Installing a light bar or driving lights

[Sunny43.5]

Can I ask why you would need this interface , as long as you use a relay connected directly at the actual headlight plug it will work fine . Ours has been that way for now over 7 years and no problems . One wire to ground one wire to positive one to the spotlights and the other to the high beam wire when activated it,s simple , the supplied relay should have a diode built in to prevent any feed back to the factory wiring .

[Ozsko]

The headlight dip control is in the headlight with power to the headlight on at all times. The Canbus SIGNAL switches the headlight controller as needed so the headlight power feed to the headlight never varies as it does on a normal car. I have been there and done all this, we wanted to fit driving lights and did what I have always done, switch and relay but because the high beam has no external separate feed there is no way to trigger the relay. We even made a current sensor to detect the current level into the light but the difference between high and low beam is minute and it would not work. What has to happen is the Canbus signal has to be high jacked and used to switch the relay.

[Sunny43.5]

What a pain makes you wonder if all this stuff is worth the effort , does it increase driver comfort or any other thing .

[Ozsko]

I wanted driving lights because I am an old fart and us old farts lose around 30% of light as we get older. I know the LED's are very good lights but to me they aren't exceptional so I bought two Cibie LED Super Oscars and put them on when I am driving long distance. The lights are obviously a lot better with them but they are still not what I would call exceptional because of my age. I may add a light bar later on if needed for close range brightness but the Cibies at the moment are doing the job. I live in a rural area and every time I leave home to drive anywhere it is open road so having good lights is essential. I still don't rate the LED's as good as the Bixenons on my Skoda, the only reason LED's are used is for better control and lower power consumption.

[Guest001]

I wanted driving lights because I am an old fart and us old farts lose around 30% of light as we get older. I know the LED's are very good lights but to me they aren't exceptional so I bought two Cibie LED Super Oscars and put them on when I am driving long distance. The lights are obviously a lot better with them but they are still not what I would call exceptional because of my age. I may add a light bar later on if needed for close range brightness but the Cibies at the moment are doing the job. I live in a rural area and every time I leave home to drive anywhere it is open road so having good lights is essential. I still don't rate the LED's as good as the Bixenons on my Skoda, the only reason LED's are used is for better control and lower power consumption.

I have never worked out why anyone would want to light up the road between your headlight beams and the vehicle Anything in front of you will be picked up by the long range lights, except maybe the second kangaroo, LOL but if its there you wont be able to stop anyway so why spend the money. Have only been out at night a couple of time but I reckon the Tiguan lights are brilliant and a big step above the Xenons in my Passat

[Ozsko]

It depends on the use and where you drive. In my earlier years I drove a lot of rallies and I reckon in a forest at high speed a light bar would be just what you need. For long straight open roads a driving light is better, the Cibies have a new reflector which gives fantastic spread but also a very long beam at the same time. I have always upgraded my cars lights, in the Skoda I replaced the pathetic inner halogens with 125W H1's and that worked really well. I drive at night a lot so I have always had good lights. I arrived at the fruit inspection point into SA one night and the bloke came out wearing sunglasses, he reckoned that he had never seen brighter lights on anything including trucks and buses. Light bars give you the opportunity to mix them with conventional driving lights and being LED they do not consume a lot of power but for me I would never use one on its own as I always drive looking a lot farther ahead than a lot bar can light up. The only real problem with bright lights and especially LED light is the reflection from the road side signs. Just my experience over many years of driving for a living and driving for enjoyment.

[Sunny43.5]

I fitted a light bar after a night trip back from Murgon in Qld to Brisbane , a full grown deer stepped out from the bush right at the moment I came around the bend at 100kmh . Spotlights would not have picked it up , the light bar would have illuminated the side of the road well ahead of time so its a light bar for me .

[Ozsko]

The Cibies have a huge spread right in front of the car in fact so much we had trouble aligning them thinking they were pointing outwards instead of down the centre of the road. I take your point though, most conventional light do not give enough spread and I used to use one driving light and one spotlight to achieve a spread before light bars came on the scene.

[Kombi]

I recently fitted a Narva Xplora 22” light bar, first fitted a single row that looked really good (discreet) but light improvement wasn’t quite good enough, replaced with a double row, don’t look as discreet but lighting is an improvement on the single row.

[aSimpleLife]

Just wanted to update about my led lightbar experience. Was also hoping for an answer to a question.

I initially followed Sunny43.5's as usual generous quality advice and paid to get fitted the same type of 20" bar in the same way.

Vw t5 brighter headlight options!!



The ebay one I got always seemed to spray light everywhere but where I wanted it. But I found I almost never used it so that didn't really matter.
The problem was in the fitting. The plastic grill section of the bumper was not trimmed back enough and was rubbing in at least 2 positions. I didn't notice this until un-repairable cracks started appearing in the plastic grill and they just kept growing. It looked terrible.

So I followed the similarly excellent advice from Markee and purchased the same 32" bar and made up the same brackets.

https://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums...ml#post1201751



(while my pic makes it look not straight....it is actually remarkedly so...considering my usual standard of workmanship
I was hoping the larger light bar would allow me cut away all the broken plastic and disguise what had happened.
(you can't buy the plastic grill section separately - you have to buy the complete front bumper)
The plan has all worked extremely well except under the light there is now a large gap.
Would anyone have any suggestions about how to cover that gap without making it look worse than it already does?
Thankyou.

[ozgti]

What about one of these?

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[aSimpleLife]

Yes that probably would resolve the problem exactly. Have you tried one?
The best price I can see for the bar you linked is around $120 from a not so reliable US ebay seller
Nilight 32 Inch 180W Curved LED Light Bar Combo Fog Lights for SUV Boat 4X4 Lamp | eBay
I see this AU one for $63.
32inch 180W Curved LED Light Bar Flood Spot Offroad Truck Lamp SUV 31'' 36'' AU | eBay
But the 20" cheap ebay one I bought wasn't much good imo.
The 32" kings one seems to be well regarded for a cheap light bar. Which is why I went with that specific one. But I see now the shape is not suited to cover the damaged area I have to the plastic grill underneath the light bar.

Even strictly following the instructions from Markee, it took me to the outer reaches of my capabilities just to install the same model in the same way. I am not sure I've got the stomach to start again
Although the longer I think about it the better it sounds.

[deleteruser0520]

I know this is an old thread, but topic is the same and my current question relevant to the topic.
Is the 2008 T5 Transporter positive or negative switched?

So, I wire in the LED light bar correctly.
Thanks

[ozgti]

I m8ght go for that $63 one. I mullered the plastic underneath when I did mine.

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[Sunny43.5]

I know this is an old thread, but topic is the same and my current question relevant to the topic.
Is the 2008 T5 Transporter positive or negative switched?

So, I wire in the LED light bar correctly.
Thanks

If your talking about the high beam trigger wire then yes its 12V positive I know as we have had two of the same model .