KC Flex Led light bar VS Made in China alternative
- Thread starter PetitFrereArmada
- Start date
karlmagnum
Observer
If you need a LED bar, I recommend Rigid. A bit pricey but very good quality.
As much as I dislike offshore copies I have to say I’ve been impressed with the LED copies. I’ve got rigid led cubes on my truck and I bought some offshore copies as an experiment to compare. Sadly the offshore’s are as good or better and 1/4 the price. Granted you don’t get the warranty but for a my use I hate to say it. I really do! But I’ll use offshore LEDs unless I’m running the Baja 1000.
It looks like negative are either of the small 4 bolts on the inside back plate and the center post is the positive.
I'm digging up the grave of this thread but if anyone has a wiring diagram or pictures of how they wired these lights that would be great.
I think the center post is positive and the small inner 4 bolts are negative...
their diagram only shows one ground wire coming off only one of the lights, whereas the positive is jumping from each post on each light.
My biggest question is why doesn't there need to be a negative jumper wire?
I think the center post is positive and the small inner 4 bolts are negative...
their diagram only shows one ground wire coming off only one of the lights, whereas the positive is jumping from each post on each light.
My biggest question is why doesn't there need to be a negative jumper wire?
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After some time with these lights here is what I will say so far:
Connecting them together in a long line is proving to be a challenge. There is not enough support with the connecting plates they supply. They will sag and bounce around. Some sort of bracket will need to be purchased or built to mount them in that way.
When KC mounts more than two lights together, the backing bracket, or whatever they call it, is different than these lights. KC's are more supported from the back to handle the weight of several lights strung together.
These lights come as just the housing with some hardware, brackets, and a clear plastic cover to go across two lights. Unlike the KC lights which come with individual faceplates, lenses, etc. See the attached diagram of the KC lights.
My jumper wires that came with my lights were too long and the ring terminal was too small for the posts. I could've made new ones, but I made these work by driving out the ring slightly. So it would seem that theres an issue with consistency, which honestly is kind of expected I guess.
No wiring harness is included with these lights. Which wasn't a huge deal for me since I usually cut off most of the harness to connect to my auxbeam switch panel.
Ultimately though the lights seem built well enough and are bright when i bench tested them. Not sure about longevity or ability to take abuse as I haven't mounted them yet. I haven't figured out how I'm going to mount them in the configuration that I wanted them. I want them in a straight line at the front of my roof rack ( FYI, spot beams should be placed up high as a general rule). But the little connect brace they supply is not holding them stiff enough or supported enough to keep them from sagging. So if I can't find some bracket to support them, I'll probably have to fabricate something.
you can see how it sags when picked up from the ends. 
wires were too long and ring terminal didn't fit
I flattened the lights by pressing back down on the ends. The flex I was talking about. 
These connecting plates just don't support the lights enough on their own.
Connecting them together in a long line is proving to be a challenge. There is not enough support with the connecting plates they supply. They will sag and bounce around. Some sort of bracket will need to be purchased or built to mount them in that way.
When KC mounts more than two lights together, the backing bracket, or whatever they call it, is different than these lights. KC's are more supported from the back to handle the weight of several lights strung together.
These lights come as just the housing with some hardware, brackets, and a clear plastic cover to go across two lights. Unlike the KC lights which come with individual faceplates, lenses, etc. See the attached diagram of the KC lights.
My jumper wires that came with my lights were too long and the ring terminal was too small for the posts. I could've made new ones, but I made these work by driving out the ring slightly. So it would seem that theres an issue with consistency, which honestly is kind of expected I guess.
No wiring harness is included with these lights. Which wasn't a huge deal for me since I usually cut off most of the harness to connect to my auxbeam switch panel.
Ultimately though the lights seem built well enough and are bright when i bench tested them. Not sure about longevity or ability to take abuse as I haven't mounted them yet. I haven't figured out how I'm going to mount them in the configuration that I wanted them. I want them in a straight line at the front of my roof rack ( FYI, spot beams should be placed up high as a general rule). But the little connect brace they supply is not holding them stiff enough or supported enough to keep them from sagging. So if I can't find some bracket to support them, I'll probably have to fabricate something.
you can see how it sags when picked up from the ends. wires were too long and ring terminal didn't fitI flattened the lights by pressing back down on the ends. The flex I was talking about. These connecting plates just don't support the lights enough on their own.
Attachments
I wonder if a long piece of angled aluminum on the bottom would suffice. Certainly not as elegant, but functional. Mine have been sitting on a shelf for a bit after I changed my bumper, time to add them back in.
I thought about that. I'm still messing with mine and trying different ways to get them to lay straight and mount solid. I'll repost once I find a good solution.