February 5, 201214 yr What's the decent amount and whats straight over kill?? I've seen 8 on a rig myself and it had individual fuses and was not wired through the headlights. I have a goal to make a rescue car out of my loyale is it possible to run more than twelve? With dual battery, individual switches,single fuses on each light ext..?
February 5, 201214 yr What's the decent amount and whats straight over kill?? I've seen 8 on a rig myself and it had individual fuses and was not wired through the headlights. I have a goal to make a rescue car out of my loyale is it possible to run more than twelve? With dual battery, individual switches,single fuses on each light ext..? 12 would be a bit much on the stock alternator. The GL alternator is a 60amp unit. That's optimum output. I don't know what the RPM rating for max output is, but it's something decently high. 60 amps at 14.4 volts is 864 watts optimum output. Now running 12 lights (assuming the're a standard 55w halogen) would consume 660 watts, or about 45 amps. That's only leaving 15 amps for the car to run, between the normal head lights, running lights, blower motor for your heat, computer, ignition, fuel pump.... etc. It's not enough. You'd need a way bigger alternator to support that type of load. Even in my car with three 100w aux lights the voltage boggs down at idle, it's just too much for the little old alt to push. No matter how many extra batteries you add, you still have to keep them charged, having an extra battery doesn't magically mean your lights take less power from the charging system.
February 5, 201214 yr Up here I've seen some with way too many. Here one trucker (who happens to sell truck lights) is almost completely lit up in the rear with leds, you wouldn't miss him on the road. Every part of his truck has some kind of light. Its a kenworth though.
February 5, 201214 yr Author I was thinking of running a GM 130 A or 200A alt and a good battery,a big alt like that should be able to supply that much amps at low rpms...right?? If I did dual batteries with an isolated to keep the primary one form going dead.??
February 5, 201214 yr I was thinking of running a GM 130 A or 200A alt and a good battery,a big alt like that should be able to supply that much amps at low rpms...right?? If I did dual batteries with an isolated to keep the primary one form going dead.?? You'd have to look at the specifications and output curve from that particular alternator. I don't know a lot about GM products. And remember, you have to figure the crank pulley is bigger than the alt pulley. So figure that into your calculations too.
February 5, 201214 yr I ran a completely separate electrical system on my 81 wagon years ago. Two alternators, two batteries, two fuse boxes individual if each other. I ran the auxiliary lights and radio off the secondary system that way if I ran them to long and killed the battery I could alway still start the car. It worked out very well and was cheap to do since I had alot of extra parts kicking around.
February 5, 201214 yr Author I ran a completely separate electrical system on my 81 wagon years ago. Two alternators, two batteries, two fuse boxes individual if each other. I ran the auxiliary lights and radio off the secondary system that way if I ran them to long and killed the battery I could alway still start the car. It worked out very well and was cheap to do since I had alot of extra parts kicking around. Sounds interesting what extra parts did you have? I think I have an idea on what. Sounds like a good idea I was gonna stash the second battery where the spare usually goes
February 5, 201214 yr Sounds interesting what extra parts did you have? I think I have an idea on what. Sounds like a good idea I was gonna stash the second battery where the spare usually goes Well I had a whole spare car. It was an 81 wagon so I had alittle more room to play with in the engine compartment. I just hung another Subaru alternator off the side of the original alternator using some of the factory brackets, then used another factory fuse box, stuck the second battery in the back and installed another factory volt meter I place of the clock in the instrument cluster. It worked perfectly.
February 5, 201214 yr Hella European headlight upgrade on lo lamps, Hella upgrade high lamps, factory center passing lamp, factory oem foglights. It is bright.
February 10, 201214 yr Ive seen a Tahoe with 8 forward facing lights (4 on bumper,4 on roofrack),4 side facing lights,and 2 rear facing lights.I believe that was somebodies SHTF vehicle.All the lights were on a roof rack,that also had 2 gas cans, and spare tire.Not to mention a lift and bigger tires.cool looking rig but I'm not sure if it goes offroad. that being said 6-8 offroad lights are fairly common.I have 4 that I am gonna mount to the roof of my offroader pointing forwards and two rear facing fog lamps.I just haven't got the ambition to try to remove the perfect headliner yet. I'm sure after I go wheeling in it it wont be perfect anymore..
