I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes......

[MinnesotaEric]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Just to add a note: don't be afraid of those cheap LEDs sold through Amazon. I did some checking and they are the same housings that Rigid uses. The primary difference is quality control.

And don't let people say they're Chinese knockoffs because the American OEMs use those same Chinese parts and then charge more. A lot more.

Not tractor related, but I did install a $169.00 30" LED light bar for use as a Moose/Bambi/Bear/other-critters-in-Lemming-mode light behind the grill of my truck.

 

[matt1524]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Eric,

Im going to have to disagree with your statement that they are fundamentally the same light bar.

We sell Rigid Industries and TOTRON which is an imported light, having toured both facilities where the bars are produced and assembled i can tell you there are fundamental differences. We sell more Totron than anything, but Rigid is defintely higher end.

-Yes they are the same as far as first glance

-Totron uses a completely different emitter and internal board

-Many of the cheap knock offs are glass housings, not CREE or something similiar

-Many of the cheap knocks offs DO NOT come with wiring/switch/etc

-All of the imported stuff has a one year warranty, Rigid is lifetime

-The components of Rigid are different. The screws, the aluminum casting, etc, its all different.

I'm not saying one is better than the other. We sell both to different style of customers with different needs and wants. I just want everyone to understand the truth.

Its like when guys but a knockoff tractor, sure its the same thing at first glance, but theres a reason some of the major brands such as JD,Kubota,etc are still around


Just a little clarification.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Eric,

Im going to have to disagree with your statement that they are fundamentally the same light bar.

We sell Rigid Industries and TOTRON which is an imported light, having toured both facilities where the bars are produced and assembled i can tell you there are fundamental differences. We sell more Totron than anything, but Rigid is defintely higher end.

-Yes they are the same as far as first glance

-Totron uses a completely different emitter and internal board

-Many of the cheap knock offs are glass housings, not CREE or something similiar

-Many of the cheap knocks offs DO NOT come with wiring/switch/etc

-All of the imported stuff has a one year warranty, Rigid is lifetime

-The components of Rigid are different. The screws, the aluminum casting, etc, its all different.

I'm not saying one is better than the other. We sell both to different style of customers with different needs and wants. I just want everyone to understand the truth.

Its like when guys but a knockoff tractor, sure its the same thing at first glance, but theres a reason some of the major brands such as JD,Kubota,etc are still around


Just a little clarification.

3 watt crees in my housing. Rigid uses the same OEM for their housings. Rigid's end caps say "Rigid" but share the same physical dimensions. Same IP rating of IP67 or IP68 depending on which housing we're talking about. My inexpensive Hanma lightbar came with a wiring harness—which I tossed because I built my own harness that can survive the salt belt using weatherpack connectors, and a Hella wetherpack heavy relay and socket. I also wanted 12G on the working side and 14 GA on the control side, all happily living in protective shielding, wrapped with 3M Super 33 e-tape.

FWIW, Rigid's harnesses are better than what came with the light bar in my video, but are not as good as what I built.

Eventually, I learned what is more important isn't the wattage of the cree LEDs but the flood and spot angle. This video illustrative of light patterns to be expected from combo bars with Rigid using less diffused floods in combination of spots.

Here is a factory tour of Hanma:

Factory Tour - Hanma LED Lights

Insofar as warranties go, I have a hard time paying 10 times more for Rigid's warrantee.

Anyway, perhaps you could post photos showing how Rigid differentiates their product from somebody like Hanma?

HOME - Hanma LED Lights

 

[matt1524]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

I encourage you to do check out the factories in person.

I wont muffle the thread here with arguing. I agree the imported lights are good lights. We sell a TON of Totron. But to say they are the same is simply not true.

An LTZ 2500HD is not the same as the Work Truck model. Very similiar here.

 

[stonypass]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Don't be afraid of those cheap LEDs sold through Amazon

Any in particular you'd recommend?

I'm thinking about adding either a couple of inexpensive small LED work lights or a small bar to the front and rear of my tractor. If I used a bar it would probably be in the 18-24" range.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

I encourage you to do check out the factories in person.

I wont muffle the thread here with arguing. I agree the imported lights are good lights. We sell a TON of Totron. But to say they are the same is simply not true.

An LTZ 2500HD is not the same as the Work Truck model. Very similiar here.

FWIW, Troton points to the same manufacturing photos, but pulls the photos from Hanma's web site.

Click to see their factory tour at the bottom of this link. About Totron

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Any in particular you'd recommend?

I'm thinking about adding either a couple of inexpensive small LED work lights or a small bar to the front and rear of my tractor. If I used a bar it would probably be in the 18-24" range.

Others have more experience on what types of lights to get for a tractor but I think for a tractor instead of a light bar you'd be best served by a number of spot lights pointing in different directions. The 60ｰ floods only throw light out about 20-30 feet and the 20ｰ floods reach out further. These lights are kind of a compromise between spots and floods with 30ｰ beam and are what I plan on mounting onto my tractor when I get it.

FWIW, all cree means is that there is a little lens over the LED emitter that helps aim the light onto its reflector better. On these little lights, the cree lens is tiny, barely the size of the emitter and on light bars, the cree lens is larger, and part of a molded assembly that covers multiple LEDs. See the attachment for photo detail.

 

[stonypass]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

FWIW, all cree means is that there is a little lens over the LED emitter that helps aim the light onto its reflector better..

Cree is a company that makes LED emitters and has headquarters in Durham NC.

Most of the LED work lights I see appear to be using 3w emitters (example - 18w total and 6 emitters = 3w each), so if they are using Cree emitters are likely using their XP-G emitter as they are commonly driven at about 3-4w (around 500 lumens) and are fairly small in size.
Another very popular emitter they make is their XM-L or XM-L2, these can be driven at 10w (around 1000 lumens) and are physically larger too.
In flashlights a smaller die size emitter is typically chosen when you want a narrower beam and the larger emitter when you want a broader beam (usually along with higher output).

Of course they can and are overdriven to higher outputs by enthusiasts.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

Cree is a company that makes LED emitters and has headquarters in Durham NC.

Most of the LED work lights I see appear to be using 3w emitters (example - 18w total and 6 emitters = 3w each), so if they are using Cree emitters are likely using their XP-G emitter as they are commonly driven at about 3-4w (around 500 lumens) and are fairly small in size.
Another very popular emitter they make is their XM-L or XM-L2, these can be driven at 10w (around 1000 lumens) and are physically larger too.
In flashlights a smaller die size emitter is typically chosen when you want a narrower beam and the larger emitter when you want a broader beam (usually along with higher output).

Of course they can and are overdriven to higher outputs by enthusiasts.

I just learned something.

Cree is getting used for LEDs with lenses like Xerox is for copying. I did not know until you just told me that Cree is an actual company making the emitters.

Not only that, but you just explained in a way that I understand why some emitter lenses are smaller and others are larger. Very cool.

Thanks!

 

[TBDonnelly]

Re: I've seen the (LED) light & gone to the other side. Light bar, flood & strobes...

It looks great.. The headlight seems to be very bright.. Can I use these led lights for the truck lighting at the front of my truck??

Welcome David! I believe you have your question answered! :thumbsup: I will say....... I'm very pleased with my set up. It has all worked out quite well.

Don