2023 Ford Ranger build: Narva EX2 LED driving lights

When it came time to search for lights for our latest Ford Ranger build we again sought out the latest products in what is a heavily populated and highly competitive market. And once again our friends at Narva delivered with the brand’s all-new EX2 LED lamps.

Once we fitted the loopless Venturer bumper from TJM we knew we’d need a particular looking lighting solution to complement the look of the bar, as well as the squared-off front-end of the RA Ranger. The wide grille and horizontal lines lend themselves to a lower, wider lighting solution and Narva has delivered with the EX2.

Narva EX2 LED driving light

Excellent lights for the price and easy, harness-free installation.
Seven-inch EX2 LEDs: $550 (pair)
Nine-inch EX2 LEDs: $699 (pair)

More info at Narva

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EX2 is a new range of LED lights for vehicles and they come in both seven- and nine-inch units with squared-off edges that perfectly suit the new Ford’s front-end. We ran a quartet of Narva Ultima 180s across the front of our PX Ranger but elected to try a pair each of the seven- and nine-inch EX2 lamps for this new build.

Narva EX2s will hit the market as a more affordable option than the company’s Ultima lamps but will debut with some exciting tech that makes them easier to install on most 4x4s.

The EX2 lights have internal switching meaning they can be installed without additional relays or even a wiring harness; just tap into the car’s high beam circuit, a fused power lead and earth, and they are right to go. No need to run any wires through the firewall or add relays or an additional harness.

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While tapping into the CAN Bus wiring of many modern cars can be risky for fear of damaging the sensitive electrical system, Ford took into consideration that many owners of Rangers and Everests will be fitting accessories such as driving lights, and so included labelled wires in the passenger-side footwell to tap in to, including one for the high beam circuit.

So we still had to run a wire through the firewall to pick up the high beam lead, but this worked well for our installation as we choose to fit separate switches for each set of lights so that the seven and nine inch pairs of EX2s can be controlled individually.

One thing Ford doesn’t consider when designing the interior of its cars is placement of auxiliary switches, (unless you want to pay for the factory roof-mounted ones) so we bought a switch panel from Pirate Camp Co. that fits neatly in between the centre stack and the console, and has positions for four Toyota-style push switches.

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Narva supplied these and we ran individual switches for the seven- and nine-inch lights. The Pirate Camp Co. panel also relocates the factory USB port to a more accessible position, and it looks like it was always meant to be there.

The EX2 lamps use 5-Watt Cree LED chips to produce their light; 24 of them in the seven-inch units and 40 of them in the nine-inch lamps. These produce a claimed effective 12,000 lumens from a pair of the seven-inch lights and 19,400 lumens from the bigger nine-inch units. They are set in a hybrid spot/spread pattern making them ideal for a single pair light combo.

For the seven-inch lights this results in a claimed 1-Lux at 460m with a beam width of 45m, while the nine-inch lights punch out 1-Lux at 700m with a 60m beam width. Current draw is rated at 11.6A for the sevens and 19.2A for the nines, both rated at 23.5V.

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Reading into those numbers you’ll find that the EX2s are not the most powerful lamps on the market, or even within Narva’s own range, but in reality, they are more than enough for the usage of your regular 4x4. The key here is the light temperature and the shape of beam, which is consistent and without any ‘shadows’ or dark spots. This is what really produces a superior quality of light for night driving on the darkest of bush tracks and outback roads.

Yes we’ve gone to extremes by fitting two pairs of them, but for driving on dark country roads we found that the outer seven-inch EX2s are perfect while we switch on the nine-inch EX2s for when we want light punched further ahead on longer outback-like tracks. This is another good reason to have them individually switched.

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The performance of the EX2s is most striking when you need to kill them for oncoming traffic; it’s like the Ford’s factory LED headlights are not even on! This is even so when just running the seven-inch EX2s, so we reckon that a pair of the smaller lights will be sufficient for many drivers.

Being able to switch them individually also allows us to angle the outer seven-inch lights slightly outwards to give a wider view of what’s on the sides of the road while the nines are set straight ahead for maximum reach.

The EX2s have a colour temperature of 5700 Kelvin which means they are not too hot (bright) as to be dazzling to the driver when reflected back off road signs, yet have a colour closer to daylight than LED lights with a higher Kelvin. This results in less strain on the driver’s eyes during extended periods of night driving.

Built to last

The Narva EX2 LEDs are housed in a die-cast aluminium body with a UV-resistant polycarbonate front lens and a durable composite mounting bracket. They are IP68 and IP69K rated for water and dust ingress, and the mounting hardware is all stainless steel so it won’t tarnish or rust.

The Narva EX2 lights come with a seven-year warranty from the manufacturer.
The EX2s come standard with black protective covers and they can be customised with other designs available from Narva. The lights can be further customised by replacing the trim rubbers with different colours. Electric Blue and Slate Grey trims come standard and there are plenty of other options available online from Narva.

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There are also five- and six-inch versions of the EX2s, and these are just the first products to come in the EX2 range with more to come over the next year to create a comprehensive product line up.

The EX2 LED lights sit below the Ultima 180 Mk2 and 215 Mk2 LED lights in the Narva range, and they are priced accordingly at $550 and $699 a pair for the seven and nine-inch lights respectively.

We reckon they punch well above their price-point and with the easy harness-free installation they are the perfect light for the four-wheel driver building to a budget. And we reckon they really suit the front-end of our Ranger!

Narva EX2 LED driving light

Excellent lights for the price and easy, harness-free installation.
Seven-inch EX2 LEDs: $550 (pair)
Nine-inch EX2 LEDs: $699 (pair)

More info at Narva