Numberplate mounted lightbar - does anyone have experience with them?

Hi all, my Jimmer just passed its MOT with no issues and I thought I'd buy a mod to celebrate
I'd quite like to wire up a mini lightbar and saw that you can get el cheapo Chinese ones on Amazon for ~£60 that use your numberplate fixings, see link: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09BYYX8S1

I quite like the idea of a drill-less solution (my alternative would be to bolt onto the bumper itself, above the numberplate) but I'm hesitant about whether it'd actually be secure and not wobble everywhere. Also, would such a bar obstruct my numberplate enough to cause problems with the po-po?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Including better alternative lightbars / harness kits. Oh, also how do people typically wire up cabin buttons to behave - do people "AND" it with the full beams (i.e. both need to be on for it to work) or just leave it as a totally independent button of anything else? My last Jimny had one already installed and it ran whenever full beams did with no cabin button but I've seen you can get nice matching ones for £5 on AliExpress . Cheers

I have a small light bar mounted to the bumper (cut bumper so no fog lights - used that wiring), but can confirm it does not shake / rattle.
(Look at the post on here about a couple of days in wales - you can see the size)

Nice, saw your video! Out of interest, do you know what wattage your lightbar is? Something I forgot to ask in the post but I'm not sure what can be handled on a normal battery / alternator setup. I think I saw you had a winch so I guess you've got a beefier battery kit.

Amp draw should be fine on any of the smaller bars. And I’d bet a penny to a pound that any wattage claims from the Chinese sellers would be completely bogus anyhow. Just as the lumen claims are.

As 300bhpton says, the claimed output will be bull plop. Is does as expected, just a cheap ebay item. It is really for when on dark lanes, better than the headlights, but you don't need the big light bar. The winch runs off the standard battery.
youtube.com/shorts/ip-Jd0tBV4o

I've got a little one one mine and it doubles what the headlights alone do, it gives a heap more light over a bigger area then the standard headlights can.
down here where we have long roads, little traffic and lots of wild animals it's probably the most valuable mod.

 

"...little traffic and lots of wild animals..." - this is the main reason I want one. My partner and I frequently go to the Scottish highlands to see family and deer are a real concern!

How do you guys wire them up? To come on with full beams or to have their own independent switch?

Bob9863 wrote:

I've got a little one one mine and it doubles what the headlights alone do, it gives a heap more light over a bigger area then the standard headlights can.
down here where we have long roads, little traffic and lots of wild animals it's probably the most valuable mod.

 

Just my experience - that style of bar, that low down is pretty much a waste of time, especially in a "long road, lots of wild animals" situation.

The number one problem with cheap LED bars is that they have limited range or reach, lots of little low wattage LEDs mounted in front of a primitive reflector (moulded plastic like the insert in a box of assorted chocolates), behind either a strip of flat polycarbonate or a primitive lens, they are bright and unfocused, and illuminate the area directly infront of the vehicle very brightly, giving the impression that they work - what they actually do is cause the pupils of your eyes to contract, making it very difficult to see beyond the brightly lit area.

Mounting them low down, as in below the bumper, further limits the reach - best case scenario is you can hope the light reaches far enough ahead that you can see it reflected in the eyes of whatever wild life is in the area, because you're not likely to see them any other way.

Auxiliary lighting is one area where I have found it pays to buy a "recognized brand", Hella is my "go to" in that regard.

GandHisJimny wrote:

How do you guys wire them up? To come on with full beams or to have their own independent switch?

Check your local law - most areas have specific requirements - a typical requirement is fog lights with low beams only, driving lights with high beams only, and a separate switch so the low beams can be used without the fogs, or the high beams can be used without the driving lights.

Pay attention to the wording of the relevant legislation - where I am the law requires one set of lights to go off simultaneously with the other coming on in the way that low beams go off as high beams come on & vice versa meaning that it cannot be left to the driver's discretion.

My driving lights have their own switch which takes a feed from the high beam circuit so they can only be used with the high beams, switching to dipped beam shuts them off.

GandHisJimny wrote:

"...little traffic and lots of wild animals..." - this is the main reason I want one. My partner and I frequently go to the Scottish highlands to see family and deer are a real concern!

How do you guys wire them up? To come on with full beams or to have their own independent switch?

Wiring is mostly easy. But depends how you want to do it. I bought a generic wiring kit although I think the link you supplied had one included.

There really are lots of ways to wire it in. Strictly speaking it needs an isolating switch in the U.K. ie so you can disable or turn it off.

I wired mine on a separate switch and just manually turn it on/off. As the auto main beam takes care of the cars lights. Without auto main beam I’d probably want it wired into the mainbeam feed to work automatically and allow the switch to turn it off if I didn’t want it.

If wiring into mainbeam note it is just the feed. The bar will need to run via a relay to a suitable 12v source such as the battery, alternator or fuse box.

Any local auto electrician should be able to install for you.

As for the bar itself. Things you may want to consider are spot vs flood beam. How far down the road do you want see vs how wide a beam? A small bar will not do all.

Light colour is also important and cheap bars tend to have dreadful tints and colour rendition indexes. I would also say it is worth considering durability and construction too. Many cheap bars will not like the U.K. weather and soon end up with condensation inside.

I spent slightly more than the bar you are looking at for an Osram spot beam. Osram also sell a number plate mount.

More info here:

But I seriously suggest you look at the rated beam distance. Some bars are very floods, often very bright, but won’t actually penetrate down range much. There are also good combo bars that can offer a better mix of high lumen output and beam distance.

This link shows what the small bar does. As stated, with it being low down, although it helps, is not the best place.
youtube.com/shorts/ip-Jd0tBV4o

Thanks for the responses. I've been doing some more reading and I'm starting to conclude that a numberplate mount is more hassle than it's worth. People online say they can be pretty wobbly and so I'd need to be drilling new holes into the bumper anyway to make it more secure. At which point, why not just mount the lightbar directly on the bumper above the numberplate (where people normally put winches)? It looks like it can be done without taking the bumper off and would probably be less faff, more stable.

Also I've been reading about the wiring side of things and it seems like it's a bit more complex than I'd initially thought because the Jimny has negative switching full beams. I also got a little too excited looking at pre-made harnesses on Amazon but now I realise those don't interact with the headlights at all (and without tapping the right wire any backlit switch would be powered even when the ignition is off). This is definitely starting to feel on the edge of my DIY abilities and patience, might see what a garage quotes