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4.2 Rav4 Light Bar - prototype run

19K views 56 replies 9 participants last post by  crazyypilot 
#1 ·
Just gauging some interest here. Based on the last few threads there has been some:

http://www.rav4world.com/forums/95-4-2-d-i-y-modifications/88152-cool-custom-parts-rav.html
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/87-4-2-accessories/84302-bumper-light-bar.html

I have spent some time designing and tearing apart the front of my Rav to come up with a bolt on lightbar that will not require any cutting or modification to install. It should be installed with the bumper removed, but I have designed it in a way that it may be able to be installed with the bumper on the Rav...it will just take a bit of persuasion. I will determine that once I have the final prototype for fitment. For now I have been cutting out some brackets and doing some test fitting.



This is what the light bar will look like. There are still a few things I will be tweaking during the fitment process.


The lights pictured are Hella 500/500FF series: Susquehanna MotorSports - Auto Performance Product

The reason I am building a light bar as opposed to a bull bar, is that I never plan on using my Rav to nudge another vehicle...and the bull bar actually reduces your ground clearance/entry angle at the front of the Rav. I just wanted more lighting and this light bar will allow for exactly that without any compromise. It will allow for four lights up to Ø7-3/4".

The mild steel frame is CNC cut, TIG welded and will be coated with a high quality paint. I've built lots of parts in the past but usually in one time group buy formats until I move onto the next product to develop. Some of the parts I have produced have been resold for more than the original owner paid for them, just due to it being a rare and limited part! So don't sit on your hands if you are considering buying one! The intro group buy price for the light bar will be $225USD + shipping (estimate $40~ish).

This light bar is 100% Canadian designed and manufactured with the material coming from a nearby Canadian steel mill.

Anyone interested? I'm only going to begin a build if there are at least 10 people interested.
 
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#36 ·
Awesome work. It doesn't sound like you've got the minimum number of people interested but thanks for sharing. As I mention in another post, I'm all for stuff like this that gives our little trucklets a bit more utility without going too trucky.

I tried to do a few searches on the Hellas but came up empty handed. This is a little off topic but it is related. Do the diving lights have a cutoff vertically or is it strictly an aux off-road lamp that scatters light everywhere?
 
#37 ·
do you mean a cutoff horizontally?
 
#42 ·
Welded up the light bar and doing some wiring finally! Just have to drill some holes to zip tie the harness to the bar and then it'll be ready for paint (or powder). Then wiring project inside will begin...not one relay will be used for these lights. It's going to be pretty cool, just time consuming.

Rewired Hellas with weatherpack connectors along with an aux. 12v output to be added for camping, so I can get 12v access from the outside of the Rav without having to pop the hood.





Slowly coming along...
 
#43 ·
No relays, all digital solid state circuitry I am intrigued? Waiting to eventually hear more about that. Sounds like the perfect system for LED light since I could probably use very tiny components at the low current required.

I still hope to get an LED bar mounted but have had no time with a job that has me in the field for 8 days at a time.
 
#44 ·
Each IRF3711 FET I am using can handle 110A...each light is getting it's own FET (so I can control each independantly), IIRC the FET's cost around $1.50-$2/ea. The controller I am using is $60 though, however what I am using is overkill for this application however I am somewhat used to programming it and don't have the time to learn how to program something cheaper for this application.

Once I get it running in the future I'll be dropping in 100W bulbs and the micro-controller will be able to control the pulse width so I can dim them down to 55W level or anywhere else I desire. Easy enough to do change in code and adds zero cost.

Since I am not planning on selling any light bars or wiring kits the progress is slow because I am always busy on paid jobs. My projects are always a lower priority.
 
#47 ·
I just got the bar painted and installed last weekend, looks really clean and not very noticeable. I haven't mounted the lights but I am not in a major rush yet, as I still have to run wiring up to the lighting harness. And I am going to theft proof the hardware so the lights cannot be removed without a "special" socket.

At 6 milliohms, 110 amps continuous would generate 72.6 watts in the transistor package. At 20 amps, it is a more manageable 2.4 watts, but you still would need a significant heatsink. At 10 amps, it's only 0.6 watts. This presumes 10 volt or more gate voltage.
Yep. They're going to live an easy life running one light per FET. :)
 
#48 ·
I know what you mean about paid work taking priority.

