Rigid LED 20" Light Bar Install Details and Photos

[Zak Smith]

Here's the Rigid Industries E Series LED Light bar (20") mounted on my Fab Fours front bumper.



I had the option to mount it just below the front face of the bumper, or on the "platform" of the bumper just in front of the grille. I chose to try the bottom position first for two reasons: one, if I want to move it to the top, the extra holes will be hidden, and two, I am still considering putting a set of HIDs (or a 30+" bar) in front of the grille. The low mount position should also aid with reducing backscatter from dust and fog.



The 20" light is exactly wide enough to fit the downward face of the bottom of the bumper, and with the mounts adjusted, the LED bar is still higher off the ground than the rear bottom corner of the bumper. The light can be removed in about 5 minutes if I need the extra ground clearance in front.



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The E Series LED bars are comprised of one inch square reflectors with a LED light emitter in the center. These one inch square lights are set in blocks of 4 (2x2) and the bar is a bunch of these 2x2 blocks set together, so the 20" light bar is 20 columns x 2 rows for 40 total LEDs. Each reflector can be set up for a wide or spot beam; unless otherwise specified, the 20" bar comes with 3" of flood beams on each side and 14" of spot beam reflectors in the center. The light output of the 20" bar is advertised as 7200 lumens, and it only draws 78 watts.



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I don't have any night photos for brightness comparison yet, but the LED bar totally blots out the light from the stock headlights and fogs. Where-ever the truck is pointed, night is turned into day. I can only imagine the light thrown from the desert trucks that have 2x 50-inchers and 30 inches of dust lights on the front bumper



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This location in the dash trim is ideal for mounting aux switches- there is plenty of clearance behind it and the panel comes off easily if you remove the three Torx screws above the gauge cluster. The switch uses aux power to send a low current 12V signal to a relay that powers the lights from a fused battery connection placed by the fuse box. The Rigid lights come with a full wiring harness-- I cannibalized it for my wiring solution.



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I also picked up a pair of their "Dually" LED lights, which are essentially one 2x2 "cell" in an aluminum housing. I put one on each rear corner under the bumper as auxiliary back-up lights. These were wired to the Aux/Backup wire on the trailer wiring harness (center wire in the large bumper connector), so they come on automatically when I throw it in reverse. I bought these with the "flood" pattern, and then Rigid sent me some diffusing film to further spread the beam and remove the bright "hot spots" in the back-up camera image. The Dually lights are advertised at 1100 lumens and 10 watts. Here's the left-hand rear light mounted:



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Specs

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The E-series light is very durable- this was a big selling point YouTube - Rigid Industries E-series testing



Rigid Industries E Series Lights Rigid Industries - LED and HID lights



Rigid Industries Dually Light LED Fog Lights | Off Road LED Lights | Rigid LED Lights

 

[HOBrian]

That looks great and I was thinking about getting that light until I saw the $699. 99 price! I would love to see some night shots, that might change my mind!!

 

[Zak Smith]

It's roughly the same price or cheaper as an HID setup of the same quality. Vision X 6. 5" HIDs cost about $400 each for 3500 lumens, and 35 watts. So I'd be $800 into HIDs vs, $700 for the LEDs. About the same current draw for both, and within 3% of the same light output.

Other advantages of LED over HID:

* instant on/off: no warm-up time, no strike delay, etc.

* low heat output

* much more durable, everything is solid state

* pretty much completely uniform "beam" with no "fingers" or "hotspots", etc-- just a huge swath of light output

My primary experience with HID lighting is the Trail-Tech X2 HID on my KTM 450.

 

[Scooby]

Its a funny thing about these prices. If you often find yourself in places where you need these types of lights to see safely..... then get them..... think about it this way... . those lights are not very expensive once you subract out the deductable from your insurance after you whack into something you didn't see... . The lights are "free" if you subtract out the price of the rental car, etc... . and you're "making money" on these things if you could assign a dollar figure to your wife's expression when she finds out you hit something in the dark (and subtract that out).



Sorry - I'm in Marketing... I can't help but spin it..... :-laf

 

[PBliss]

Where did you find the front bumper? I have been looking at several, but most have the winch mount. I dont want or need the front winch. I like the light bar too.

