Everyone's seen those cheap utility lights mounted to the side of a semi or on a tractor, doing a bit of research I found out how to make one of these into a decently bright driving light just by swapping in a new sealed beam. This will provide a cheap, light weight and vibration resistant light to help me avoid all the deer just waiting to jump in front of me when I'm bombing down country roads at night.
The heart of this is this sealed beam, NAPA p/n LMP 4509 (~$15). It's listed as an aircraft spotlight beam, and is rated for 100W at 13V producing 110,000 candlepower - if you can get a full 14V down to them expect a bit more
The rear of the 4509 bulb has screws to secure the wiring
Here's the utility light I'll be using for this (Harbor Freight <$10)
Start by getting the old light out of the rubber housing. Be careful not to chip the light when you pry it out by sliding a screwdriver as far behind it as possible. After you pop one out, you begin to realize that these lights will NOT fall out on their own going down the road.
Here's the light taken apart (note that this one isn't a sealed beam, but uses a regular H3 bulb).
Snip off the black ground wire going to the rivet on the inside, it doesn't provide a good ground and will eventually will fail causing the light to go out.
Here's the new bulb wired and ready to be popped back into the housing. I used 14 gauge wire to connect to my pre-existing light harness which uses 12 gauge from a 40 amp relay. The black ground wire goes to the mounting bolt into the 'runner's frame
It even says "AIRCRAFT" on the back of the bulb
Mounted up with a simple 90 degree bracket to the bolt hole on top of the frame just inside of the body mounts
All finished
I'll get beam pattern shots later when it gets dark, but I can already tell they throw a ton of light. Standing 15' away on a 40 degree day I can feel the heat from the light on my hand . . .
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Originally Posted by 04 Rocko Taco
