Lighting Recommendations & Instruction Wanted

[MadGerbil]

I live on a deer infested road.
We usually don't drive home at night without seeing a few.
Obviously, one of the best mitigations is driving slowly (45mph), and this helps.

That said, I'd like to get some lighting additions on my '26 and find the lighting world to be very confusing.
There are fog lights, rock crawling lights, light bars, LEDs - infinite variety with an impressive price range.

Recommendations for lighting - that I assume would be controlled with an AUX switch - that light up the ditches on either side of the road for a couple of hundred yards would be excellent. Any considerations that you'd recommend (draw on battery, maintenance, etc) would be appreciated. I have no wisdom in this area so here is your chance to be wise!

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[MadGerbil]

I once hit a deer at about 10 MPH in a small car.

The thing folded up on to the hood, slid up against the windshield so that I could see nothing but it's back, then slid back down, landed on its feet, and trotted off into the corn. I don't see that happening with a Jeep.

 

[cha lee]

Pretty open question. Just like oil, there are lots of opinions out there. Just my 2 cents.....I'm in elk county and need additional lights to avoid the inevitable. I have both a RC light bar and Stedi lights. The Stedi lights cast an excellent beam somewhat pear shaped. They illuminate ditches and way down the road. The light bar works well too. I haven't tried them all, but I believe most high end aux lights are gonna cast a decent beam. I pwr both sets of lights via the aux switch wiring controlled by the highbeam stalk.

 

[MadGerbil]

Pretty open question. Just like oil, there are lots of opinions out there. Just my 2 cents.....I'm in elk county and need additional lights to avoid the inevitable. I have both a RC light bar and Stedi lights. The Stedi lights cast an excellent beam somewhat pear shaped. They illuminate ditches and way down the road. The light bar works well too. I haven't tried them all, but I believe most high end aux lights are gonna cast a decent beam. I pwr both sets of lights via the aux switch wiring controlled by the highbeam stalk.

That was another question I had - if they can be attached to the high beams and auto adjust for oncoming traffic.

 

[cha lee]

No auto adjustment. You'll need to tap into your highbeam signal wire. Details found here in the forum. I added a "master " relay that energized both aux lights when I hit the highbeam stalk. That's the law down under. I opted to do it here in the US so I don't blind oncoming traffic.
I'll add, now that I've installed two sets of lights I find only one set would suffice. I seldom use the light bar.

 

[3arl0fBruce]

I once hit a deer at about 10 MPH in a small car.

The thing folded up on to the hood, slid up against the windshield so that I could see nothing but it's back, then slid back down, landed on its feet, and trotted off into the corn. I don't see that happening with a Jeep.

I think most off-road lights you could install would be a significant improvement in your visibility, however, you also need to balance that against the legalities in your area with regards to turning them on while on the road. Some localities even require that they be covered while on the road.

 

[3arl0fBruce]

That was another question I had - if they can be attached to the high beams and auto adjust for oncoming traffic.

Again, it depends on the lights you get and your Jeep's configuration. If you have auto high beams on your Jeep, then you can tie your lights into the Jeep's high-beam switch signal to trigger whatever function on your lights you want.

For my setup, I have the off-road lights set up as follows: Backlight is powered by the DRL circuit on the Jeep, Flood and Spot beams are controlled by a relay that uses the Jeep's high-beam switch line (high beam - spot, low beam - flood), and that relay is powered by AUX 1 in the cab, so that the lights (other than backlight) don't come on at all until the aux switch is enabled. Once turned on, I control spot/flood mode using the stalk on the steering column, regardless of whether or not the headlights are on. However, when the headlights are in auto mode and on, the spot/flood pattern will follow the auto high-beam functionality.

 

[dmaxw]

I've got a pair of pod lights on mounts at the cowl/pillar, and a small light bar in the gap of the hoop over my winch on the front bumper. I've just got them switched by an AUX switch, not tied to headlights. Mine are Auxbeam off the Amazon, with a 'combo' lens. One pair throws an impressive beam to front and sides. For driving through the hills mountains and open spaces in Oregon, they are amazing. I don't feel a need to slow down unless I see that animals are out close to the road, since I see them from a safe distance. The only way I see a deer making it in front of me with those lights on is if it was a deliberate kamikaze attack. If the pods were mounted on the bumper I would lose a little range (probably not noticeable), still more than enough though.

