Electrical artwork for new D4

[GregMilner]

Just got to tip my hat to the guys at Auto Spark in Osborne Park (Perth) - beautifully installed electrical work for my new D4 yesterday. And they did it all in a day, jobs that would have taken me weeks or months, lots of swearing and scratching of head and knuckles.
1) Replaced OEM trailer sockets with a 12-pin socket and a 50 amp Anderson, mounted on custom-designed 316 stainless brackets.
120310120309

2) Added a second 12-volt outlet in the cargo hold, running 100amp wire to it and the OEM one, with a 70amp breaker. (I'd always had trouble charging my portable Engel battery from the OEM 12 volt outlet in the L322.)
120311


3) Added an on-off switch alongside for the gadget (can't remember what they called it) that recognises the LED lights on the camper trailer, and turns off the reverse parking sensors when under tow.
4) Installed the Uniden UHF behind the panel below the steering wheel, with the detachable remote microphone double-side taped (no holes) to the side of the console.
120312
5) installed the electric brake controller (again, no holes drilled) near my right knee.
6) installed the UHF aerial on a custom stainless bracket bolted to OEM mounting points under the bonnet.

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Plus, really neat and tidy wiring hub under the bonnet alongside where the deep cycle second battery might go one day.


Pictures as above.
All in all, very happy with their work.

[GregMilner]

Here's the visible part of their work under the bonnet...

120334

[veebs]

Looks very tidy, and quickly done. May I ask what they stung you for this?

W

[GregMilner]

$2,343.50 worth of pain relief.

[Chops]

Nice looking work they've done there,,, I like the Anderson plug set-up.

[Russrobe]

Favourite part of this is the trailer sockets. Very neat!

[Tombie]

$2,343.50 worth of pain relief.

WTF!!!!!!! Greg that's extortion...

[GregMilner]

Extortion is probably a bit tough. In the overall scheme of things, it got the jobs done in good time, and professionally fitted. Okay, yes I could have got it done a bit cheaper elsewhere, or done it myself for a lot more grief and time. But I've used these guys several times, I like them, I can always go back to them if there's a problem, which they fix free of charge, and I know the job is done well. At the end of the day, my time is worth more than farting around trying save a hundred bucks here and there.

[LandyAndy]

Ive seen work done by the same mob,it is all top class.
A good auto sparky is worth their weight in gold.
Andrew

[Tombie]

As long as you're happy with it...

[GregMilner]

I think so Tombie. At worst, I know it's been done professionally.

[rar110]

It would be at least $1000 in equipment fitted.

[GregMilner]

Well, I supplied the radio and brake controller.

[LandyAndy]

Greg.
If you aren't fitting a bar,he makes a pretty good bracket that suits the Fyrlite spotties.You do need an adjustable stay on the top to stop vibration(included).Aaron40 has them in his D4.
Andrew

[ATH]

I've just had similar job done at Rovertech which included the dual battery system, brake controller. engel plug in the rear and 7 pin trailer plug. Looks a top job and I'm with Greg when he says it saves much heart ache plus sleepless nights thinking about it. [smilebigeye]
All it lacks is the device for switching off the reversing alarm.......
I'm going to do my own radio installation as I've done this on 3 vehicles in the past although they were Defenders....... [bighmmm]
Some things I can do and some I can't but do admit it. [biggrin]
AlanH.

[GregMilner]

Greg.
If you aren't fitting a bar,he makes a pretty good bracket that suits the Fyrlite spotties.You do need an adjustable stay on the top to stop vibration(included).Aaron40 has them in his D4.
Andrew

Thanks Andrew...although it must be said, if I don't bother with a bar at this stage, because we try to avoid driving at night, putting driving lights on would seem to be superfluous. Then again, I guess they might come in handy for the odd occasion we DO get caught out by delays, as happened on our last trip down from the Kimberley.

