Thread: Light bar mounted between (to) roof rails?

My understanding of the LED Light Bars is that they are generally not a distance orientated light source - they offer bright light out to a fairly short range and in a wide spread. Designed for low speed driving.

If that is right, then a roof mounting is a terrible idea, as you have cost yourself of approximately 2 meters of light output for it to travel over the bonnet - not to mention potential glare issues off the bonnet and windscreen.

Roof lights should be distance lights. LED bars up the front - mounted forward.

i know a couple of people have roof mounted bars , when raining at night thats about all you can see , due to the glare, not sure what you have in the way of bullbar but if it is the same as mine then 20 or 24 inch single row will fit between my modified genuine bar. They cant steal it without opening bonnet either . Dont buy anything more than 30 degree spread on light bar , the spots are 10 degrees and this combo works very well
have a good christmas all ......... for a photo of my setup you will have to have a look at my thread on alternative intercoolers as it wont let me reload that pic on to this thread . To do that click on my user name , then view all posts ...... dont have many, so shouldnt take long to find that one
cheers

Originally Posted by twr7cx

My understanding of the LED Light Bars is that they are generally not a distance orientated light source - they offer bright light out to a fairly short range and in a wide spread. Designed for low speed driving.

If that is right, then a roof mounting is a terrible idea, as you have cost yourself of approximately 2 meters of light output for it to travel over the bonnet - not to mention potential glare issues off the bonnet and windscreen.

Roof lights should be distance lights. LED bars up the front - mounted forward.

Fair enough, I see your point. However, I've seen 50" light bars mounted to roof racks that were lighting up everything within 100-150m like it was midday.

Originally Posted by discorevy

i know a couple of people have roof mounted bars , when raining at night thats about all you can see , due to the glare, not sure what you have in the way of bullbar but if it is the same as mine then 20 or 24 inch single row will fit between my modified genuine bar. They cant steal it without opening bonnet either . Dont buy anything more than 30 degree spread on light bar , the spots are 10 degrees and this combo works very well
have a good christmas all ......... for a photo of my setup you will have to have a look at my thread on alternative intercoolers as it wont let me reload that pic on to this thread . To do that click on my user name , then view all posts ...... dont have many, so shouldnt take long to find that one
cheers

Don't currently have a bar, but do plan on fitting one without hoops to retain factory look and purely for the purpose of fitting the winch sitting in the garage. Bonnet glare I know will be an issue. This I will hopefully reduce by mounting the bar slightly rear of the windscreen, deflecting the light off the roof from hitting the bonnet. I'd also considered the idea of a matte black wrap for the bonnet.

I'll see if I can dig up some photos of my mates roof-mounted 30" light bar.

Originally Posted by twr7cx

My understanding of the LED Light Bars is that they are generally not a distance orientated light source - they offer bright light out to a fairly short range and in a wide spread. Designed for low speed driving.

If that is right, then a roof mounting is a terrible idea, as you have cost yourself of approximately 2 meters of light output for it to travel over the bonnet - not to mention potential glare issues off the bonnet and windscreen.

Roof lights should be distance lights. LED bars up the front - mounted forward.

Not sure about anywhere else, but roof mounted bars are now illegal in the ACT

Hello together!

I have the same Lightbar and want also Mount it on the Roof. Had four Led Spots but want more light! While working with the Winch or slowly crawling the Lights on the Roof are much better and give a better Illumination than Lights on the Bumper.
I have no RoofRails and dont want to drill holes in my Roof so i decided to build a Mount for the Gutters. They just look a little bi bit like the regular RoofMounts you can buy.
Just cut and bended the metalsheet and grinded the tube. Now i wait for welding.
When interessant i can Take pictures when i am back at my home After Christmas.

Bye!

Originally Posted by Werdenfelser

Hello together!

I have the same Lightbar and want also Mount it on the Roof. Had four Led Spots but want more light! While working with the Winch or slowly crawling the Lights on the Roof are much better and give a better Illumination than Lights on the Bumper.
I have no RoofRails and dont want to drill holes in my Roof so i decided to build a Mount for the Gutters. They just look a little bi bit like the regular RoofMounts you can buy.
Just cut and bended the metalsheet and grinded the tube. Now i wait for welding.
When interessant i can Take pictures when i am back at my home After Christmas.

Bye!

I'd love to see photos of this. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by snowbound

Not sure about anywhere else, but roof mounted bars are now illegal in the ACT

Same in Vic. Must not be above the bonnet or sticking out forward of the front bar.

Originally Posted by MSkinner

Fair enough, I see your point. However, I've seen 50" light bars mounted to roof racks that were lighting up everything within 100-150m like it was midday.

That's exactly my point - only 100m of light! At 100km/h, 100m takes less than 4 seconds to travel. 150m takes about 5.5 seconds. LED light bars have very little distance.

As a comparison for you, my roof rack mounted halogen lights illuminate out to 600m - that's illuminating the area that is almost 22 seconds away at 100km/h.