LED Light Bar vs LED Square Flood lights - Bad news, light bar not as good

[woodlandfarms]

OK, this is a bit of a stunner and I will get some pix on this, but I got an LED 180 watt lightbar from Santa. Center is spots, outside is floods. My flood lights are 48 watt square and I have 2 of them on the ROPS.

Well, did an AB test and I was not impressed with the 180 watt bar. Seemed like a LOT less light. Not sure what is going on. I gave the bar to my neighbor who has a polaris rzr and when he gets it mounted, we will do a photo test. But in the end the two floods out show both distance, and width and brightness compared to the light bar.

Completely surprised.

 

[chim]

There does seem to be a fair amount of hocus pocus with LED lighting when it comes to rating. If it was really 180 watts, it would draw 15 amps at 12 volts. Below is just one example. Scroll down to the comments. One guy actually checked the current and calculated the input power at around 86 watts:

Amazon.com: ANNT® 180w 32" LED Light Bar Spot Flood Combo Work Lights Off Road Light: Home Improvement

 

[KYKub]

Maybe west coast Santas are a little more laid back...my Santa would make things pretty chilly around the house if I gave my Christmas gift to a neighbor the day after Christmas...

 

[Coyote machine]

If you want high quality I suggest spending the needed $ and get something decent from these guys:

http://www.strobesnmore.com/Strobes-N-More-EFlood-7200-Lumen-Flood-Lightbar.html

These guys supply police and fire depts, and the general public too. I have one of their strobes I bought a number of years ago: Whelen slim miser. It works flawlessly in all weather. These guys are in RI.

 

[Clipse3GT]

Here is my custom lighting thread on my GC1720. I used the same LED lights / Light bars used for ATV's / Trucks that do off-roading. Considered very good quality. You can find more info here. Did a 200W LED light install. I measured all of my lighting prior to installing. LED lighting depends on what type of LED is used OSRAM or CREE variety tend to be more reliable and better output. 3w vs 5w LED can also make a big difference. The ones I installed are the OSRAM 5w LED's so 40 LED's @ 5W is 200w watts for 20" light bar which draws about 15.5 amps @ 14v or 18 amps at 12v depending if tractor is running.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...g-operating/349196-2015-gc-1720-led-dash.html

Some of the other companies that produce excellent LED lights is RIGID INDUSTRIES, expect to pay bucko bucks but they are very primo...

 

[s219]

All depends on quality and lens/reflector design. LED light bars are a dime a dozen now, and the cheaper ones are not too great.

I have Rigid LED floods on my boat, came from the factory that way. They are about $250 each for a small light the size of a pack of cigarettes. They dramatically outshine the much larger LEDs I have been putting on other equipment, which are the ones that go for $20 on Amazon. I guess you get what you pay for. I still like the cheaper lights for tractors though. No way I would put $250 lights on a tractor that operates in the woods.

 

[newbury]

OK, this is a bit of a stunner and I will get some pix on this, but I got an LED 180 watt lightbar from Santa. Center is spots, outside is floods. My flood lights are 48 watt square and I have 2 of them on the ROPS.

Well, did an AB test and I was not impressed with the 180 watt bar. Seemed like a LOT less light. Not sure what is going on. I gave the bar to my neighbor who has a polaris rzr and when he gets it mounted, we will do a photo test. But in the end the two floods out show both distance, and width and brightness compared to the light bar.

Completely surprised.

Please go out some distance and measure the lumens received. There are several free apps on google play, such as Lux and Light Meter that measure light intensity.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I absolutley will go out with my meters. I have a stack of them I never use anymore. Problem is I got rid of all my cameras with manual settings so gonna have to figure out photographic proof.

I think you guys are right, it is potentially a "quality control" issue. The light bar i got was similar to the one on Amazon and probably a third less. This may be a case of getting what you pay for for sure.

 

[chim]

One facet of LED lighting that I've noticed is how different the light appears when I'm in the cab vs. when I'm away from the tractor and looking toward it. When in the tractor looking out there's a nice lighted area and it seems as though there is a point at which the light fades fast. However, I can be 100 or more feet away from the tractor standing in what appears to be a dark area off to the side when viewed from the cab but standing there looking toward the tractor the light coming at me is so bright it's annoying.

All my LED's are flood pattern and were chosen for the spread. Back when Halogens were all I had

 

[varmint]

One good aspect of cheap LED lights is that you make you best guess as to what you want, order them, install them, and if you aren't happy, you aren't out all that much cash: replace them with another choice. The original lights can always be used somewhere else where they won't irritate you every time you turn them on. That said, I am okay with the cheap LED's I have used- maybe because I am not relying on them every night?