 

[Cips]

I would start by reading the Lighting Zones by Baja Designs. While I started there, I ultimately ended up with Diode Dynamics lights.

https://www.bajadesigns.com/help/lighting-zones/

 

[MadGerbil]

I think most off-road lights you could install would be a significant improvement in your visibility, however, you also need to balance that against the legalities in your area with regards to turning them on while on the road. Some localities even require that they be covered while on the road.

I didn't know this was a thing.
For Minnesota:

Subdivision 1.Bright light.

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle, other than a headlamp, a spot lamp, or an auxiliary driving lamp, which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than 300-candle power, shall be so directed that no part of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.

It appears my desire to light up most of the county at night is a non-starter.
I'll only be able to use those additional lights on my county road (and get away with it) which is the only place I'd need them.

Thanks for the headsup on the issue.

 

[Cips]

I didn't know this was a thing.
For Minnesota:

Subdivision 1.Bright light.

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle, other than a headlamp, a spot lamp, or an auxiliary driving lamp, which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than 300-candle power, shall be so directed that no part of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.

It appears my desire to light up most of the county at night is a non-starter.
I'll only be able to use those additional lights on my county road (and get away with it) which is the only place I'd need them.

Thanks for the headsup on the issue.

You can be smart about it and do what you want and turn them off to avoid blinding oncoming drivers.

 

[3arl0fBruce]

I didn't know this was a thing.
For Minnesota:

Subdivision 1.Bright light.

Any lighted lamp or illuminating device upon a motor vehicle, other than a headlamp, a spot lamp, or an auxiliary driving lamp, which projects a beam of light of an intensity greater than 300-candle power, shall be so directed that no part of the beam will strike the level of the roadway on which the vehicle stands at a distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.

It appears my desire to light up most of the county at night is a non-starter.
I'll only be able to use those additional lights on my county road (and get away with it) which is the only place I'd need them.

Thanks for the headsup on the issue.

No problem. I think most localities have similar restrictions. You just need to make sure the lights are off when you have oncoming traffic, and where law enforcement might take offense. There are many places where you don’t get to use your discretion because the law requires those lights to be covered while on the road.

 

[wanderer]

I live on a deer infested road.
We usually don't drive home at night without seeing a few.
Obviously, one of the best mitigations is driving slowly (45mph), and this helps.

That said, I'd like to get some lighting additions on my '26 and find the lighting world to be very confusing.
There are fog lights, rock crawling lights, light bars, LEDs - infinite variety with an impressive price range.

Recommendations for lighting - that I assume would be controlled with an AUX switch - that light up the ditches on either side of the road for a couple of hundred yards would be excellent. Any considerations that you'd recommend (draw on battery, maintenance, etc) would be appreciated. I have no wisdom in this area so here is your chance to be wise!

actually, what you’re describing really applies to any time you’re off-road where there’s very little light so I would think that you would want a projection beam some side viewers or ditch lights

I remember years ago they used to put this thing on the front of cars. It made like a whistle and Deers wouldn’t cross in front of it. I don’t know if that’s a myth or a real reality.

 

[MadGerbil]

actually, what you’re describing really applies to any time you’re off-road where there’s very little light so I would think that you would want a projection beam some side viewers or ditch lights

I remember years ago they used to put this thing on the front of cars. It made like a whistle and Deers wouldn’t cross in front of it. I don’t know if that’s a myth or a real reality.

I thought I read someplace the whistles work at first, but eventually the deer just get used to them.

 

[ORACLElights]

If your goal is spotting deer coming from the sides, ditch-mounted LED pods with a wide or combo beam pattern are usually the best move. They throw light outward into the shoulders and ditches instead of just straight down the road. Running them off an AUX switch is ideal so you can turn them on only when needed.

We’re happy to help if you’d like to talk through options. And if you decide to move forward with anything from us, forum members can always use code WRANGLER10 to save a bit on their order!

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