[LandyAndy]

The D4 headlights may be good in the city at night,they are no good in the bush,and I have the upgraded bi-xenons.They lack depth,brilliant up to the mid distance,my Fyrlites set it off nicely.
Andrew

[Tombie]

They're better than any Japanese offering I've been driving [emoji15]

[LandyAndy]

YES,better than most.Our Territory has much better lights,and they are normal halogen.Ford always did have reasonable lighting.
Andrew

[Tombie]

YES,better than most.Our Territory has much better lights,and they are normal halogen.Ford always did have reasonable lighting.
Andrew

Your Territory has better CRI [emoji41]
And no sharp cut off [emoji56]

[GregMilner]

Without shelling out $1,000 or more for dedicated driving lights, would an HID upgrade for the standard D4 high beams do a passable job? I did this on the just-sold L322 but never got a chance to test them on a country drive at night.

[BMKal]

Without shelling out $1,000 or more for dedicated driving lights, would an HID upgrade for the standard D4 high beams do a passable job? I did this on the just-sold L322 but never got a chance to test them on a country drive at night.

I'm not sure that you can do that on your model (2016). Do you have separate high/low beam lights / globes in yours, or are both from a single bulb ???

In the earlier models like mine, there is a separate "high beam" light (commonly referred to as "infill" lighting. Generally speaking, this light is not worth two knobs of goat ****, as it cannot be adjusted separate to the rest of the headlight body, and is known to be a "possum spotter". While the possum spotters come on with hi beam - the real hi beam lighting is provided by the same globe which gives you your low beam lighting - in the case of HID - both hi and low beam are therefore HID. To be honest, if I pulled the globes out of the possum spotters, I don't think it would make a scrap of difference to what I can see in front of me, even with the driving lights turned off.

I upgraded both hi and low beam to HID in my D2. To be honest, the benefit in doing this is really only seen on low beam. Yes - there is some improvement on high beam, but it is not that flash and you will still find yourself wanting a decent set of driving lights to go with it.

My current D4 has factory HID lights, hi and low beam. Low beam is great - hi beam would probably be OK if I lived in suburbia and did not venture out onto country roads at night. If you travel in the bush at night, you are going to want some auxiliary lighting, whether you have factory HID hi beam or have upgraded from halogen to HID yourself. [wink11]

You can get a very good set of driving lights for about half what you have mentioned. My preference after trying many different types of lighting over the years is Fyrlyt, and I have their top of the range "Nemesis" which cost close to $1,000 for a pair. But you only really need these if you are doing a lot of long distance driving on long, straight roads where there is plenty of wildlife around. I would expect that the cheaper 12 volt Fyrlyts at around $500 a pair would be plenty good enough for most applications on the east coast of Australia or around the Perth / Bunbury region - I found that what I have on mine was definitely overkill last time I was over east and in Tassie. You simply cannot use the range that these lights provide unless you are well inland. [wink11]

[GregMilner]

Mmm, not sure about the lights on my D4, it's bog standard SE specification, so "bi-xenon" as quoted in the LR spec sheet. The low-beam I believe are LED. For the very little night driving we do, I'm thinking a 20 inch LED light bar might be more than enough to get us out of a fix.
Bearing in mind that most of our long distance travel is towing a camper trailer, we don't want to be setting up in the dark anyway if at all possible. And if we do get caught at dusk, we certainly won't be driving at 100kmh.
Stopping more than 5 tons in a hurry is never going to be ideal.

[BMKal]

If you have "bi-xenon" headlights - that means that both hi and low beam are already HID. Same as what I have. [wink11]

Easy way to tell - when you first turn on your headlights, do they flash on very bright for a split second, then drop to a much lower intensity output before gradually increasing again to their normal output ?
This is very typical of all HID lights.

I could be wrong on this and no doubt someone will correct me if I am - but I'm pretty sure that no D4's come with LED low beam. The fact that you have said "bi-xenon" as quoted in the LR spec sheet" tells me that you have HID and not LED headlights.

