LED Lightbar Feedback

[1450ranger]

Who has the LED bars? What do u think of them versus a halogen or hid light? I'm in the market but not convinced they beat a standard halogen or hid other than packaging and envelope. This is for the front bumper of a bronco prerunner.

[robertcrav]

I took 4 - 35w HIDs (2- 4" and 2 - 7" rated at 3000 Lumens ea) off the front of my brothers 4Runner and replaced them with 2-10" Aurora Bars which are similar to a popular manufacturer in design, that are rated at 60w and 4340 Lumens ea

What we noticed is the LED bars we chose, although they don't have the overally distance of the HID have a more complete pattern in front of the truck that is usable since he's not going to be doing 100+ at night in the dirt.

this isn't my video, but one I found that shows halogens vs LEDs of similar wattage
http://youtu.be/yowMZWgRFPM

[shockseals.com]

Who has the LED bars? What do u think of them versus a halogen or hid light? I'm in the market but not convinced they beat a standard halogen or hid other than packaging and envelope. This is for the front bumper of a bronco prerunner.

Color temperature is something very important...you learn this on 2 wheels wether it be mountain bike or dirt bike. If the color temp is too high you cant decipher terrain and its just "light", this fact was confirmed when talking with KC about developing battery pack lights and they said they were thinking about it but color temp was an issue (this was 4 years ago). You want a color temperature as close to the sun as possible so its like daylight. Both HID and LED have yet to bring the color temp down to halogen(at my last research a couple years back) but they offer so much damn light(lumens)with less draw people settle for them.

My simple KC rally 800s halogens 100w lights do a fantastic job along with my hella stock replacement 80/100 bulbs. If I can get a free bar with a low color temp I would try it but I have driven in a rig with a 40" bar and I wasnt impressed for the dollars it cost. My Hellas werent far behind for 20% the cost at retail level.

if its free its for me....

[SteveG]

Who has the LED bars? What do u think of them versus a halogen or hid light? I'm in the market but not convinced they beat a standard halogen or hid other than packaging and envelope. This is for the front bumper of a bronco prerunner.

Color temperature is something very important...you learn this on 2 wheels wether it be mountain bike or dirt bike. If the color temp is too high you cant decipher terrain and its just "light", this fact was confirmed when talking with KC about developing battery pack lights and they said they were thinking about it but color temp was an issue (this was 4 years ago). You want a color temperature as close to the sun as possible so its like daylight. Both HID and LED have yet to bring the color temp down to halogen(at my last research a couple years back) but they offer so much damn light(lumens)with less draw people settle for them.

My simple KC rally 800s halogens 100w lights do a fantastic job along with my hella stock replacement 80/100 bulbs. If I can get a free bar with a low color temp I would try it but I have driven in a rig with a 40" bar and I wasnt impressed for the dollars it cost. My Hellas werent far behind for 20% the cost at retail level.

if its free its for me....

I've posted this elsewhere, but I replaced my two Bosch relays powering my OLD Hella Rally 2000's with a continuous duty 3-wire solenoid. I swear they just about doubled in output. 4 Rally 2000's with 100 watt bulbs, 3G alternator and a big solenoid to power them=lots o' light. HID would be bitchin', but the color rendition and output of these are tough to beat for what I paid for them... about 10 years ago.

I really like the idea of LED lightbars but I don't think they're quite there... yet. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, though. LED tech is making some big leaps.

[tcm glx]

Post some pics Steve.

[SteveG]

Post some pics Steve.

Of what? The solenoid? The lights? Light output?

[tcm glx]

Light and output!

[SteveG]

Oh man, you're gonna make me work....

[ChaseTruck754]

How about a pic or info on the solenoid you used. Just a Ford starter solenoid?? I like the idea & may steal it. I've got a bunch of non HID Hella 4k's and an old skool truck they fit the style of.

[Seabass]

I've found with the big led bars there are so many lenses they fill in shadows and terrain definition can become dificult to read at race speeds. At times I turned off some lights to get rid of this. For the most part I really do like them. This was with 2 40" and 4 10" bars.