February 10, 201214 yr Author Hella European headlight upgrade on lo lamps, Hella upgrade high lamps, factory center passing lamp, factory oem foglights. It is bright. That's lookin sweet with the bumper :banana: how did you do your wiring?? and thats exactly what I want with my rig uberoo just dont know if that would be "too much" I think I might do what subiefreak was talking about hmmm..
February 10, 201214 yr No need to go overkill. I saw a jeep with 16 off road lights on it. I think it was a testosterone imbalance of some sort. Quality over quantity. High quality/bright headlights. A pair of lights on top, stock/smaller fog lights at bumper bottom, maybe one or two facing rearward for backing up. I use a 12v plug in yellow flasher light on top if I need to pull people out. Just sticks to the roof by magnet. I can put it up in 30 seconds. My old 83 wagon powered 4 big off road lights plus high beams without trouble.
February 10, 201214 yr seeing as we are talking about offroad lights how about placement.It seems alot of us run the lights on the roof because on the bumper is too low.the lights would get filled with water or simply smashed off.When it comes to the fullsize 4x4 crowd however bumper mounted lights are prefered because they seem to light up the trail better. on our subarus roof mounted lights are probally close in height to bumper mounted lights on fullsizes.. what do you prefer?
February 10, 201214 yr Author seeing as we are talking about offroad lights how about placement.It seems alot of us run the lights on the roof because on the bumper is too low.the lights would get filled with water or simply smashed off.When it comes to the fullsize 4x4 crowd however bumper mounted lights are prefered because they seem to light up the trail better. on our subarus roof mounted lights are probally close in height to bumper mounted lights on fullsizes.. what do you prefer? I like both honestly....I don't do crazy off roading where it will smash my lights ( I try to be as rowdy as I can at low speeds ) But I wouldn't mind a spot light where i can point wherever
February 11, 201214 yr I agree with the minamal approch. I only had two extra lights on the front of my wagon, well protected by the bumper. I have a tenancy to try and fit in places I dont belong and didn't want to risk loosing any lights off the roof and I'm sure I would have destroyed them when I had a roll over. It was bad enough I couldn't keep the front side markers from getting broken off all the time lol. Lots of lights look awsome on a show rig and are more nessesary on a desert racer but for most of our trail beaters it's just not needed.
February 11, 201214 yr There's my rigs The legacy has a stock alternator, seems to handle the current just fine. The wagon had a Nissan alternator when the picture was taken with a beefed up alternator to battery cable to handle the extra current. The more the merrier Edited February 11, 201214 yr by Markus56
February 11, 201214 yr Author Markus do you have any more pictures of the wagon? (lights and the alt?) Ive been needing to get my hands on a maxima alt read everywhere and seems to be the easiest.. But your rig is sick
February 11, 201214 yr I do alot of wheeling in the woods so it is fairly normal to have a tree limb smack the lights up top.I was thinking about building a cage out of 1/2" square steel tube to help protect them.Not to mention my old light bar mounts to the roof with 2 bolts through 1x2" aluminum blocks so it flexes abit.Probally could use stronger mounting for it as well.
February 12, 201214 yr Markus do you have any more pictures of the wagon? (lights and the alt?) Ive been needing to get my hands on a maxima alt read everywhere and seems to be the easiest.. But your rig is sick there ya go, To upgrade the alternator, it depends on if you are on a budget or not. If you are not on a budget, go to your local parts house and get a reman xt-6 alternator. should run you about 140 bucks plus a core. If you are on a budget, then find a nissan unit at a junkyard. i'd prefer it over a GM swap after having done both of them. It takes more time to get the spacer right, but less modding the car, and you can easily switch back.
February 29, 201214 yr There's my rigs The legacy has a stock alternator, seems to handle the current just fine. The wagon had a Nissan alternator when the picture was taken with a beefed up alternator to battery cable to handle the extra current. The more the merrier Hey Markus, on the wagon, what kind of lights are those on the roof rack and where'd you find that brush gaurd?
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