grinnelljd
Active member
I decided I'd like some more light for when I'm traveling off road at night and finally settled on a set of LP6 Pro lights by Baja Designs. I used a floating grill mounting bracket by Van Compass which attaches just behind the black front grill and provides two large metal mounting tabs that protrude through the grill to mount the lights.
I used the Baja Designs wiring harness which had more than enough length to accommodate installation of the lights on my NCV3 Sprinter. I mounted the relay in the engine bay, on the firewall, near the driver's side hood hinge. I ran the 12 volt power, ground and switch lines through the grommet in the firewall, exiting above the driver footwell. I did replace the provided DPDT toggle switch with a SPST on-off-on rocker switch. I purchased the switch and the 3D printed switch adapter, so the switch could fit in the OEM switch mount, from DIYVans. I used this rocker switch to allow selection of the low or high output from the LP6 lights and I used a second, yellow illuminated SPST rocker switch to allow me to switch off the yellow backlight on the LP6 lights. The yellow backlights makes for nice running lights, but when driving through a campground at night I wanted to be able to run as dark as possible. This step may have been overkill since the yellow backlights put out less light than the Sprinter daytime running lights that I can't turn off.
I've very happy with how the installation went. The floating grill mounting bracket by Van Compass proved to be dead simple to install. The only issue I had was that I had previously installed the horn upgrade by Agile Overland and the bracket for the horns is located in the same space as the center of the floating grill light mounting bracket. The holes on the two items very nearly lined up, but I did have to slightly widen the holes at the top of the Van Compass floating grill mount in order to use the same bolts to mount both it and the Agile Overland horns.
The light output of the Baja Design LP6 Pros is amazing. I opted for the Combo/Driving light pattern which throws a good amount of light down the road, but also provides plenty of side lighting near the front of the van. If I'm picking my way slowly down a trail I can simply use the low intensity setting which illuminates just the side LEDs and two front bottom LEDs that project through a dispersing lens to illuminate the area closer to the van. When on high mode the four front top LEDs are also engaged which projects light very far down the trail. Great for when you are on a trail which allows for higher driving speeds. I chose the yellow color light covers as the yellow light seems to help with providing more contrast in rain, snow or fog conditions. The cool thing is that the light covers on the LP6 are easily replaced should they become damaged or if you decide you'd rather have clear instead of the yellow I chose.
The one thing to note is that Baja Designs doesn't seem to sell an opaque light cover for any of their LP9/LP6/LP4 series lights. That means you'll probably have to fashion your own light covers if you are driving in a state that requires off road lights to be covered with opaque covers when driving on regular roads.
I used the Baja Designs wiring harness which had more than enough length to accommodate installation of the lights on my NCV3 Sprinter. I mounted the relay in the engine bay, on the firewall, near the driver's side hood hinge. I ran the 12 volt power, ground and switch lines through the grommet in the firewall, exiting above the driver footwell. I did replace the provided DPDT toggle switch with a SPST on-off-on rocker switch. I purchased the switch and the 3D printed switch adapter, so the switch could fit in the OEM switch mount, from DIYVans. I used this rocker switch to allow selection of the low or high output from the LP6 lights and I used a second, yellow illuminated SPST rocker switch to allow me to switch off the yellow backlight on the LP6 lights. The yellow backlights makes for nice running lights, but when driving through a campground at night I wanted to be able to run as dark as possible. This step may have been overkill since the yellow backlights put out less light than the Sprinter daytime running lights that I can't turn off.
I've very happy with how the installation went. The floating grill mounting bracket by Van Compass proved to be dead simple to install. The only issue I had was that I had previously installed the horn upgrade by Agile Overland and the bracket for the horns is located in the same space as the center of the floating grill light mounting bracket. The holes on the two items very nearly lined up, but I did have to slightly widen the holes at the top of the Van Compass floating grill mount in order to use the same bolts to mount both it and the Agile Overland horns.
The light output of the Baja Design LP6 Pros is amazing. I opted for the Combo/Driving light pattern which throws a good amount of light down the road, but also provides plenty of side lighting near the front of the van. If I'm picking my way slowly down a trail I can simply use the low intensity setting which illuminates just the side LEDs and two front bottom LEDs that project through a dispersing lens to illuminate the area closer to the van. When on high mode the four front top LEDs are also engaged which projects light very far down the trail. Great for when you are on a trail which allows for higher driving speeds. I chose the yellow color light covers as the yellow light seems to help with providing more contrast in rain, snow or fog conditions. The cool thing is that the light covers on the LP6 are easily replaced should they become damaged or if you decide you'd rather have clear instead of the yellow I chose.
The one thing to note is that Baja Designs doesn't seem to sell an opaque light cover for any of their LP9/LP6/LP4 series lights. That means you'll probably have to fashion your own light covers if you are driving in a state that requires off road lights to be covered with opaque covers when driving on regular roads.