I know I know you have heard it all before.......but this time I got something new......I have a guy in the area who is willing two make up some roof rack light bars....(certain MODELS only)

mainly for 2000 chevy tracker 4 door body style with built on roof rack....the light bar would mount to the front mount points of the roof rack bars......my thing is what should I do about wiring.......drilling a hole being my last option.............thought about using the antenna holder and using that as a plug in area.......

oh and how thick a wire would I need to power 4x55 watt halogen bulbs properly....220watts

all ideaa welcome

If you have a factory carrier, you could pull the caps on the carrier mount and go thru the top down into the headliner forward to one of the front windshield pillars (these covers pull off easily) and then down under to the dash.  If you have no factory carrier, you'll probably still have to tap mounting hole/s in the top, so do the same thing.  In either case, make sure you seal the hole where the wires pass thru the body with a silicone sealer to prevent leaks, prevent rusting, and prevent the wires from chafing on the metal.

As stated on an earlier post, make sure your state allows using lights on the roof of your truck.  Some have laws about keeping them below the windshield.

As stated on an earlier post, make sure your state allows using lights on the roof of your truck.  Some have laws about keeping them below the windshield.

I am in the PRovince on ONtario....but I never really thought about the legality of lights on my roof....I will check out the laws on that thanks for a heads up

if the laws are like anything is BC, you can have the lights up there all you want, but they want you to have covers on them when "on road", even bumper mount offroad lights need them........mind you not very many people use the covers here despite that, but all it takes it one cop that wants to give you a fine for it......


-Lance

For what it's worth - I'm running 55w halogen bulbs, and I'm not all that impressed. They're not much better than my stock headlights on high beam. The one nice thing is I get more visibility to the sides... but that's not what I was trying to do.

For what it's worth - I'm running 55w halogen bulbs, and I'm not all that impressed. They're not much better than my stock headlights on high beam. The one nice thing is I get more visibility to the sides... but that's not what I was trying to do.

That's why I'm running HID

For what it's worth - I'm running 55w halogen bulbs, and I'm not all that impressed. They're not much better than my stock headlights on high beam. The one nice thing is I get more visibility to the sides... but that's not what I was trying to do.

Last night my son & I were having a discussion that I think I'd like to repeat here - primarily because of that "I'm running 55w halogen bulbs".

You really need to consider the type of lamps you're using - fog lamps, driving lamps or spot lamps - each style will typically take the same 55w H3 bulb, but each type is designed to do a different job, and will have a different reflector and lens design.

Fog lamps have a wide beam pattern with a sharp horizontal cut off, the idea being to shine through the fog below the driver's line of sight and not to reflect off of the fog back into the driver's eyes - these should not be mounted above the driver's head, and should not be used in conjuction with the high beams, as the high beams will typically reflect off of the fog, so that all the driver can see is an impenetrable white mass in front of the vehicle.  Fog lamps will typically give good visibility to the sides because of the wide beam pattern.

Driving lamps have a narrower beam pattern with a less pronounced horizontal cut off - these are intended to supplement the high beams and will usually light the road ahead noticeable further than your high beams.

Spot lamps have an even narrower pattern than the driving lamps and typically will be a round beam - ie. no horizontal cut off - these are intended to illuminate objects at extreme distances.

Unfortunately there appears to be a wide range of lamps on the market which are designed more for fashion than function (these tend to be the lower priced units) I've seen several with no scientific design to either the reflector or the lens and at least in my experience they just scatter light in a general forward direction.

If you want a decent lamp you'll have to buy based on brand - Cibie is good, the Oscars and Super Oscars have been the main stay of perfomance rally drivers for decades, I've also used Marchal Equilux which were simply phenomenal.

The functionality of my lights is just to light up everything infront of my vehicle top to bottom....switched out the small 14 gauge wire that came with the light package  with 12 gauge wiring as your chart suggests  fordem and I notice a difference.....most likely will be buying 2 more for the back as I need them for when I go hunting and put the deer or atv in the trailer........they make great FLOOD lights anyway.........at the police station an OPP officer notified me that I could be pulled over for having the covers off my offroading lights(roof rack lights not bumper lights).....luckily the Baja ones came with some durable hard plastic covers...I will abide by the rules for sure...........I am sure I dont need rally quality lights on top as I will not be flying down a dirt road at night at around 150km an hour.....the bajas are also small enough that they dont interfer with the roof rack......thus i can keep them on and still use my cargo carrier ontop without either one interfering with each other......

as for the front bumper I will see about getting some rally quality ones maybe I will switch them out and use those ones on the rear of my tracker..

yeah, but I'm a cheap bastard

I prefer the word "frugal" over "cheap" bastard.  However, I am still a "picky" bastard, I just can't find any other word to describe that part of me.

There's nothing wrong with "frugal", especially given the economic constraints that most of us are probably facing - and I'm pretty sure there are some good, inexpensive lights out there, but, there's no way to separate the wheat from the chaff except by looking at the beam pattern on a dark night.

Hella is a name that has been around for a while, Amazon has their 500 driving light kit for $40 - I haven't tried it personally (yet), but it is on my short list.

I am running numerous Hella 500's up top and a pair of Pilot NV-200C's on the winch mount, the Hella's make a very concentrated beam you can see, the Pilots flood the area with light.  I have since added extra Pilot NV-200C's as side and rear flood lights on the roof rack.  Fordem makes very valid points about the lights, I have run Hella's since the late 80's and recently ran PIAA's, they are all different and some are just for show.  I may have gone overboard and have too many lights, but I did list on a blog what switches and wire harness I used for the second battery and where I found these items for the lowest price.
http://tracker4x4.blogspot.com/2009/05/hella-500-series-off-road-lights.html