Lighting Pattern and Placement

[Fatdaddy]

Looking for guidance to make the best decision on where to place certain lighting based on their optics/lighting pattern.

Diffused, diffused/specter, and spot optics; where do you place these? If you place diffused on the pillars, will it just light up the hood? Does Spot work best on the pillars or on the bumper?

Thanks in advance

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[VelocityBronco]

This might help answer some questions.

https://www.bajadesigns.com/Science-of-Lighting/Lighting-Zones.asp

 

[De Brus]

This might help answer some questions.

https://www.bajadesigns.com/Science-of-Lighting/Lighting-Zones.asp

I agree, this would be the best resource. Also, @4x4TruckLEDs.com is extremely knowledgeable if you have questions beyond that.

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

Check out our site at www.4x4TruckLEDs.com for some kits designed for your Bronco (here actually: https://www.4x4truckleds.com/vehicle-specific/ford-bronco/2021-bronco/)

The Baja Designs pillar kits give you a few lenses so you can actually swap them out and see what works best.

So what's annoying is that every manufacture has their own terminology for the patterns. I'll try and help you here

BAJA DESIGNS
Spot: This is what it sounds like. A spot pattern that throws the light down range
Wide Cornering: This is a wide pattern now. It's more of a horizontal pattern over a vertical pattern. Designed to cast light more to the left/right
Driving/Combo: This is actually part Spot and part Wide Cornering in the same lens
Work/Scene: This is used for up-close purposes, like camp sites. It doesn't shoot out as far but diffusing the light all around you. Used as cargo lights or lights where you need to flood light in an area.

DIODE DYNAMICS
They keep similar verbiage as Baja Designs, adding in some additional patterns however.

SAE Driving is designed to supplement your high beams, but it’s great for general illumination as well. Rather than a traditional "spot" pattern, the Stage Series Driving pattern shines in an 18x8 degree spread, providing just enough width to fully illuminate the road ahead at high speeds.

SAE Fog provides an extremely wide field of view, with high-intensity output over an entire 80-degree spread. It serves as a great upgrade for any factory foglamp, and will fully illuminate the area in front of your vehicle. Choose your output color of cool white or yellow, which is often said to help cut through inclement weather.

Flood pattern was designed to provide uniform, even illumination with a full 60x60 degree spread of light. Unlike generic "flood" lights that are simply a heavily diffused spotlight, our flood pattern uses pillow optics on the outer lens surface, to provide a true optically designed spread, for even illumination throughout. It is perfect to use as a backup light, for lighting up anything at low speeds, or for trailers and worksites.

Combo pattern combines both the Driving and Flood optics. It shines light downrange in a focused, rectangular 65x25 degree pattern. The combo lens features a flood optic on one side and a driving optic on the other.

Spot is an unmodified pattern, shining light directly from the TIR optic. The result is a highly focused 6-degree beam of light, perfect for directing light far into the distance. With an incredible output of 151,000 candela, the SS3 Sport shines a half-mile away (¼ lux), from a compact 3-inch package.

RIGID INDUSTRIES
These guys really change up the verbiage. The thing about Rigid is, they don't list details about their patterns on their site. So it gets a bit confusing. But this diagram might help you.

Now with that said, what's the best for each setup

FOG LIGHTS
On the Broncos you can do 3 pairs of fogs. This lets you pick/choose a few options. A WIDE pattern (FOG PATTERN) is good for here. Baja Designs has a Wide Cornering pattern and Diode Dynamics calls it an SAE Fog. You can pick a few color options (white or yellow/amber). So you definitely want at least one wide cornering/fog pattern here. As for pairs 2 and 3, you can get creative. Some folks add another wide pattern in another color, or you can do a spot pattern (although spots down low don't do a WHOLE lot since they are so low, but it's still a good idea if you don't plan to run other lights). Combo patterns are popular as you get spots and wide in one pattern which works almost as "high beams"

BUMPERS
You can go nuts here. Depending on the setup you can either do a combo or a spot. That's my 2 choices. Combo is good because you get everything. Spot is good if you've got fog lights for the wide coverage as the bumper is higher up and will throw the light further and avoid more things in the road.

PILLAR (DITCH LIGHTS)
SPOT SPOT SPOT. This is the #1 pattern to run here. Another popular option are combo (that's what I run, but i've yet to test this at night). Now I do warn folks on Combos on pillars because the light CAN reflect off your hood. The same goes for other patterns. You can certainly run a wider pattern BUT you want to make sure your lights are aimed off to the sides (ditch lights). If your goal is to use the pillars to throw light DOWN range, go spot (or driving/combo). If you plan to light up the sides of the road then go combos or wide cornering (or even flood in Diode Dynamics case)

ROOF
Spots are traditionally where it's at, because it's the highest point that light clears everything. A combo is VERY popular as well since you get a bit of everything.

 

[Fatdaddy]

Check out our site at www.4x4TruckLEDs.com for some kits designed for your Bronco (here actually: https://www.4x4truckleds.com/vehicle-specific/ford-bronco/2021-bronco/)

The Baja Designs pillar kits give you a few lenses so you can actually swap them out and see what works best.