A 20 inch LED bar would be more than enough to supplement your high beam in most circumstances, particularly if you do not do a lot of night driving. This is all my son has on his Amarok (and his headlights are not HID) and he is quite happy with this. I have a 40 inch "stealth" LED bar mounted under my roof rack. This throws a hell of a lot of light out and turns night into day. But it is a very "white" light and after a while gets hard on the eyes - especially if there are a lot of reflective road signs etc in front of you. I tend to turn the LED bar off most of the time these days, and only use the Fyrlyts that are on the bullbar. These produce a more yellow light which is a lot easier on the eyes - and actually allows you to see animals etc on the road a lot better than you can with only the white light from HID & LED.

If you don't have a bullbar on your D4, the Autospark store you have been dealing with also supplies stainless steel brackets that mount in behind the grille of the D4 and stick out through the bottom of the grille, so that you can mount either a LED bar or I believe that someone has used these to also hang a pair of Fyrlyts on. Very well made brackets ...................... but expensive for what they are. I would be making my own at that price, but I understand that others may not have this option available to them.

[BobD]

I wouldn't get a light bar unless you just want a lot of light close to the car. They don't provide much light at a distance I have found.

I have driven on heaps of country roads at night with the standard SE Bi Xenon lights and the only real issue is that they light up the tops of the trees a lot and also don't give much light at a distance. OK if you don't do more than about 90 to 100. I now have LED driving lights and they are fantastic and provide huge amounts of light as well as distance, when you can use them! They make the HID headlights seem like candles, even on low beam, which seemed very good until I turn the driving lights on and then dip them for on coming traffic.

[GregMilner]

Having only had the car for 10 days, I haven't yet driven it at night, even in the suburbs so no idea of the headlight starting characteristics. I note in the 2015 spec sheet it says "Xenon Headlamps with Signature Day Time Running Lamps (DRL)" whereas some of the car site tests over hte past year talk about "bi-xenon".

So I'm a bit confused. I'll take it into Barbagallo and ask them for a definitive answer.

Either way, I think a light bar will do the job for the small amount of night driving we do. And yes, I've seen those stainless brackets they use at Auto Spark in Osborne Park, very neat they are too.

[BobD]

Either way, I think a light bar will do the job for the small amount of night driving we do.

Greg, if you don't drive much at night the standard headlights are fine. The light bar won't help much at all unless you can get one with good light projection at a distance. The standard headlights have the same sort of range as any light bars I have seen or used and it is the short cutoff length that is the issue with the standard headlights, not so much the lack of light close up.

I suggest you go for a drive for an hour on Brookton Highway or similar to see how you like the standard headlights before you get a light bar. Watch out for roos though.

[BMKal]

If you have Xenon headlights in a D4, then you have "bi-xenon". They are one and the same. [wink11]

Xenon lights (whether headlights / driving lights etc) are also known as "HID".



You may also have LED DRL's - these are not your headlights. Different thing entirely.


Also - there is generally NO DIFFERENCE between the output of an LED light bar and round LED driving lights, provided that they are using the same or similar LED's and have the same number of LED's in the unit. It is simply a different layout of exactly the same light source in most cases. There are some exceptions to this, but these are generally in the "high end" LED driving lights where different LED's are used with larger parabolic reflectors. The commonly available LED driving lights that you see on many vehicles are no different to an equivalent light bar often supplied under the same brand name.

As for the range of LED bars - like anything, you get what you pay for. A decent LED light bar (such as the one that I have under my roof rack) will easily out perform the standard D4 HID headlights on high beam, in brightness, light spread to the sides, AND in range. [wink11]

The light bar can't match decent halogen or HID driving lights for range (neither can round LED driving lights) - but they can certainly beat headlights.

[BobD]

The trouble is all light bars are not created equal!! Good to know that there are some that work well with decent range. They all put out lots of light and lots of spread but range is not equal between different light bars. I have driven with at least 3 that did not increase range significantly at all.

From what you are saying, BMKal, you need to look at the size of the reflectors on the LED's. If they are small like all the cheaper light bars seem to use, the range is rubbish. If they are nice big reflectors on each LED then the range can be similar to the driving lights which have nice big reflectors! There are no guarantees, though. They all seem to make similar claims so how can you really tell how good they are until you try them out?

