LED light bars : My review

[java]

HId in your headlights? Again, I have not seen any LED bar, from china, rigid or Baja designs out perform my HIDs at distance lighting.

Nope driving lights with his designed reflectors. They are 35w HIDs though.

I don't disagree at all that the lumen statements are exaggerated.

 

[overl4nder]

I still think 5000 is way high for a 20" light bar. the claims the 50" are 19-20000 lumens is ridiculous. My HID setup is 5000 lumens give or take 100. and they shine way farther and brighter than any led bar I have seen. 1500 lumens for those little 4 led cubes. Don't think so.

Nitecore EA4 does 900 lumens(860 actually) from a single Cree XML-2. And that is tested output, not just claimed.
Wait 3-4 years, as efficiencies go up, the lumen output will actually go up and up. HID is going to be history.

Once I get my Lux meter(phone ones are useless) I will take lux readings at 50 meters for both high beams and light bar and post results.

 

[4x4junkie]

I don't see the amount of useful light from LED bars improving at all until manufacturers come down off their Kelvin highs. The spectral distribution on a 5000-6000°K LED is just horrendous.

 

[kojackJKU]

True. 4300k is much better.

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[Hilldweller]

Peterson 701c. Local guy had them new in the box and wanted to get rid of them. So I went for it. The nice thing is that these headlights are setup for older english vehicles so it was a direct swap for my 109 (other than the crappy wiring I've got, but that isn't the headlights fault). If I didn't get a deal, I would've gotten truck lites. BTW I required the 7" sealed beam version. If I was just doing a bulb replacement, I would call up southeast overland as they have LED bulb replacements.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

I'd like to put a meter to your headlights, Max.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?362676-Anyone-seen-Peterson-701C

Just to add, lumens ratings from these light bar companies are hugely exaggerated.

Very correct.
They also appear 20% brighter subjectively and perform 20% worse than halogen of the same LUX.
But I still like them for their robustness and low power demand....

...

Once I get my Lux meter(phone ones are useless) I will take lux readings at 50 meters for both high beams and light bar and post results.

Set the range for 0-2000 LUX and take readings at .3m high @ 25m, 50m, & 75m --- in front and off to the sides. Also 8m dead ahead.
Bear in mind also that you DON'T want excessive foreground lighting unless you're crawling or the weather is atrocious (in which case you'll be going slowly). If there is light on the ground within 5 meters of the vehicle in the configuration where you'd be going at highway speed, I'd re-aim the lights. You also don't want the lights to be "squirrel spotters" and shining high into the air; this creates a corona effect in foul weather and renders the operator blind.

 

[4x4junkie]

True. 4300k is much better.

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4300K is good for HID, but given the current limitations of LEDs, I'd want to see more around ~3700°K. This is where the light emitted by the LED's phosphor is closer to matching with the sharp spike in output deep in the blue end of the spectrum. It's that blue spike that is responsible for the up-close glare and seemingly short distance throw. 3700K is still much whiter than halogen so don't think they'd look "yellow".

 

[java]

4300K is good for HID, but given the current limitations ons of LEDs, I'd want to see more around ~3700°K. This is where the light emitted by the LED's phosphor is closer to matching with the sharp spike in output deep in the blue end of the spectrum. It's that blue spike that is responsible for the up-close glare and seemingly short distance throw. 3700K is still much whiter than halogen so don't think they'd look "yellow".

That depends on the chip. Each model and mfg have different outputs spectrums. But that information is nearly impossible to get from the bar makers.

 

[overl4nder]

I think this will show you low quality vs high quality

 

[4x4junkie]

That depends on the chip. Each model and mfg have different outputs spectrums. But that information is nearly impossible to get from the bar makers.

They aren't all that different... The limitation is phosphor-based LED technology itself. All such LEDs generate monochromatic light at ~450nm (a deep but bright blue the human eye simply doesn't process well) and then uses a yellow phosphor coating to transform some of the blue light energy into a broader range of longer wavelengths (giving it it's "white" appearance). They all pretty much mimic this regardless of brand:

Unless someone can create a higher-CCT LED where the spike in blue is greatly reduced (instead filling in the voids in the spectrum better), I don't think LEDs will ever have the penetrating power of HID or halogen lights (or that of lower-CCT LEDs) regardless of the quality of the optics that surround them.

 

[Hilldweller]

Look at the BMW laser lights. That's where we're headed.

 

[kojackJKU]

I agree 4x4junkie. That's why I have resisted the modbug and get some led light bars. My truck lites work good. Def, not the night penetrators my hid were but the stock jk housing with hid in them were terrible. Light scatter everywhere. No good in fog or snow so I took then out and got the tls. Much better.

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