should be ok.
 
#3 ·
I guess that's my problem. I have never done much automotive wiring and I don't want to f anything up. I am comfortable doing it, but just don't know what to do which is a problem. I guess there should be some instructions included that has suggested wiring locations........

Does anyone have any info on wiring into the fuse box and how that may work? Or any threads on this. I will make a detailed DIY once I know what I'm doing................
 
#5 ·
Like Sal said, solder and heat shrink all connections. If you have to add more wire for length use the proper gauge wire. Use an in-line fuse for every light or pairs of lights. I have KC lights and they came with all instructions, switches, and in-line fuses. Follow the directions.
 
#8 ·
I better expand on this a bit.

Here's a schematic of my system, with the foglights following the lightswitch, and the bumper HID's following the dimmer switch. (They come on with brights)



The bumper HID's:


What they do for the night:
 
#9 ·
Looks like you could set the grass on fire with those.....nice for seeing offroad.
 
#10 ·
Good stuff........

Yeah, those lay down some nice light. I found another set of PIAA's that I am considering. I know I am going to piss away some extra money that I don't really need to, but these have a blue glow even when they are off that should look pretty cool. I have ordered the 4xGuard matrix and grill hoop and it says there are 4 auxiliary lighting mounting locations. I think I am going to throw a pair of fogs on and a pair of driving lights on there. That way if someone cuts me off I can singe the hair on the back of their little necks.

I'm not intimidated by the wiring, I just don't know anything about tapping into the fuse box, relays, what the proper way of powering them at the battery, appropriate grounding, etc. I'm no dummy though, so hopefully the instructions will have some useful info (most instructions never do have in depth info). If anyone knows of a resource on general automotive wiring that I could read over, please share it with me.

Thanks guys, this forum has been great for me. It's given me stepping stones to customize my truck and do things I wouldn't have considered in the past.

P.S. - My mechanical engineer brother is currently designing a rear spare tire carrier that mounts into any 2" receiver. It then swings open to allow access to the tailgate area. It will have two positions, centered and an offset towards the passenger side of the XK that allows the backup camera to still see the majority of the viewing area. Also, it will have a pass through with a 2" receiver so I can still tow and a stabilizer to keep things stable. I will keep the forum. This idea will work with any truck that has a 2" receiver but is tailored to the Commander. Spread the word, after I field test it 4x4ing in CO in Sept, I will start to sell it.

Thanks again for all of your help!
 
#11 · (Edited)
You could also convert the PIAA's to HID. The conversion kits are getting cheap these days. Just find out what bulb the light uses, (such as H3 etc.) and rebuild the light. I did that a couple of times, one on the motorcoach's lower driving lights. They are large format 5x7 lights with a trapezoid pattern. The beam has a sharp cut-off, so I can use them all the time.

I have to tell a story about my HID's. I was driving along a county back road. I kept seeing ''headlights'' on the right side of the road, hundreds of yards ahead. As I got closer, I could begin to tell they belonged to an animal, so I slowed down thinking it should be running away, not staying there ready to leap out. The ''headlights'' would appear, disappear, reappear, disappear. I knew it wasn't deer as it was a set of lights. (You only see one deer eye at a time as they turn their heads)

When I finally get close enough to see... it's a guy walking a large yellow Labrador. They're both standing there, the man has his arm up over his face. The dog had been looking my way, getting blinded, and turning his head away. That explained the on and off ''headlights.'' My windows were down, and I heard a string of obscenities spewing from the dog walker as I drove on past. Oops, my bad. :D

On edit:
One thing about the broad spectrum of HID's is that animal fur isn't invisible like it is to bulb lights. I've seen many cats, raccoons, and the like by the roadsides even with the converted foglights which don't bother other drivers. (Too much. :) ) They're easy to see, and therefor easy to avoid. And their eyes are like little set of headlights. (When they actually look your way)
 
#12 ·
PIAA Lights

I have my eyes on a set of these guys. They are dual bulb so in each light you have an SMR ultra clear white driving light as well as a Plasma Ion low beam for the fog. In addition, they have a high intensity LED light that makes them glow a cool blue color even when they are off (no light output, but cool effect). The only place I could find good pictures of these lights was on an off road motorcycle forum. Here is what they look like:

Close up of light


Light in driving mode


Light in fog mode


Light glowing in "off position"


They are normally $475 for a pair, but I have an accepted offer on eBay of $290 for the pair with installation kit. I think I am going to pull the trigger after I post this. I will post pics once my 4xGuard and lights are installed.

Take care, guys.
 
#13 ·
I really like those. I have been looking at them for a long time but no money. Let us know what you think after you get them installed.
 
#14 ·
Got my matrix installed last night and the lights mounted with no wiring done yet. That's for this afternoon. Looks real good so far although the lens covers on the PIAA's don't clip on very sturdily. I got chased in by mosquitoes so I will have to look at that sometime today..........
 
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