[DiscoJeffster]

At the end of the day, you can't go past a decent old school halogen pencil beam for seeing kilometres into the distance [emoji6]
Most multi-LED lighting is designed to improve your short to medium distance viewing, not long. I guess as long as you have enough visibility to see the obstacle ahead within your braking distance, then you're ok no matter what you choose.

[GregMilner]

Good idea Bob, I'll take a drive at night and see how they go. Here's one I found with big reflectors: 20″ 240W Double Row Cree LED light bar, 10W series (Combo) - Led Light Bars Australia (http://www.led-light-bar.com.au/product/240w-double-row-led-light-bar/)

My main concern is the IP rating. These are rated at IP67, which is reasonably good for protection against dust and water ingress. Everybody seems to worry most about projection, spread and Kelvin rating. I'm more concerned about drowning the things in river crossings.

[GregMilner]

At the end of the day, you can't go past a decent old school halogen pencil beam for seeing kilometres into the distance [emoji6]
Most multi-LED lighting is designed to improve your short to medium distance viewing, not long. I guess as long as you have enough visibility to see the obstacle ahead within your braking distance, then you're ok no matter what you choose.

True Jeff...also,
my experience with roos is they wait sneakily by the side of the road till you're almost upon them, then commit suicide. I don't need to be able to see a roo 2 kilometres ahead of me, I need to see the ones off to the side. They're the ones that scare me.

[drivesafe]

Hi Greg and if you are after optimum night time kangaroo spotting, for the past 30+ years I have been driving around the north west of NSW and roos have always been problem.


About 30 years ago, after some good advice from some locals, I started running roof mounted driving lights as well as bumper mounted driving lights and have had roof lights on nearly every vehicle I have owned ever since.


This includes both my L322 RRs.


I started out with 4 x 130w spotlights and over the years, I eventually found 4 x 55w Hella 181 driving lights gave the best results.


The two in the middle faced directly forward and each side one is pointed slightly off centre.


While I ran 2 x bumper mounted driving lights on my first L322, I have never bothered to mount anything but the roof lights with my second L322.


I am experimenting with a 100w LED bar at the moment. Just need to setup a quick release mount for it.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/480.jpg


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/481.jpg

[GregMilner]

Hi Tim, yes I would love to run roof mounted lights, but unfortunately they've recently been outlawed in WA I'm told.

[BobD]

Hi Tim, yes I would love to run roof mounted lights, but unfortunately they've recently been outlawed in WA I'm told.

Yes, lights must be below the bonnet line at the front now. No roof rack lights in WA any more. I thought it was the same in other parts of Aus as well.

[drivesafe]

Hi Bob and Greg, do some checking in WA.


Roof lights have always been legal in QLD, and are now legal in other states since the ADRs were changed to allow for roof mounted lights.


Again, check in your state because I know WA has always had very stringent vehicle light regulations, but they may now have similar regs to the ADRs.

[loneranger]

I got pinged last year for having a lightbar on top of my bullbar but sitting below the level of the bonnet. I still haven't been able to get DOT to tell me under what legislation it is illegal as the last contact referred me to the vehicle manufacturer to clarify why it was illegal.

Good luck getting a sensible thought out response from them. 😀

[DiscoJeffster]

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/licensing/LBU_VS_IB_123.pdf

Correct! If the spot lamps are considered 'driving lamps' then they are now permitted (though not recommended) to be higher than the driver, assuming they do t reflect off parts of the vehicle affecting the driver's vision. They must also only function on high beam.

[Tombie]

I got pinged last year for having a lightbar on top of my bullbar but sitting below the level of the bonnet. I still haven't been able to get DOT to tell me under what legislation it is illegal as the last contact referred me to the vehicle manufacturer to clarify why it was illegal.

Good luck getting a sensible thought out response from them. [emoji3]

Here you go...

