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LED Light Bar Build Thread - Pic Heavy

97K views 129 replies 57 participants last post by  Kryton 
#1 ·
Hey,

So there have been a lot of requests for info on LED light bars. I took pictures as I did my install forever ago but never got around to sharing. So here it is.

Before I get to the pic heavy part, here is my personal review. Right to the point, I love it. It is one of my favorite things on my Jeep to this day.

I drive a lot of back roads and fear the dumb deer, this helps a lot. So far, I've had countless spots made that I would've missed without it. A few were close calls that would have resulted in serious damage. So, it has paid for itself.

The range is good the coverage is what I expected. It is mounted under my license plate after all. I've actually started to use it instead of my high beams b/c it covers way more on the sides. I would not recommend keeping it on 24/7, it would annoy other drivers and is likely illegal in some areas (most things are in VA). Overall, this isn't for aesthetics, it is for function.


So here it is. I hope it helps.

I used the "RIGID 91061 10" LED LIGHT BAR - SR SERIES SPECTER OPTIC SYSTEM" and here is why.
Size: a 20" bar would fit, but there was/is a $200 price difference. If I could do it again, I would consider the 20" if I had the cash. For those with the radar, I *think* you could do two 6" bars, but measure to be sure.
Brand: Rigid has cool videos. Seriously though, they are really durable and not using cheap Chinese knock off LEDs. It would be pretty lame to do all this work and have 1 single LED go out. Seeing as how this is going to be low to the ground, I need something strong that could stand up to
Type: Rigid has Spot, Combo, Flood, Hybrid, and Specter bars. This all has to do with the optics they use to reflect the light. They have really good info on their site for what the corresponding light dispersal patters "look" like. I personally went with the Specter. It was more money, but it gave a wide bright dispersal. Granted, the distance was less, but for my use case it works well.
Of course there are other brands, types, ect. For me it came down to Baja Designs Stealth and Rigid SR-Series. Make your own call, but Rigid seemed to have the better reputation and they don't charge extra for the wiring harness (bugged me that Baja did). Plus they provide a lot better info on light coverage.

So, pic time.

Here is the unboxing:



As you can see, I used the logner brackets and bolted it on.



No spacers required to get the right offset from the frame. Also, according to their instructions this is upside down. The fins should be on top but I think this works better for cooling and wont collect water.



The next image is testing the fascia to light bar placement. I was really happy to find that no spacers were required to get it in the right spot.

For the fellow shutter bugs out there, I had to use an ND9 filter to get this shot. For the non-shutter bugs, the light was so bright I had to use the equivalent of sunglasses for my camera to get a clear clean picture b/c it was so bright.


This is a more accurate image of the light bar. This is the same shutter speed but no filter:

Next is connecting the power. In some of the images above you can see that there is a break away between the light bar and the wiring harness. Tip: I used a piece of ½” heat shrink tube on the connection to make sure it as rock solid.
The wiring harness was a bit on the log side, but really well done. You can see below that all it really required was a connection to the positive and negative terminals. I ran the harness past the air dam (or whatever it is called), then ran just the negative back to the terminal. I also used zip ties to hold it down for a cleaner install.

Now for the hardest part, getting the switch cable into the passenger cabin. The switch itself disconnects from the harness so you can use your own if you want.
I had previous experience with this when I setup my Laser Interceptor. So I used the same method. I did the best I could to show it in the image below but it is a really tight space. For reference red blob is the positive terminal cap. There are a few rubber grommets running behind the glove box that are here. I chose the upper most one, cut a small hole from the glove box side and stuck a coat hanger thru and up towards the battery terminal. In the image you can see one of the wires of the Laser Interceptor.


After that, it is all a matter of taste as to where you mount the switch. It has enough run to go all the way to the driver’s side under the center console. I personally have mine coming through the center console storage area.

There is a thread somewhere on the forums about hooking into the driver’s side headlight for high beam switching. I can’t seem to find it at the moment, but I eventually plan to do that when I switch out my headlight for the blacked out SRT8 ones.

Let me know if you guys have any questions. I hope this helps to fill some of the gaps in the LED light bar threads that are out there.
 
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#130 ·
I’ve got srt front end so same acc radar issue. Mounted mine behind the upper grill instead. The angle the light is thrown out isnt great but as far as straight ahead, the honeycomb doesn’t seem to have much impact on the light output so I’m happy. Stealth enough for it not to be noticeable to anyone that doesn’t know it’s there
 
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