Diode Dynamics Stage Series Reverse Lights installed -- my review

[TurkeyRun]

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[climb2descend]

Since routing of the wiring is less than ideal and interferes with possible storage in that cubby and won’t allow its lid to lay flat… I cut the wires, went through a small zip tie / grommet hole (I’d broken the zip tie part anyway), then spliced them back together.

I hated the routing through the storage cubby so much, it's horrible, I ended up redoing mine and just depinning the Deutsch connector and ran the harness back though a grommet on the side right next to the side panel, repinned it and bam much better. Easy to depin it, just need a very small flathead and pry the orange cap off and push the pins out.

Here's the grommet on my 2 door.

 

[Matt J.]

I have the reverse light kit with SSC1 Pro's, really bright. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep it from washing out the back up camera at night? I'm going to try to aim them off to the sides a bit to see if that helps.

 

[HorizonHunter]

As if my Bronco didn't already have enough lights, @Diode Dynamics went and released their Stage Series Reverse Light kit. As soon as I saw it I tagged them in their post and said, "great, another thing for me to blow money on! LOL".

And from out of nowhere they asked if I'd like to get a sample for my Bronco (yep..this is me being up front with ya'll) and shoot some photos of it and talk about it.
How could I say no?!?!

So here are my thoughts...Honest thoughts.

I'd say to start off by watching John over at @Diode Dynamics do the install on Youtube. This made an easy install even easier. Damn, I love how simple the pre-run wires and upfitter switches make things!!:






So the light kit?

Everything you need to wire it up to act as rear running lights and reverse lights, OR, integrate it into an upfitter switch to control the white light when you want.

The kit has everything in separate bags (like their other kits) so it's easy to stay organized.
All the wiring is plenty long enough to keep you from having to worry about coming up short and in braided loom, for durability I love that the way you run this brings it up into the cab from underneath through a grommeted hole, and they have a replacement grommer already on their wires for this. See:

)


Deutz connectors so every connection is sealed and secure. Hell, they even included butt connectors for the upfitter wiring.

The adapter plate is SOLID and has a good powdercoat finish with a laser cut DD logo in it (slick guys) and mounts up using some included extended lug nuts. These come in two lengths to cover standard and aggressive wheel offsets.

The brackets that the light pods mount to are the same powdercoating and are an easy install as well.

I guess that's the theme here....Easy.

I have the SSC2 pods and man are these BRIGHT!! I just have some daytime shots for this post, but will edit this post to add some night shots so you can see how much light they throw.
Like ALL their other pods these are designed to deliver as much light as possible thanks to their optics.

My day job is the head of marketing for an LED lighting manufacturer so I know a LOT about optics and LED lighting. And from what I've seen in the lighting industry for off-roading, no one is doing optics as well as Diode Dynamics.

Now the bad...I promised an honest review right?

The bolts that mount the bracket to the spare tire are bright shiny silver. I just think they would look so much better in black.

So much so that I am going to get the heads of mine either powder or cerakoted.
But that's just me.

Anyways, here are a few photos of those lights, and one from the other end

On my list... You said they're bright, do you know what level SS2s? Sport vs Pro?

 

[kodiakisland]

As for removing it, it's easy enough so long as you keep a 19mm socket handy to remove the adpater plate bolts and extended lug nuts. Simply unplug the Deutz connectors from each light then remove the two mounting plate bolts and remove the lugs.

I just added a 19mm socket to my Bronco tool kit for this.

The bolts are the same size as the lug nuts, for a reason. You don't have to add any additional sockets to your Bronco to remove, assuming you already have the ability to remove your lug nuts, unless you've changed your lug nuts to a different size.

 

[MacDonald_Photo]

The bolts are the same size as the lug nuts, for a reason. You don't have to add any additional sockets to your Bronco to remove, assuming you already have the ability to remove your lug nuts, unless you've changed your lug nuts to a different size.

Good point........

 

[JTK37]

I hated the routing through the storage cubby so much, it's horrible, I ended up redoing mine and just depinning the Deutsch connector and ran the harness back though a grommet on the side right next to the side panel, repinned it and bam much better. Easy to depin it, just need a very small flathead and pry the orange cap off and push the pins out.

Here's the grommet on my 2 door.

I installed the kit last week, taking advantage of the Tax Sale. My only hesitation before the purchase was the routing of the harness through the trunk cubby. I desperately wanted a wiring solution that kept everything contained within the side trim. In the end the wire through the cubby isn't awful, the lid closes almost fully. My biggest concern is pulling something out of the cubby will snag the wire and create some issues.

Your solution looks perfect- nice work

 

[Linkphotography]

Did you get the SSC2 sport or pro?

also what offset is your wheel? Their site says it may not work with aggressive offsets does the bracket make contact with your wheel at all?

 

[Linkphotography]

@Diode Dynamics can you avoid running the wire under the truck by cutting off the taillight plugs and just tapping into the reverse light and ground on the stock harness?
Also what would be the procedure if you only wanted to run them to an Aux switch.

 

[Diode Dynamics]

@Diode Dynamics can you avoid running the wire under the truck by cutting off the taillight plugs and just tapping into the reverse light and ground on the stock harness?
Also what would be the procedure if you only wanted to run them to an Aux switch.

Please go ahead and give us a call at 314-205-3033 Monday-Friday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. CST, or shoot us an email at [email protected], and our service team would be happy to walk you through the process and provide more information/assistance!

 

[GeorgeFromDallas]

Does anyone think adding a potential 4 amp draw to the oem circuit without a relay could cause issues long term?

I’m running SSC2 Pros (rates at 2 amp each) with this kit’s harness, but no bracket. Mine are going into the bumper….soon.

I just made a detailed post about this an older thread…
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/diode-dynamics-reverse-kits-coming-soon.56197/post-1885807

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