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/licensing/LBU_VS_IB_132.pdf

[BobD]

Tim, I stand corrected. According to the rules dated 2015 there are no height restrictions on driving lights, which is good news indeed. The police have been stopping people with high lights over the last year or two but it seems that is now incorrect. The last time I looked at the regulations, maybe just before the new regs were introduced when my son was pinged by the police for a roof mounted light bar, there was a height limit and it seemed that all the light bars in WA were illegal. I can now tell him and his mates they don't have to worry about high mounted light bars.

They must not obstruct the driver's vision and are not supposed to reflect off any part of the car into the drivers eyes so they could still fail on that test, but there is now no height restriction.

Thanks Tim.

Maybe I was a bit hasty. There are special rules for light bars, as against driving lights. This is a copy of the latest rules from August 2015, which is what I previously saw.


"Vehicle Safety and Standards
Information Bulletin

LED LIGHT BAR FOR USE AS ADDITIONAL DRIVING LAMPS


Background

Australian Design Rules (ADR) 13/00 previously required that additional headlights be fitted in pairs
only. This inadvertently prohibited the fitment and use of LED light bars. The ADRs have recently
been amended to remove this requirement.

However, this requirement to fit additional headlights in pairs still exists in the Western Australian
Road Traffic (Vehicles) Regulations 2014 (the Regulations). Notwithstanding the aforementioned
amendments to the ADRs, Regulations 286 and 289 of the Regulations have the same effect which
prevents the lawful fitment of an LED light bar in Western Australia (WA).

The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Transport has issued an exemption under the
provisions of Regulation 462 of the Regulations. This exemption will provide for the lawful fitment
of an LED light bar in WA. The exemption notice is effective from 8 August 2015 and will be valid
for a period of three years (expiring on 8 August 2018). The fitment of an LED light bar will be
subject to conditions as stipulated in this bulletin.

Definitions

For the purposes of this bulletin, the following definitions apply:

LED light bar means a lamp which contains multiple LED light sources in one or more rows.

Motor vehicle means a motor vehicle that has four or more wheels

Conditions

The exemption is subject to compliance with the following conditions:


The LED light bar(s) must be installed at the front of the vehicle and not higher than the front
edge of the bonnet.


The LED light bar(s) must be installed horizontally and located symmetrically about the
longitudinal centre line of the vehicle.


The LED light bar(s) must be forward facing and positioned in a way that the light produced
does not cause the driver of the vehicle discomfort, either directly or by reflection while in the
normal driving position. "

[loneranger]

Here you go...

http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/licensing/LBU_VS_IB_132.pdf
Yes my argument is that is not legislation but the DOT view of the law. They were unable to quote any actual legislation to support why it was illegal.

[loneranger]

My surion will be upgrading to Nemesis and removing the light bar. But in that bulletin it says the light has to be below the edge of the bonnet which mine was.

As someone who uses and applies legislation daily at work I'm firmly of the belief there are enough holes in that document for it to be unenforceable.

[loneranger]

Should read solution

[BobD]

You beat me to it Tombie.

[loneranger]

So you can have led spotlights on your roof but not a led lightbar. Good old WA making things simple.

[drivesafe]

So you can have led spotlights on your roof but not a led lightbar. Good old WA making things simple.
It sounds like the crap other states have had to sort out.


Under the old ADRs, you can not have one light, there must be two, set out evenly, or words to that effect.


The original solution was to fit a LED light bar and then permanently cover the centre LEDs.


QLD were the first to change their regs to allow for full LED bars, without having to cover the centre LEDs.


This is just the law makers trying to catch up with new technology.

[BMKal]

I've always found that at least in WA, these things seem to be up to the interpretation of the individual copper you are dealing with.

