Those LED light bars are awesome!

[HaveGun]

I'm old, so I grew up with using KC Daylighters as the gold standard of off-road lights.

I was told that those new-fangled LED light bars have some amazing output at a fraction of the power draw.

I installed a 26" 360 watt model off of Amazon a couple of months ago, but just yesterday finally wired it in (I HATE electrical work on vehicles). It's now dark on my daily commute home from work at 6am, and the deer have been moving more, so I figured it was time. Wired it up with the included harness and used a switch that looks like OEM and popped into an empty slot on the dash. Super easy.

I drove home from work this morning and tried out the light. Holy cow!! It was like turning on the lights at a high school football field. Lit up the whole area. The light was only $60 and since it's been on my rig, hasn't faded, rusted, or fogged up and seems to be holding up fine.

The light on my rig...



Driving home with high beams on...



And with the light bar on...

Read More

 

[The Heretic]

I need something like that on all of my vehicles - especially the trucks. I have "adaptive" xenon HIDs on my daily driver, but it gets dark up here on the mountain in the winter, and the deer are abundant.

BMW's xenons are toned down in color and output to not be objectionable, and the adaptive functionality has them turn into the corner, but with my old eyes I still feel it would be nice to have more light on the road at night. Not as much of an issue now that I am retired and do not commute daily, but if I could find something that would work for the X1 without too much trouble I would add it.

The trucks are halogen and the Toyota pickup especially has poor lighting - it has a "push bar" on it so adding a light bar would be easy. I want to get a headache/roll bar for it to have lights up high, pointing front and back - so that if I am using the truck on the property the lights would help a lot after dark - sure could have used them last year when dealing with the smoldering slash piles.

The main thing is when I read the reviews on Amazon, most of the LED lighting that is auxiliary, the metal rusts and water gets inside them. Winter is coming up and if your vehicle lives outside most of the time like mine do, it would be interesting to see how the light bar holds up against moisture.

I am a big believe in LEDs - very efficient and they produce a lot of light.

 

[made in china]

Amazon LED light bars are generally made in China and don't hold up well.
There's a few YT videos of lighting enthusiasts who test non-name Chinese light bars against respected (and expensive) brands like Rigid Industries and the name brand (and sometimes US-made) light bars destroy the Chinese ones.

The issue with LED is that they look good out of the box, and if you look directly at the LED you perceive them as "bright", but many of the Chinese ones draw 1/2 the power of their rating, and even at that only put out maybe 60 lumens per watt drawn. Then, of course, they begin to rust and take on water over time.

I know all of this because I have owned a few "Amazon" and other off-brand LED lights, I have electronic bench test equipment and all of them pulled 1/2 or less of their advertised power. Some held up well to the elements, others fell apart after less than a year.

Ended up buying name brand LED off-road lights for my truck, they pulled exactly their rating and seemed nearly 4x brighter than the no-name stuff. Also, not made in China!

Had an unfortunate accident with some pot-smoking driver, the name-brand lights took the brunt of the hit and were no worse for the wear. Nearly a year later after a direct hit they still don't take on water and are still incredibly bright:
(smacked)

(year later after repair, original lights that were smacked)


No offense to anyone buying Amazon light bars, I started with them also. Upgrade to better quality stuff and your mind will be further blown.

Videos like this sum up my experience:

 

[BrentN]

Amazon LED light bars are generally made in China and don't hold up well.
There's a few YT videos of lighting enthusiasts who test non-name Chinese light bars against respected (and expensive) brands like Rigid Industries and the name brand (and sometimes US-made) light bars destroy the Chinese ones.

The issue with LED is that they look good out of the box, and if you look directly at the LED you perceive them as "bright", but many of the Chinese ones draw 1/2 the power of their rating, and even at that only put out maybe 60 lumens per watt drawn. Then, of course, they begin to rust and take on water over time.