 

[Zak Smith]

It's the Fab Fours Pre-runner style bumper
Fab Fours Bumpers > Home

It is designed to take the 16. 5ti winch- I don't have a winch installed now. The license plate covers the hole.

 

[Zak Smith]

Canon 30D, 24-70 F/2. 8L, ISO 800 F8 1/4s 38 mm

FabFours fog lights
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plus low beams
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plus high beams
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plus Rigid 20"
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I was on a flat dirt road with few features, so the comparison isn't great. What the photos don't show is the vertical spread of the LED because there's nothing above the road other than the horizon.

In the photo progression you can see how the LED bar throws further and wider than the stock high beams.

I drove about 70 miles after dark today and I was really impressed by how much light this 20" bar can throw. It's much more light output and more effective than the stock headlight on high plus fogs. It cannot be used with oncoming traffic, period.

 

[goodguys75]

my 2 cents is that is way too low for a mount... . you did say you were getting upper hids, but the lower is really not doing a whole lot... you want to mount higher to get the best light out of the light bar... . and on a second note, check out checker auto parts for there hid light... chinese made but they work great and have lasted me for several years of off road use... . just a little food for thought... ...

 

[Zak Smith]

I can easily relocate the bar to the top, but it is extremely bright in the present configuration. I would need twice the number of stock headlights on bright beam to be comparable.

 

[goodguys75]

if it works well then great... just looked a little low for led bar... . but it does look cool... ... ...

 

[Zak Smith]

You might be right. I can try it up there by just drilling two more holes.

 

[goodguys75]

You might be right. I can try it up there by just drilling two more holes.

like you said it works well where it is at, but you might not be getting all the light bar potential by being so low... ... I would try it up top... . a lot of money to spend and not get it too work its full potential... . just a thoughtOo.

 

[MCrossley]

I would be really worried about hitting the bar on a high curb or when traversing off-road etc. Looks great though! I put mine on top and love the light output....

 

[Sticks]

LED light prices have come down significantly since this thread started. Excellent lights, minimal amperage draw for what you get.

I've used the 24w work lights at work since 2010 and love them. So much better than Halogen, and you don't have to leave the truck running (24w draws 1.3 amps and puts out more than a 65w Halogen that pulls 4 amps). Better range, less shadows.

 

[JLeake]

If you are driving solo that is great and those lights look great. However, as one who has been nearly blinded by bright headlights (HID mostly), please be careful to use them only when no on-coming vehicles are present, from way more than the "legal" distance. You might be very surprised what on-coming drivers see and think.

 

[Powder Extreme]

You sold me on the light bar, thanks for posting those pics showing the different stages of your lights being turned on!
Looking around, I found a mount that puts the bar inside the bumper, here's a pic of it:

 

[jgillott]

Do you have the link to the mount you used? I'd love to add that to my 1/2 ton.

 

[mpaulson]

You sold me on the light bar, thanks for posting those pics showing the different stages of your lights being turned on!
Looking around, I found a mount that puts the bar inside the bumper, here's a pic of it:
View attachment 88400

I have a bar sitting in my garage that I'm planning on putting in my bumper slot just like this one but my only hesitation is that it blocks a lot of air that should be going to the inter cooler and may hinder the performance of it. What do you think?

 

[Powder Extreme]

That isn't my truck, jgillot, just a pic I found showing the mount I'd like to use. Rigid industries lists it on their website.

There's no doubt that it will block some of the airflow, but I really doubt it would be enough to make a noticeable difference.

The part I'm confused about is the height of the slot in the bumper vs. the height of the light bar. I've seen several pics showing the E series bar (2 rows of LED's) sitting flush inside the bumper. However the slot in my bumper is 3" and the E series bar is 3.25" tall.
The bar in the pic is an SR series (1 row of LED's) which is 1 5/8" tall. I wish we had some shops here in Montana that actually had these things in stock, I'd like to see it in person and see how it would fit.

 

[jgillott]

On the 1/2 ton like shown in the picture, that area is blocked with a piece of plastic. I'm not sure what if any the difference in the 1/2 and HD bumpers are, but there looks to be only about 1 1/2 set back in the plastic insert and maybe a 3" slot if you removed the pastic all together.