Due to the prevalence of beasties on the roads in our area (wombats, roos and deer) I have fitted spotlights to my truck and light bars to my wife and daughters Subarus. Lightbars mounted over the front licence plate are a pretty common item in country Australia. So now it's the Jags turn, and Lord knows I have the time. This is just a small add on but the info may be useful to owners in Oz as it uses a very popular plug and play kit from a mainstream supplier here (Kings/4WD Supacentre)

First problem is that the provided mounting plate that goes behind the licence plate doesn't play well with the recess in the s3 bumper. If fitted low enough to fit in the recess the bumper then interferes with fitting the light bar mounting and any upwards adjustment. Putting a lengthwise bend in the mounting plate to push the top out about 20mm made it all hang together. The mounting plate bolted to the bumper with a couple small stainless bolts and the licence plate with existing fittings and holes.






Probably best to layout the harness and test the package before installing. Just to be sure its working and likes whatever you are using for the relay signal leads. Issues can arise with different cars being switched +ve or switched -ve. This harness was faulty and replaced by the vendor , but they didn't bother taking this one back. After repairing what ailed this harness, it tested OK with a simple connection to +12v at the high beam connector




The harness went on the less cluttered drivers side (RHD) as we have the luxury of battery lug on the Jag to pick up a good battery supply on either side (I hate the 17 leads on the battery terminal syndrome). The standard relay holder is right above the power lug and a couple of good earthing options. The harness length going forward to pick up the high beam signal and connect the light bar are pretty much perfect with little need to stow excess. I cut away the black wire and connector that normally goes to a headlight wiring adapter and just connected the red wire with a bullet connector to the existing wiring to pick up a high beam signal. In my State extra lights must activate with high beam only and also must be able to be separately switched off, so I am emulating Clarke @o1xjr with an in ashtray super turbo switch for the light, Be warned that this does open up the whole ski slope fantasy land to be able to re-install the ashtray base but makes for a nice out of sight installation.




There is about twice as much cable than needed to do the cabin switch. I cut off the provided rocker switch as it was to big anyway and a metre of cable to help get it through the firewall. Bizarrely, being Jag wiring and all the horror that can conjure up, it was easy to get the cable into the cabin via the the same access that the speedo wiring uses, exactly in the right place beside the tunnel to get to centre console. Cut away the excess and terminated a small latching on/off switch in the bottom of the ashtray (some minor drilling of the ashtray base is needed)

If the other cars are a guide, the lightbar gives a slight increase in distance but a big increase in overall brightness and width of beam which is good for picking up critters on the side of the road. For less than $100, well worth having I think. It does interfere with the classic lines and all that, however if I don't see that wombat or Bambi I wont have any classic lines to worry about. Will probably also add some brighter H4s in the low beams as well as they are pretty dismal and are only going to look worse when the lightbar goes off when dipping the headlights.



Just one more car to go, this time with a curved mounting to work out.

 

interesting accessory. Have not seen it in the States. Could work wired to reverse lights too.

 

I'm just starting to see these things in Giant 4X4s, usually in broad daylight about eye level for Trucklet! I can't imagine meeting up with one of these in the dark.

Not too much wildlife dares enter the traffic corridor when I'm on the road, I think word gets around that I drive hard and I drive fast, so they had better just Get Out Of The Way!

Lest some think I'm just asking for speeding tickets, there are so many budget cuts for LEOs that the likelihood of capture drops every day.
(';')

 

I would have thought it could go well in the US with a little tailoring. Our licence plates and the need to have them front and rear are basically standardised so you have a product you know fits most cars in the country. I have seen quite a few 4WDs with mini bars at the rear , I think they are the motorbike version.

 

The lightbars arent so bad for dazzle(although eye level may be a different story) but the big ****/*** spotlights as fitted to my truck are another thing all together. Its lighter than daylight 300-400 metres out when those guys are on. The downside is that when you have to dip , your low beams look like you are just holding a cigarette lighter out in front the car until your eyes adjust. My neighbour wiped out the side of his Nissan Patrol like that , oncoming car, dip, deer!, bang. Happily just a side swipe and cosmetic damage.

 

^^^
Ah Yes!
When I first came to this part of the world, I had 4 - 110w Halogen headlights on my car (think aircraft landing lights) that lit up the landscape as you describe. (Each fixture had its own relay to keep from frying the wiring in my old Chrysler)

Such lighting was almost Required in the wide open spaces of Big Sky Montana, where the deer and the antelope play on the roads at night, but in California, they were not only serious Overkill but vastly Illegal.

Nix now wears 55w Halogens and there's so much more traffic here that the brights are seldom used.
BUT I HAVE THEM!!
(';')

 

Yep, I've noticed quite a lot of deer in the very early mornings on the outskirts of Healesville heading towards the Black Spur, nearly collected a couple coming home form a radio event in the truck.