LED light bar 2021 updated

Hello all,

After searching forums for updated info on lightbars I’m struggling to find recent purchase info and recommendations. looking to fit a 52 inch curved bar on the top of my 2000 D2.
If not maybe a smaller lightbar on a bar along the front of bumper / grill.

Anyone got any recommendations or is it just a case of the best reviewed / guaranteed bar off Fleabay or Amazoon??

Also what’s the crack with wiring it up to full beams but with a independent switch for manual on / off?

TIA

Make sure the LED bar has CREE LED emitters, and not 3W generic LED beads.

Squiz1 said:

Also what’s the crack with wiring it up to full beams but with a independent switch for manual on / off?

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Nothing wrong with that. That's how mine was wired.

Nodge68 said:

Make sure the LED bar has CREE LED emitters, and not 3W generic LED beads.



Nothing wrong with that. That's how mine was wired.

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okay I’ll keep my eyes peeled, ideally didn’t wanna spend too much so am probably looking at the generic Chinese unbranded ones. Only proper ones I found were mega!


Did you follow a wiring guide on here / YouTube?

Squiz1 said:

I’ll keep my eyes peeled, ideally didn’t wanna spend too much so am probably looking at the generic Chinese unbranded ones.

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The quality of LED bars seems to have dropped massively since I bought mine.
All the cheaper LED bars now have generic 3 Watt beads, like these.
Or 5050 cobs like these.
None of which are really suitable or useful in this application.
A minimum requirement for decent light output and beam pattern is something like the CREE XB-D, which although small in dimensions (2.5mm X 2.5m), produces a decent amount of light, which can be focused by the reflector, for good beam control.
The XB-D emitter looks like this.

There seem to be few Chinese bars equipped with XB-D emitters now, but when I was looking in 2017, there were many available.
I've found a few in the USA, which appear to have CREE emitters, but obviously you'd need to pay import duty on them, when they arrive. https://www.ebay.com/itm/202761306781

Squiz1 said:

Did you follow a wiring guide on here / YouTube?

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No.
Its easy to wire up, just like any other light.

Don't put it on the roof. All it will do is light up the bonnet and blind you!

Lightbars seem all over the show. Lots of cheap ****e and even the expensive ones still use ****e LEDs and nothing with a nice colour tint. Not sure I'd buy one, as there is no way I'd spank £500-1000 on one which still has bad tint. The £80-100 ones seem to be garbage. Guess it depends what you want to use it for though.

On road a light bar is typically more flood than spot. And the poor tint means I'd probably not want to use it to light the way while driving at speed. Out across the fields they may serve more purpose.

What would you reccomend for off road? Im looking at adding lights to my disco 2 but solely for offroad.

I had a small CREE bar on my FL1, which was absolutely brilliant, literally. Its beam went much further than the H7 mains on my FL1, and lit up the foreground better than the dip beams too. For the size of the bar, the light output was amazing. I'm missing it now I've switched to a FL2, so I'm thinking of installing it behind the radiator grill.