Lights for Crawling in the Dark

[gasiorv]

I have done several trail rides (ez trails, 3 out of 5) at night just using head lights with no real issues. Did my first night time rock crawling last year and I struggled to see and get my lines, after the first trail, I just quit. I then installed some undercarriage lights similar to Stu Olson's and I didn't find it too much help from the driver's seat on the next outing. It may help spotters, but for me it was little, but not enough help from driver's seat. May go to a Thanksgiving weekend event which includes some night crawling and am looking to install some lighting that would help me in the rocks from the drivers seat. I installed some lights in the front wheel wells (pointing outward and down), but they cast tire shadows right in the area that I want to be looking. So now I am looking at moving the lights to more on the side of body pointed outward (basically where Jeep symbol is just above rock slider) that will give me light where I am looking from the driver's seat but it also may blind a guy who is spotting and not allow him to see under my jeep.

I am not going for looks, but effectiveness, they can even be temporary just for the event. Something that throws bright light in front or back won't work for me because I am normally in a group and I don't want to blind the guy in front or behind me. I am just looking to light up the area that will help me pick and stay on my lines in the rocks. What have you used for night time rock crawling that worked? Is it best to have the lights pointed down under the jeep or out to the sides?

 

[jpnjohn]

Check these out, https://dcslighting.com/
I recently was in an all night recovery and wished I had rock lights. I found these guys and decided it was cost, time, and install perfect. Waiting for my package to arrive.

 

[joe98tj]

I dont own them but I know the owner and DCS lighting rock light kits are awesome. Lots of people up here run them and love them

 

[DaveF]

I have my led headlights, some underbody led rock lights, but then I added a couple of small 'flood' lights on the corners of the bumper pointed down and out to the sides at nearly 45 degrees. For me they help a ton when cresting something or going around tight curves/drop off etc. Below is a pick taken last weekend by a friend, the underbody is just enough for spotter to see rocks under me without being blinded, the one corner flood happens to be pointed at the cameraman here so it's bright but you can see the main spot it hits on the ground to the passenger front side.

There are more extensive setups, but this works for me most of the time and was relatively inexpensive + easy to set up.

 

[someguysjeep]

@tworley , you had some ground lamps in those last pics that did the trick.

 

[tworley]

@tworley , you had some ground lamps in those last pics that did the trick.

I used some cheap ebay outdoor leds. Each strip, if I remember correctly, has 5 leds. I have 3 (15 total) strips under the front bumper, maybe 6 strips on each side attached to the underside of the body, and a handful around and above the rear driveshaft. Rarely do I use them, but they do come in handy when I do wheel after dark. Tied to a relay so I can flip them on/off whenever.

Unable to load pictures at the moment, but check my build from thread early September 2020 and as early as yesterday

 

[LONGJP2]

As you noted, rock lights are more for the spotter than the driver.
They also provide good trail lighting without blinding other drivers.
Nice for nighttime trail repairs too.
The next step up would be cameras.

 

[LONGJP2]

I pulled the trigger on some of these.

https://luxlightingsystems.com/collections/rock-lights

Being magnetic is nice for figuring out where to put them, but once you run the wires you'll probably never move them again.