There is no perfect light for every situation and leds offer alot of pros over cons. I've seen lots of bulb and balast failures and NEVER had a rigid bar fail on me.

[Seabass]

How about a pic or info on the solenoid you used. Just a Ford starter solenoid??

Hey Steve, to the best of my knolledge ford starter relays cannot handle 100% duty cycle. look into winch solenoids or a na isolation relay for a trailer. I got one from the trailer supply place behind toyota off of harbor.

On a side note the 3 terminal solenoids give you quite a jolt when they de-energize. Can be lot's of fun if you have a friend hold it while you "test" it

[ChaseTruck754]

Good to know - thanks!

[1450ranger]

Who has the LED bars? What do u think of them versus a halogen or hid light? I'm in the market but not convinced they beat a standard halogen or hid other than packaging and envelope. This is for the front bumper of a bronco prerunner.

Color temperature is something very important...you learn this on 2 wheels wether it be mountain bike or dirt bike. If the color temp is too high you cant decipher terrain and its just "light", this fact was confirmed when talking with KC about developing battery pack lights and they said they were thinking about it but color temp was an issue (this was 4 years ago). You want a color temperature as close to the sun as possible so its like daylight. Both HID and LED have yet to bring the color temp down to halogen(at my last research a couple years back) but they offer so much damn light(lumens)with less draw people settle for them.

My simple KC rally 800s halogens 100w lights do a fantastic job along with my hella stock replacement 80/100 bulbs. If I can get a free bar with a low color temp I would try it but I have driven in a rig with a 40" bar and I wasnt impressed for the dollars it cost. My Hellas werent far behind for 20% the cost at retail level.

if its free its for me....

I agree 100%. I've had the same opinion on halogen vs HID. It's pretty nuts the cost variance in all the LED bars. Obviously the non-branded China bars are less quality, but for 1/3 the price it's hard to argue when not going on a racecar or mission sensitive vehicle.

It's obvious the LED bars are trendy right now, but you cannot argue LED is the future of lighting off road, industrial etc.

[drewbee88]

I have a single 36" led light bar on my ranger and I love it! The factor for me is the amp draw is less than 20amps, and for the price I got it for its a no brainer. I only paid 399 for it

[SteveG]

Post some pics Steve.

Replied here: http://www.gofastbroncos.com/forum/view ... 564#p74564

[Wrightracing.net]

I have been running converted Hella 4000 HID lights on my Bronco, Honda TRX450ER and F350 for more than 10 years on the trucks and for 5 years on the Quad. I started with the old big box analog ballasts and over the years when new stuff like digital micro ballasts came out I started converting my lights to internal ballasts, no more big boxes to mount.

Now I am thinking of getting some light bars for the front of the Bronco to supplement the HID light. I was thinking of amber LED light bars to help in the dust. Would spot or flood be better?
I am thinking spots to cut the dust better, I may be wrong on that?

What are the differance in the types of LEDs Like cree or?

I did get a set of cheap LED flood lights for back up lights for the F350. I like them but of course they are short distance but super bring. Ebay Hong Kong buy for $50 a pair free shipping. It was worth a try at that price, so far so good.

[robertcrav]

The two best led chip manufacturers to my knowledge are CREE (US made) and Olson (German) I would use either spot or driving optics on the front if you are doing more than just crawling. I've researched lots of different manufacturers and besides the big names I think Aurora makes the best for the money and I also like Soye for Chinese brands. Baja designs for big name but they are$$$$$

[philofab]

I've had bars, HIDs, and halogens. HIDs are best for high speed (60mph +) and the LED bars seem to be better for the slower stuff. Halogens use too much current for my taste.

I would get in a friends truck with a LED bar so you have an idea of what it looks like... hard to explain over text.

[RyanDS650X]

I like the cleaner look of a bar. Im looking for a single row in the 30" range that has both spot and flood pattern.

[robertcrav]

I like the cleaner look of a bar. Im looking for a single row in the 30" range that has both spot and flood pattern.

I can help with that...