Installing Baja Designs XL Racer + S1/SAE Squadron Fog Pocket Kit in the Raptor

This past week we began our first round of installing Baja Designs lights in the 2024 Raptor project. After discussing our plans for the truck with the incredible folks at Baja Designs and sPOD, we decided to select a few of their XL series lights for a couple different locations and a special project down the road. This week we landed on mounting their XL Racer Edition High Speed Spots as our A-Pillar lights, secured to SDHQ's ridiculously beefy SDHQBuilt A-Pillar light mounts. We also selected their S1/SAE Squadron Fog Pocket Kit because of the power and versatility it packs on and off-road. We're connecting all of this through sPOD's HD BantamX power management system that we installed in the last episode, and it's making wiring this truck's lighting a lot easier.

Why Baja Designs? Perched at the top of an industry-standard for a good reason, Baja Designs, The Scientists of Lighting have designed, engineered, tested, raced, re-engineered, raced and won continuously. Their history and pedigree tells an incredible story, Baja Designs exists for the pursuit of seeing further and allowing you to go faster through any conditions. Their premium lighting solutions are perfect options for countless applications, and they're always our first choice when it comes to illuminating a project. We are very excited to be partnering with the great folks over at Baja Designs and sPOD on this Raptor Build, and we can not wait to take this setup out and truly put them to the test!

Installing the entire setup was a breeze using the SDHQ A-Pillar light mounts and wiring through the sPOD HD BantamX. We installed the A-Pillar light mounts in around 20 minutes and got the XL Racer Editions mounted and wired up in about the same amount of time. Pretty painless! The fog pocket situation took a little longer because we had to disconnect and remove the OEM fog pocket lights, but all said and done, we were wrapped up with this first round of Baja Designs installs in around 2 hours.

These S1/SAE Squadron Fog Pocket Kits are insanely powerful. Baja Designs has always made it known how big of a punch their little S1 light packs, and we definitely agree... for the size, the S1 has an absurd lumen output, making it the perfect light for tons of different applications. Having the S1 mounted at the end of the fog pocket is great. It looks fantastic because it fills out the space appropriately, and more importantly the wide cornering lens that comes on the S1 covers a lot of your zone 2 lighting needs when aimed properly. Pairing the S1s with SAE and Spot Squadron Sports in the fog pocket means that this kit alone significantly covers both zone 1 and zone 2 lighting. After devising a plan and getting the SAE lights wired separately from the S1s and Spot Squadrons, we dove into the sPOD app to set up how we want the whole system to function. 

Of course, if we want to turn on Baja Designs' SAE Squadron lights on-road, we can do so legally - but unfortunately the S1s and Squadron Sports are a little too bright and unfocused for street use, so we decided to wire them to a different button, for 'off-road use only'... but considering both the sPOD interface and app is comprehensive and functions pretty smoothly, we are still able to link and toggle the SAEs + S1s and Squadrons on, off, or strobing together. Adjusting strobe settings and intervals across each light and the entire system through the app (without external relays or controllers) is a very nice feature - one of the many aspects of power management that sPOD does really well! The HD BantamX system is well worth the money in our opinion if you're going to be installing and frequently using high-end lighting, powered accessories and equipment.

Next week's episode is Round 2 of installing Baja Designs' lights in the 2024 Raptor project, and this time we're tackling their S2 Reverse Light Kit and OnX6+ Dual Behind the Grille Light Bar Kit. Tune in to our YouTube Channel every Monday around 5:00pm EST for new content!

Watch the full Baja Designs XL Racer Edition + S1/SAE Fog Pocket Install below: