Total impulse buy. Picked up a pair of Hella 500 driving lights.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/hella.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8811.jpg

I've seen the simple light bar by affixing a piece of flat bar to the roof rack but I wanted something a little different. I looked around and gathered some ideas up.

First I used 1/2" square tube so I can tuck all the wires in and keep it nice and clean.

Second I made a drop bracket. The bar and the light mounting are hidden behind the wind deflector and between the rails of the roof rack. This also lowers the clearance height of the truck by a couple of inches. Sometimes it matters. I am also hoping that setting them down and a little back will act as a "cut off" and keep any glare off the windshield and hood.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8822.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8820.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8830.jpg


And I left plenty of space for the sunroof to open.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8826.jpg


Next I painted everything flat black.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8831.jpg

The stone guards came white.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8817.jpg

The mount hardware was silver
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8818.jpg

The mountain dew can was green.....ok, ok....I got a little carried away.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8819.jpg

and a little over spray...
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/mac1183/xterra/light%20bar/IMG_8815.jpg


I measured it out and mocked it up to hole up to 6 lights. The plan is to eventually put a pair of fog style to the outside of the driving lights, as is very common around here. And then get a pair of flood style set out on the very end pointed out towards each side of the truck.

Total fabrication time: ~2hours
total cost: ~$95 with lights


Just need to get a little more paint on a few pieces, then wire up the lights. Will update with pics of the new lighting, hopefully tomorrow night after work.

nice. put up pics of how you wire it from the roof(unless you go through sunroof)

I plan on taking the easiest path possible, which probably means through the weather stripping on the sunroof.


About wiring, was wondering where people were getting their constant and switched power from inside the truck? I know the Hella install doc has you run the constant from the battery and wants the switched from the headlight, but there has to be a good place for each of those behind the dash?

I had the lights on when I directly wired them but when I tried to run everything through the relay that came with the kit I was having problems. Anybody shed some light for me?

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7038/10609e.jpg

that is what mine looks like.. it is also a drop down bar.
also this is what yours could look like if you put 4 hellas on

Anybody shed some light for me?

Shed some light? Ha ha ha. Cough. Ha?

At any cost avoid wiring the high draw for the lamps proper in the cab.

Re-examine your wiring for the relay, it will work.

As far as getting a switched 12v add a 'tap-a-fuse' into one of the slots and wire your switches through that. Put the 12v constant directly to the battery, or tap off of the battery and make a bus-bar so you can add more lights!

Looks good! I also had problems with the relay that came with the Hellas. It kept poping the in line fuzes. Luckily I had a relay in the garage and plugged that in and it worked. I guess I got a bad one.

looks great. roadwarrior, could u post more pics of urs, i was planning on doing something like that.

looks great. roadwarrior, could u post more pics of urs, i was planning on doing something like that.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/6909/106094.jpg

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2316/106097.jpg

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7785/106095.jpg

i have some night pictures too.. but those are mostly of how the lights work.. and not really the light bar

nah thats what i wanted. i wanted to see th bar itslef. like i said, im interested in doing something like that to mine.

where did u run all the wires tho? and where did u put ur switches?

where did u run all the wires tho? and where did u put ur switches?

I ran all the wires together into one main power wire. and that ran from the relay (below my fuse box) up the interior roofline, and then to the lights. i took the power from the battery (fused immediatly ((30amp)) then through a hole in the firewall) and attached that to the relay.

the switches are where those pointless little black covers are located aka next to the dimmer and the security light (drilled holes and places the switches in the plates/covers)

any more questions?

no that pretty well covers it. i appreciate the info.

Shed some light? Ha ha ha. Cough. Ha?

At any cost avoid wiring the high draw for the lamps proper in the cab.

Re-examine your wiring for the relay, it will work.

As far as getting a switched 12v add a 'tap-a-fuse' into one of the slots and wire your switches through that. Put the 12v constant directly to the battery, or tap off of the battery and make a bus-bar so you can add more lights!



cant find anything for a "tap a fuse" got a pic or a link?




ah, one of these dealies?

