9. While Villa was working...
9. While Villa was working on the electronics, Dinelli was bolting on the PIAA lamps. The four forward-facing lights bolted onto the rack with no drilling. The rear-facing lamps required drilling two holes for each mounting bracket. The side lights used existing rack-mounting bolts but the rear-most mounting brackets required minor bracket trimming to make them fit.
10. Villa modified the PIAA...
10. Villa modified the PIAA wiring harnesses on the four forward-facing lights by removing the relays and switches and just using the connectors and wires. On the side and rear lights he used different colored power wires for each pair of lights to make the wiring easy to track. After installation all of the wires were loomed to prevent chafing and create a clean look.
11. In the event we want to...
11. In the event we want to remove our Stealth rack for some reason, we utilized a Valley Industries six-way trailer connector so the wiring could simply be unplugged. Here, Dinelli makes the connections using the color-keyed power wires.
12. There was gobs of room...
12. There was gobs of room under the driver-side faux air intake, so we lined the edge of the factory hole with some small Dynamat pieces Villa had lying around and then used cushion clamps to mount the trailer connector to the truck. In the event we have to remove the rack, we can simply unplug the wiring at this point and the male end of the connector will remain hidden from view and out of the weather.
13. All of the power leads...
13. All of the power leads for the PIAA lights were funneled down the A-pillar under the plastic A-pillar cover, so nothing is visible and the wires are protected. Villa grounded the roof lights at a factory roof rail bolt.
14. Villa notched out the...
14. Villa notched out the plastic A-pillar cover slightly to allow the wiring to travel unobstructed under the A-pillar cover.
15. The power wires to the...
15. The power wires to the lights from the relays were then tied to their respective wires that traveled down from the roof and through the trailer connector. Villa tucked the finished wiring harness under the carpet in a convenient indentation in the body tub where it would be well protected.
16. The last step was to mount...
16. The last step was to mount the receiver antenna. It is designed to mount on the windshield using pressure tape, but we found that mounting it behind the kick panel on the driver side still allowed us to activate the lights over 100 feet from the vehicle.
17. The four-function remote...
17. The four-function remote control allows us to activate any of the lights from inside the vehicle or out. And we don't have a bunch of switches dotting our dash.
Result
We're so down with our new lighting system. We're digging the small, unobtrusive size of the PIAA lamps and this translates to less wind resistance, which helps us meet our project goal of retaining fuel mileage. Hey, every little bit helps. The lamps may be small but they cast bright, white light. We have the wide-angle rear lamps turned outward slightly and this creates a wide swath of light that has greatly improved rear visibility while backing at night. The side lights allow us to see what's next to us before we make a turn and we think you know the benefits of that. We pointed our forward-facing lights so that the outer pair shine on the edge of the roadway while the center pair cast light straight ahead. All four are adjusted to cast their light just over the upper cut-off line of the factory headlights. Result: Vastly improved visibility. Finally, the remote-control feature rocks. We carry one remote on our key ring so we can activate the lights from outside the truck and we used Velcro to mount the other remote to the center console so we can toggle the lights on and off at will from inside the vehicle.
Cost
Jerry Villa at Showtime Audio says that the cost of a wireless-remote-control lighting system like this depends on how many lights you wish to install. He estimates that a system capable of triggering four lights would cost approximately $400, not including lights. The PIAA 2100 Series lights like we used have a street price of around $235 per pair.