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Originally Posted by digitalnirvana That looks like a neat install. Please would you share where you bought the aux lamps from? |
I bought these from Ebay.
The same thing is available on Amazon too.
Search with the keywords " 42W Epistar 14 LED light bar with spot beam lens- 4.5 inch" on Ebay or Amazon.
I got this pair of lights for Rs.1300( a few months ago.)
There is a 27W 9 LED unit variant with the exact same shape & dimension as this, but with 5 LEDs lesser in each unit, and you may see that too in the search results, priced around 1100 or so.
But its output is just average only and is best suited for bikes.
This one is worth the extra 200 Rs or so, and the output is almost double that of the 27W unit.
Though it claims to be 42W, actual output when measured with multimeter is around 35W only, which is still good and not a deal breaker.
Even Original Philips 100W bulbs when tested with mutimeter have shown some 10 to 15% lower wattage readings and so it is a common phenomenon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalnirvana how are they mounted? |
The lights are mounted directly on the number-plate bolt using a pair of straight brackets that were custom made at the local welding workshop. It costed just 30 Rs for the 2 brackets..
Since the WagonR doesn't have the metal cross-member directly behind the middle portion of the front-bumper like some bigger cars, getting an L-shaped bracket welded onto that cross-member was not an option.
The other option was to get a front bull-bar installed, and then fix the lights on the bull-bar which is the most common method.
But spending around 6000 or 7000 Rs for the bull-bar for mounting these aux-lights which costs only 1300 Rs didn't make sense to me.
Also I don't like the idea of bull-bars on monocoque vehicles.
Another common option is roof-rack mount, but even that is equally expensive, and also I have read that aux lights above the OE headlight level is illegal, and so it may attract unwanted attention from the cops.
So I didn't want to get into that trouble.
So finally found this simple solution after a few days of thinking & analyzing the different possibilties.
The bracket is an "I" shaped straight bracket, just like a ruler with holes at both end, and sits between the bumper and the number plate.
One hole at the top for the number-plate bolt, and the other at the bottom for the light's bracket bolt.
Then the bracket was painted in matt-black so that it merges with the bumper-grill's color and is not visible from outside.
Black zip-ties were used at the bottom to firmly hold the light units tied to the bumper-grill at the back, so that there is no shaking, rattling or vibration of the lights when the car moves.
I have been using it for more than 6 months now.
The lights are intact and haven't moved even a millimeter from its position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalnirvana Did you use any extra relays, |
No relays were used.
In my case, there was already a power-source tapped from the fuse-box at the time of my first fog-lamp installation, some 4 years ago.
Those were 55W Philips H3 fog lamps, and it worked fine without any relay for 2 years.
Then I upgraded the fogs to 100W Osram H3 bulbs and added a relay to handle the extra current.
So the old power-line was spared and unused from that day, and I knew that since 55W bulb worked fine on it without relay, 42W LEDs wouldn't be a problem at all.
But I ensured that the wires used for wiring these LED lights were 1.5 sq. mm throughout, and also that the new dashboard switch was of good quality capable of handling 6 Amps current.
So if you can include a generic 30 Amp relay in your wiring setup, it would be better and more future-proof for further upgrades.
I have no immediate plans to upgrade, but may be sometime next year or so, I may try 80W Auxbeam LED bars.
At that time, I will surely add a relay.