So what's annoying is that every manufacture has their own terminology for the patterns. I'll try and help you here

BAJA DESIGNS
Spot: This is what it sounds like. A spot pattern that throws the light down range
Wide Cornering: This is a wide pattern now. It's more of a horizontal pattern over a vertical pattern. Designed to cast light more to the left/right
Driving/Combo: This is actually part Spot and part Wide Cornering in the same lens
Work/Scene: This is used for up-close purposes, like camp sites. It doesn't shoot out as far but diffusing the light all around you. Used as cargo lights or lights where you need to flood light in an area.

DIODE DYNAMICS
They keep similar verbiage as Baja Designs, adding in some additional patterns however.

SAE Driving is designed to supplement your high beams, but it’s great for general illumination as well. Rather than a traditional "spot" pattern, the Stage Series Driving pattern shines in an 18x8 degree spread, providing just enough width to fully illuminate the road ahead at high speeds.

SAE Fog provides an extremely wide field of view, with high-intensity output over an entire 80-degree spread. It serves as a great upgrade for any factory foglamp, and will fully illuminate the area in front of your vehicle. Choose your output color of cool white or yellow, which is often said to help cut through inclement weather.

Flood pattern was designed to provide uniform, even illumination with a full 60x60 degree spread of light. Unlike generic "flood" lights that are simply a heavily diffused spotlight, our flood pattern uses pillow optics on the outer lens surface, to provide a true optically designed spread, for even illumination throughout. It is perfect to use as a backup light, for lighting up anything at low speeds, or for trailers and worksites.

Combo pattern combines both the Driving and Flood optics. It shines light downrange in a focused, rectangular 65x25 degree pattern. The combo lens features a flood optic on one side and a driving optic on the other.

Spot is an unmodified pattern, shining light directly from the TIR optic. The result is a highly focused 6-degree beam of light, perfect for directing light far into the distance. With an incredible output of 151,000 candela, the SS3 Sport shines a half-mile away (¼ lux), from a compact 3-inch package.

RIGID INDUSTRIES
These guys really change up the verbiage. The thing about Rigid is, they don't list details about their patterns on their site. So it gets a bit confusing. But this diagram might help you.

Now with that said, what's the best for each setup

FOG LIGHTS
On the Broncos you can do 3 pairs of fogs. This lets you pick/choose a few options. A WIDE pattern (FOG PATTERN) is good for here. Baja Designs has a Wide Cornering pattern and Diode Dynamics calls it an SAE Fog. You can pick a few color options (white or yellow/amber). So you definitely want at least one wide cornering/fog pattern here. As for pairs 2 and 3, you can get creative. Some folks add another wide pattern in another color, or you can do a spot pattern (although spots down low don't do a WHOLE lot since they are so low, but it's still a good idea if you don't plan to run other lights). Combo patterns are popular as you get spots and wide in one pattern which works almost as "high beams"

BUMPERS
You can go nuts here. Depending on the setup you can either do a combo or a spot. That's my 2 choices. Combo is good because you get everything. Spot is good if you've got fog lights for the wide coverage as the bumper is higher up and will throw the light further and avoid more things in the road.

PILLAR (DITCH LIGHTS)
SPOT SPOT SPOT. This is the #1 pattern to run here. Another popular option are combo (that's what I run, but i've yet to test this at night). Now I do warn folks on Combos on pillars because the light CAN reflect off your hood. The same goes for other patterns. You can certainly run a wider pattern BUT you want to make sure your lights are aimed off to the sides (ditch lights). If your goal is to use the pillars to throw light DOWN range, go spot (or driving/combo). If you plan to light up the sides of the road then go combos or wide cornering (or even flood in Diode Dynamics case)

ROOF
Spots are traditionally where it's at, because it's the highest point that light clears everything. A combo is VERY popular as well since you get a bit of everything.

I’m looking at purchasing the BD kit from your site. There’s a lot of options and wanted your opinion. I want to get Zone 1, 2, and 3 out of my three light selections/options. (I’ll have Spot on the mirror pillars). At least one or two of these bumper lights will need to be some type of SAE driving and/or fog compliant. What blend options would you recommend? And price doesn’t matter, looking to get the best ones offered. Majority of my driving is on-road hwy in the mountains or mild off-road trails and overlanding. No high speed off-roading (just on the interstate to work in the mountains).

 

[4x4TruckLEDs.com]

I’m looking at purchasing the BD kit from your site. There’s a lot of options and wanted your opinion. I want to get Zone 1, 2, and 3 out of my three light selections/options. (I’ll have Spot on the mirror pillars). At least one or two of these bumper lights will need to be some type of SAE driving and/or fog compliant. What blend options would you recommend? And price doesn’t matter, looking to get the best ones offered. Majority of my driving is on-road hwy in the mountains or mild off-road trails and overlanding. No high speed off-roading (just on the interstate to work in the mountains).

We actually go over patterns in this very thread. You can also go to our product page and we go over patterns/recommended setups:

https://www.4x4truckleds.com/baja-d...-w-kr-off-road-brackets-for-2021-ford-bronco/

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