Thread: The "bugger off thieves" spotlight mount

The time came for me to put some better lighting on the Disco, but the one thing that put me off doing it sooner was the prospect of having yet more stuff stolen. Solution - make the lights removable, but secure when fitted. See pics below for what I came up with. More fun with the welder.

The lights installed:


The lights are Lightforce RM170s which are very very bright, sourced through work. They sit on a removable rail as a pair.


Each side is secured with a butterfly nut and a 5mm shackle padlock. The mounts are stacked on top of the recovery hooks, whose bolts are done up very tight and would be extremely hard and time consuming to remove from the car. Better still, the would be thief will be under the car with only his knees visible... No problem, I can work with knees.


The light rail removed. The main bolts holding the lights to the rail are not accessible when the lights are mounted.


All that's left when the lights are removed. The wiring can be tucked back into the grill.


Detail of the mount.


The wiring is all tapped directly off the battery with heavy duty 30A lines kept as short as possible. The relay is next to the overflow tank. The right hand high beam powers the relay, and each spotlight is run on seperate leads.


Neatly located switch positioned to allow operation without taking hands off the wheel.


Another view from further back. The rocker switch is illuminated, not that you'd miss that the lights were on! At least it will show any breakdown in the low current side of the circuit.


All in all I am very pleased. The lights are extremely bright and can be focussed to vary spread. When angled up, view into the distance would be about 500m. More than enough to see the wildlife.

Nice neat job MacMan and good pics, you should put it in the project section.

Cheers