I know all of this because I have owned a few "Amazon" and other off-brand LED lights, I have electronic bench test equipment and all of them pulled 1/2 or less of their advertised power. Some held up well to the elements, others fell apart after less than a year.

Ended up buying name brand LED off-road lights for my truck, they pulled exactly their rating and seemed nearly 4x brighter than the no-name stuff. Also, not made in China!

Had an unfortunate accident with some pot-smoking driver, the name-brand lights took the brunt of the hit and were no worse for the wear. Nearly a year later after a direct hit they still don't take on water and are still incredibly bright:
(smacked)
View attachment 764282
(year later after repair, original lights that were smacked)
View attachment 764284

No offense to anyone buying Amazon light bars, I started with them also. Upgrade to better quality stuff and your mind will be further blown.

Videos like this sum up my experience:

Great post "made in china". And exactly why I have never looked into these. But I may check out some of the US made versions.

 

[HaveGun]

Rigid LED light bars run about $400 vs $60. Most guys fix the issues with the China ones with a bead of silicone around the edge of the face to seal out moisture.

I get the argument for the RIGID lights, but I'm a cheapskate and usually only keep my vehicles 2-3 years, so I can accept the lower quality for the short amount of time.

 

[made in china]

Rigid LED light bars run about $400 vs $60. Most guys fix the issues with the China ones with a bead of silicone around the edge of the face to seal out moisture.

I get the argument for the RIGID lights, but I'm a cheapskate and usually only keep my vehicles 2-3 years, so I can accept the lower quality for the short amount of time.

Totally makes sense! I keep my trucks for 10+ years, so it's worth it to me that what I install on my truck last a long time. I didn't buy RIGID lights, not only because they are big $$$$ but I leave my truck at a Park and Ride, don't want something like that stolen. I bought a different brand that hasn't been noticed for their quality yet, and because of that was able to get a great deal on them.

Yours will likely serve you well for that short time

 

[The Heretic]

Yeah - the question is, are the better name brand lights 5-10 times better?

Because that is how much more they cost.

If a person has the $$$ ...

 

[HaveGun]

Yeah - the question is, are the better name brand lights 5-10 times better?

Because that is how much more they cost.

If a person has the $$$ ...

I believe they are. It's like comparing a Taurus PT-11 to a Dan Wesson 1911. They both function and do the same thing, but the DW is more for a reason.

And I don't own a DW, either, but rather a Remington R1 Limited. I'm a cheapskate, but I realize the reason for the higher price tag.

 

[Member 5605]

I'd like one of those on my Pious Prius I can return the favor for the bubblegums that drive with them on.

 

[HaveGun]

I'd like one of those on my Pious Prius I can return the favor for the bubblegums that drive with them on.

Yeah, I believe it's illegal to even turn them on when on a public roadway. I am super conscious of other drivers and only use it when I enter an area with lots of deer, and then have my finger on the switch in case another vehicle comes along.

 

[Member 5605]

Yeah, I believe it's illegal to even turn them on when on a public roadway. I am super conscious of other drivers and only use it when I enter an area with lots of deer, and then have my finger on the switch in case another vehicle comes along.

As it should be.

 

[Provincial]

HaveGun, you should install one of those light bars facing backwards on your rig. It could help prevent rear-end collisions!

 

[Mcguyver]

I live in Oregon. I have considered getting a light bar, except I looked at the Oregon Vehicle Code on lighting, which states "it is unlawful to have more than four lightilluminated at one time on the front of the vehicle"
I haven't been able to determine if they consider the complete bar as one light,
or they count each individual LED? It also states you can't use your driving lights without your headlights on?!?

 

[The Heretic]

I doubt any of the popular LED bars or individual LED lights are legal for use on any public road, whether they are the only lights on or not. I doubt they count each individual LED in a light.

The only ones I believe would be legal would be those that are DOT approved (usually to replace existing headlights) - which I have considered getting for my trucks, but I am unsure of how much better they would be than the stock headlights.

 

[The Heretic]