Lightbars & Rock Lights

Electrical & Lighting

Designed to light up the night for you. Nothing worse than wheeling at night and struggling to see what's around you — not only is it stressful, it can be a serious safety hazard to yourself as well as those around you.

Why LEDs?

With the development of LED lights came a new ease of lighting for offroad rigs. Not only are LEDs much brighter than conventional lighting, they use far less energy and create much less heat.

But best of all — they are very cheap to purchase.

Lightbars

Placement

So you've got some fancy new lightbars — now where do you install them? They come in all shapes and sizes, but generally they are placed in one of two locations:

Above the winch on the front bumper — shines forward well, similar to headlights, while remaining protected from damage
On top of the cab above the windshield — many people say this creates a glare making visibility worse, and the bar is more prone to damage as it's not well protected in that location

Personally, I've had good luck with them above the winch. Every vehicle is different though — you've got to find what works well for you.

Light Types

Lightbars come in three types of light pattern:

Spot — creates a more focused area of light, similar to a "beam"
Flood — creates a larger area of light but less focused
Combo — a hybrid of spot and flood, giving you the best of both styles. This is what most people run.

A standard lightbar mounted above the windshield

Wiring

Wiring up a lightbar can be as simple as a wire from battery to switch and then to the light. Some people will run a relay to control them, although I don't find it necessary as most lightbars require so little energy to operate.

Rock Lights

Overview

Rock lights are no different than LEDs — just think of them as a group of LEDs in a string together. They are often placed on the underside of a vehicle to illuminate the ground around your rig and the underside.

Mostly used as a "show-off" item, but for serious wheelers they can be a valuable asset. I do a lot of night wheeling and it is nice to be able to see the ground all around your vehicle.

Installation

Install is a little involved — the wiring is usually plug and play, but routing the wiring to so many lights can be a challenge. Nothing that can't be accomplished in a weekend though.

Features

Modern sets tend to come with a Bluetooth app for your phone as well as a remote to control the lighting. Features include:

RGB color changing of your choice
Fade patterns
Strobe patterns
Custom patterns

Pros & Cons

Pros

Great visibility of the ground and underside at night
Valuable asset for serious night wheeling
Fun RGB and pattern features
Plug and play wiring

Cons

Keeping them clean, especially in muddy areas
Routing wiring to many lights can be a challenge

Rock lights illuminating underside of 4Runner

My set of rock lights — plenty bright even with one burned out

Final Thoughts

Lightbars: A must-have for anyone doing any amount of night wheeling. Go with a combo beam pattern, mount them where they're protected, and keep the wiring simple.

Rock lights: Not a high priority item, but fun to have. If you do a lot of night wheeling like I do, they become more than just a show piece — they're a real tool for seeing what's around and under your rig.

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