LED Light Bars; Post Up Pics

[vantaiit]

This thing is brilliant bright. Mounted to light bar on windshield. Couldn’t tell if headlights were on. All worked extremely well. It doesn’t have a saddle yet has around two feet of wire joined.
i had review 50 inch led light bar. it's okay

 

[KaiserM715]

This subject gets complicated and tricky quickly. Some thoughts:

* Most LED lightbars look similar.
* Most LED lightbars look like they perform similarly...from 20 feet away.
* Just going by a "CREE" label doesn't get you anything since companies (from a certain country especially) have been known to lie about LED engines, performance, specs, and anything else.
* LED lights are systems that involve engineering, design, optics, manufacturing know-how, quality and warranty (and a company's willingness and ability to stand behind their products).
* Not all LED lights are the same even though they look similar.
* Lumens don’t mean anything but people still compare lumens and dollars.
* Lux does matter, so a lux number should be present and considered on any light. Lux means distance and distance means superior optics.

If you like a light buy it. But because you (or I) bought it doesn't mean it's better. It just means we made a decision based on price and other factors.

I was pondering some of the same points as Dan. My solution was to test different lights at different distances using a lux meter. Lux (light per area) is by far the best unit to measure true light output. For example, at 50 yards, a Rigid 40" light bar put out 36 lux vs the 4 lux an M&R (a Chinese sourced brand popular in the Raptor community) 40" light bar put out.

More info here:
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f81/lighting-shootout-results-trr-2014-a-33574/

 

[KaiserM715]

As a follow up, here is my current setup:
Hood: Baja Designs Squadron XL
Bumper (center): Rigid E Series 20"
Bumper (cutouts): KC Hilites LZR Cubes

 

[Ducmonsta]

I was pondering some of the same points as Dan. My solution was to test different lights at different distances using a lux meter. Lux (light per area) is by far the best unit to measure true light output. For example, at 50 yards, a Rigid 40" light bar put out 36 lux vs the 4 lux an M&R (a Chinese sourced brand popular in the Raptor community) 40" light bar put out.

More info here:
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f81/lighting-shootout-results-trr-2014-a-33574/

That's a great write up! If you don't mind, I may share that with the 4Runner community over on T4R.org.

 

[ExploringNH]

I've run several different Chinese bars, one from each major manufacturer. I've also run rigid and Baja designs. There is no doubt that rigid is significantly better than the Chinese bars, both in light output, build quality, and most noticeably in optic quality. Whether it is worth the extra money is up to the individual user and intended use.

A Chinese bar listed as CREE does not mean it is the same as the rigid chips. Chances are very high it isn't even CREE.

 

[KaiserM715]

That's a great write up! If you don't mind, I may share that with the 4Runner community over on T4R.org.

Thanks!! It was quite a bit of work to pull it all together. I don't mind at all, data like this is hard to come by.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

I was pondering some of the same points as Dan. My solution was to test different lights at different distances using a lux meter. Lux (light per area) is by far the best unit to measure true light output. For example, at 50 yards, a Rigid 40" light bar put out 36 lux vs the 4 lux an M&R (a Chinese sourced brand popular in the Raptor community) 40" light bar put out.

More info here:
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/f81/lighting-shootout-results-trr-2014-a-33574/

Where's the LIKE button! Great post Kaiser! Thanks

 

[chet6.7]

Thanks!! It was quite a bit of work to pull it all together. I don't mind at all, data like this is hard to come by.

Thanks.

 

[kojackJKU]

Great data there Kaiser.

Just reaffirms what I say all along. HID in a good housing KILLS LED lighting in long distance output. Maybe the rigids my buddy has are not even rigid. As we had a few different rigs, they looked no different in output than the Chinese versions. Even though in the shop, they have a hella light display, and a rigid display and when you switch on the FF700 with halogen, you get a nice bright beam of light across the store on the far wall, when you switch on the rigid you can see a little blue light, the hella just floods the rigid out of vision.

 

[Tacoma13SR5]

Those of you who have them mounted to the roof, how did you guys guide the wires down underneath the hood? I ask this because I just put two PIAA LP 570's on my BajaRack and want to tuck the wires away cleanly.

 

[WagoneerSX4]

Great data there Kaiser.

Just reaffirms what I say all along. HID in a good housing KILLS LED lighting in long distance output.

Even my 500FF spots with the cheap halogen 50w bulbs they came with had more distance than my LED bars. But for what I wanted I was more than willing to trade in some distance for a massive increase in spread.

Maybe if you do a lot of super high speed driving on back roads you'll want to stick with halogen/HID spots. Personally, with all the wildlife where I drive I'm much more comfortable with having light to the sides rather than just light down the road. With that comes obvious downsides in other conditions, so it's really what kind of light you're going for.

 

[kojackJKU]

Even my 500FF spots with the cheap halogen 50w bulbs they came with had more distance than my LED bars. But for what I wanted I was more than willing to trade in some distance for a massive increase in spread.

Maybe if you do a lot of super high speed driving on back roads you'll want to stick with halogen/HID spots. Personally, with all the wildlife where I drive I'm much more comfortable with having light to the sides rather than just light down the road. With that comes obvious downsides in other conditions, so it's really what kind of light you're going for.

I use my lights on the highway a lot, I get really good spread. I have 55w HID in my hella housings. The lack of range on any LED is what keeps me from using them. With the moose here, I need all the range and spread at the long end I can get. LED is fine for tight trails. but even my HIDs work great in them as well. I see no advantage of LED lights at this time. The light canon however is awesome. and gets down the road a lot.

 

[Greggk]

good looking cummins, and I agree I cant see spending that type of money for a rigid. I bought a 20" eBay brand and have NO ISSUES whatsoever.

 

[AFBronco235]

Those of you who have them mounted to the roof, how did you guys guide the wires down underneath the hood? I ask this because I just put two PIAA LP 570's on my BajaRack and want to tuck the wires away cleanly.

I drilled a hole in my roof and used a rubber grommet to seal it tight. No leaks so far, even in heavy rain. Then I just ran the wire down the A-pillar and to my center console, where all the wiring is. I recommend you route your wires to a point inside your vehicle, to avoid any potential flooding or water intrusion in your circuits.

The trick to getting a grommet to seal tight enough to keep water out is using the right sized drill bit for your grommet. Start small when you drill. You can always go bigger, but you can't go smaller.

 

[kojackJKU]

Yeah, when the shop installed my lighting on my patriot they used like a 1" drill bit to run wires. I wondered why my sunroof leaked. ha ha. **************'es.