I still think you should have gone the LED route with your fabrication skills building up a housing and wiring the electronics would certainly have been a simple task. I also find it amusing you will be using fets rather than relays to power vacum tubes.

I know you would have no problems tig welding 1/16" walled 1" aluminum square tube. I mean that wire harness looks as good as any I have seen. Parts for LED are not as expensive as you might think. 100 lumens is about 1 dollar and 1 watt of power consumption. The LED below can be run at up to 5watt but 3 watt is the sweet spot.

Just scale up this design in length, weld it rather than glue it.

diyled

Led here
Cutter Electronics

Lens
Cutter Electronics
These lens fit perfect in the square tubing.

thermal tape
Cutter Electronics

electronics
taskled.com
use a hyper buck or hyperboost

With a microcontroller and more than one constant current supply to the LED array you could change the beam shape on the fly by using different optics and changing the drive currents.
 
#49 ·
It'd take more time! Haha. I know I could do it, this light bar project has been on the go for at least a year and I don't even have off the shelf lights bolted on yet! The hardest part about a DIY LED route is changing or testing the optics, something I don't have time to do. Which is why I just bought something that has proven optics, the Hella fogs really do have a nice cutoff and the driving lights have a nice pencil like beam to them with a bit of side scatter.

The FETS are cheaper than relays and will allow me to PWM the lights, so down the road I can dim the lights if I wish. Something that allows me future modifications without much effort at all. I am building one main micro that will go under the dash, and two driver units one under the hood and one in the back to control my roof rack and hitch lights as well. So there's a few things going on all at the same time. Should be cool when its done though. Thanks for the advice on the LED. LED's are superior to halogen bulbs, but I just don't have more time for my pet projects and don't want to fork out the cash for $$$$ off the shelf LED options.
 
#50 ·
I can certainly agree that off the shelf options are either very expensive and ground breaking or have terrible components and a poorly engineered system and inferior assembly.


I have considered starting a cottage industry. Buying a bulk shipment of aurora / hanma Chinese made led light bars and then gutting them and reassembling with high grade components and reselling them for a middle of the road price. This would offer awesome bang for the buck when compared to rigid and other off the shelf stuff. I just think i have the patience to deal with the headaches of trying to import something that is obviously commercial and getting through customs ect.
 
#51 ·
I can certainly agree that off the shelf options are either very expensive and ground breaking or have terrible components and a poorly engineered system and inferior assembly.

I have considered starting a cottage industry. Buying a bulk shipment of aurora / hanma Chinese made led light bars and then gutting them and reassembling with high grade components and reselling them for a middle of the road price. This would offer awesome bang for the buck when compared to rigid and other off the shelf stuff. I just think i have the patience to deal with the headaches of trying to import something that is obviously commercial and getting through customs ect.
Customs is easy...I deal with customs on every shipment I make to the US. I have no idea what the fear is with *most* Americans about customs (to the point that they won't sell to Canadians because of the paperwork involved). It's just another form to fill out and some taxes to pay that you would have to normally pay if you bought something within your own country. No biggy.

Well the lights are on the Rav, the wiring harness is connected up to an intermediate harness that is running into the engine bay and will be connected to the lighting controller. I just need to design a bracket to mount the controller as well as the Blue Sea fuse box, then it's just connecting everything up and turning things on. It's still going to be a while but things are slowly progressing.

I'll try and snap a photo of the lights on the Rav. It looks pretty good. :D
 
#54 ·
Yep I wish there was more interested in it, because then I could build a few runs of them. It's super slick but it is so slick that it's a bit tough to install. The bumper has to come off and if the brackets are mounted to the crash bar correctly the light bar should just bolt up using an allen key socket and a few extensions. If the brackets are not quite lined up the bumper either has to come off or you have to wedge your hand in behind the bumper and do some maneuvering, in the end it's actually easier to remove the bumper.

However the chances of anything being stolen are next to none, especially if you have security nuts on the lights themselves.

The light bar does what it's supposed to; mount more lights (without shrouding the existing headlamps), not reduce approach angle (like a bull bar) and is just cleaner looking. If serious interest sparks up then I would definitely consider running a batch.
 
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