A while back (when it was illegal to have ANY forward facing driving roof on the roof), I was pulled over in Kalgoorlie and chatted about the two small forward facing Hella spotlights on the roof rack of my work Prado. While they were talking to me, a well known dark green Falcon ute went past, with a row of very large spotlights mounted on a bar across the roof. When I pointed out this ute to the coppers, they said "so what" - we're dealing with you at the moment. When I then pointed out that the green ute was very well known around town, and belonged to their sergeant (who was driving it at the time) - they had a change of heart and sent me on my way. [bighmmm]

I've had a 40 inch Baja Designs Stealth LED bar mounted under the roof rack of the D4 for five years now. This vehicle used to virtually live in Perth when I was working down there, and has done many trips between Perth & Kal, mostly at night. It has also been across to Tassie twice, plus a separate trip over to SA for the annual Land Rover gathering at Melrose a couple of years ago. I have been pulled over many times for random breath tests and a variety of other reasons (yes - including speeding) - and not once have I ever even been questioned about the LED light bar above my head. It simply does not even rate as an issue with the coppers I have dealt with. I also know a few coppers personally around town here - they are all aware of the light bar, and could not care less about it. [wink11]

Now if I was to use it inappropriately to annoy or to cause unsafe conditions for others, I have no doubt I'd be pinged - but that would be entirely my own fault .................

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/473.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/568zluoit/)

[loneranger]

It sounds like the crap other states have had to sort out.


Under the old ADRs, you can not have one light, there must be two, set out evenly, or words to that effect.


The original solution was to fit a LED light bar and then permanently cover the centre LEDs.


QLD were the first to change their regs to allow for full LED bars, without having to cover the centre LEDs.


This is just the law makers trying to catch up with new technology.
Looking at the dates they werepublished the driving light exemption was published first and was probably not considered when they published the lightbar exemption.

[loneranger]

I've always found that at least in WA, these things seem to be up to the interpretation of the individual copper you are dealing with.

A while back (when it was illegal to have ANY forward facing driving roof on the roof), I was pulled over in Kalgoorlie and chatted about the two small forward facing Hella spotlights on the roof rack of my work Prado. While they were talking to me, a well known dark green Falcon ute went past, with a row of very large spotlights mounted on a bar across the roof. When I pointed out this ute to the coppers, they said "so what" - we're dealing with you at the moment. When I then pointed out that the green ute was very well known around town, and belonged to their sergeant (who was driving it at the time) - they had a change of heart and sent me on my way. [bighmmm]

I've had a 40 inch Baja Designs Stealth LED bar mounted under the roof rack of the D4 for five years now. This vehicle used to virtually live in Perth when I was working down there, and has done many trips between Perth & Kal, mostly at night. It has also been across to Tassie twice, plus a separate trip over to SA for the annual Land Rover gathering at Melrose a couple of years ago. I have been pulled over many times for random breath tests and a variety of other reasons (yes - including speeding) - and not once have I ever even been questioned about the LED light bar above my head. It simply does not even rate as an issue with the coppers I have dealt with. I also know a few coppers personally around town here - they are all aware of the light bar, and could not care less about it. [wink11]

Now if I was to use it inappropriately to annoy or to cause unsafe conditions for others, I have no doubt I'd be pinged - but that would be entirely my own fault .................

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/03/473.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/568zluoit/)
I got pinged during the day. Leaving Denham cops went passed. Immediately pulled over and did a u-turn and pulled me over.

[GregMilner]


The LED light bar(s) must be installed at the front of the vehicle and not higher than the front
edge of the bonnet.


The LED light bar(s) must be installed horizontally and located symmetrically about the
longitudinal centre line of the vehicle.


The LED light bar(s) must be forward facing and positioned in a way that the light produced
does not cause the driver of the vehicle discomfort, either directly or by reflection while in the
normal driving position. "

Nope, light bars cannot be fitted to the roof in WA Bob. Or above the leading edge of the bonnet. As per the Department of Transport bulletin of August 6, 2015.

120477

[Tombie]

Yes my argument is that is not legislation but the DOT view of the law. They were unable to quote any actual legislation to support why it was illegal.

States have the legal right to introduce their own rules, over riding ADRs if they desire.

[loneranger]

But it would have to be legislation through parliament and these aren't. If the police want to put a sticker on your car it has to be for breaching legislation. Otherwise how can you challenge it in court?

[cjc_td5]

So I can install a row of individual led spotlights across my roofline but if they are in a single housing (ie lightbar) I can't? :-/
C