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/images/WIR-3013.jpg


Seeing that the switeched power is just running to the switch, I shouldn't need much more than 10-15A, right?

I like the look of the lights poking up from the guard!

cant find anything for a "tap a fuse" got a pic or a link?




ah, one of these dealies?

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/images/WIR-3013.jpg


Seeing that the switeched power is just running to the switch, I shouldn't need much more than 10-15A, right?




i couldve used one of those when wiring my cb radio. instead, i rednecked it. just wrapped the stripped wire around a fuse =)

i couldve used one of those when wiring my cb radio. instead, i rednecked it. just wrapped the stripped wire around a fuse =)

it was like $4 @ autozone. go buy one. ya fuggin redneck.:wink-big:

It looks really good so far- props to your handiwork. I would like to see someone try to make the driving lights hide in the Xterra plastic cover on top and when switched on, the lights pop up similar to those older sports cars which pop up the head lights when on. Except for this you have them hidden under that plastic cover and when you switch on the off road lamps they sort of pop up.
Just an idea

it was like $4 @ autozone. go buy one. ya fuggin redneck.:wink-big:

$2.00 on ebay :aufkopfhauen-big:

It looks really good so far- props to your handiwork. I would like to see someone try to make the driving lights hide in the Xterra plastic cover on top and when switched on, the lights pop up similar to those older sports cars which pop up the head lights when on. Except for this you have them hidden under that plastic cover and when you switch on the off road lamps they sort of pop up.
Just an idea

but then you have to cut your fairing..
1. they arent easy to come by
2. everyone likes them
2a. no one wants to ruin theirs
3. they would have to be motorized, and an outdoor motor at that.
4. good idea, but i think in this case, the cons outweigh the pros.

but if you find out how to, lets us know. you could be the first, and EVERYONE would want to copy you
:fan3-big:

well unless you got like a whole row of 5 or 4 to come up.. but the outdoor motor thing is going to be tough to hurdle

give me a few days to think about this....this is the kind of thing i LOVE to do.i doubt ill do it to mine, but i could probably find necesary equipment and how tos.

i thought about it, and i have come up with a way i think would be awesome. it involves no cutting of the front piece either, so thatd be a plus for most people.

Imagine this, because i have no sketches on the computer to show you. in the basket, like road warrior's, theres a round tube mounted to either side of the roof rack. its dropped down, like warrior's. The tube is probably about a half inch in diameter, and its inside a slightly larger tube, so that the outside larger tube can roll on the smaller inner tube.

mount the lights on the larger turning tube. a small outdoor motor will be needed, and can either be chained or sprocketed to the larger tube, so that when turned on, it turns the tube 1/4 around in one direction, then back to its original position when off.

wire the lights and motor together, so when the lights are on, the motor turns the lights up. when the lights are turned off, the motor turns them back to lying back in the basket.

the only real problems im seeing is finding a motor that stops turning after a quarter tuen, and find a place to hind the motor. maybe right infront of the basket, under the wind deflector. this actually looks feasible. i might actually do this. and no one has to cut the wind deflector either. i realize its not exactly what the idea was, with them popping out of the deflector, but i like it.

In fact, im already looking for motors and parts for doing this.

they have those.. they are called motorized light bars.. search them, someone asked about them a while back, but good idea

seriously?!

heres a sketch i drew up of how it mounts, and where the motor connects via belt. the belt is supposed to be flush with the mount, but i put space in the drawing to show the inner tube better. the sprocket is connected directly to the outer tube, while the mount is connected directly to the inner tube.
http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/soulsaege/CIMG1929.jpg

that looks good, and hey, even though they already make them, make your own. it will be unique and you never know who will want one.

go for it. then post pics.

i think i will. and i thought of a way to make it headlight style with it coming out of the wind deflector thing. ill post a how to later.

i think i will. and i thought of a way to make it headlight style with it coming out of the wind deflector thing. ill post a how to later.

well sounds like you are persistant with this. sorry to knock on you earlier. i just didnt think it could be done, or done easily

but sounds like you have a solid thought