HID work lights

[Monster5601]

Has anyone any experience with the HID work lights available on eBay? There seems to be a common style of HID work light available from a number of sellers from around $60 up.

I also did a Google on HID work lamps and found many eTailers selling them for north of $300.

I know the price of HIDs has dropped significantly over the past couple of years and the prices I see on eBay seem to be inline with HID kits.

I'm looking to add a set to my RTV900 to light up the front area better.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Scooby074]

Id watch the draw of the HIDs vs what the charging system on the RTV can put out.

LED might be a better option.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

yes i would go with led's you can get just as much light with a fraction of the amperage. them hids draw alot of amps and they get hot . the leds run cool and draw hardly anything.look into the offroad led light bars.the more lumens the better i have a gree led flashlight thats 700 lumens and it has the strobe on it too if it's shined in your eyes it will temporaily blind you .on the website i would look at the 3 and 4th leds lightbars .at 2k+ lumens you will light up the night for sure.




Off Road Warehouse - UTV Lighting Vision X LED Xmitter Bar

 

[Monster5601]

I appreciate the advise on LED lighting but I am not interested.

For the record, HIDs have about the same start up current pull as halogens (for less time) but pull about 1 amp less running. They do not run any hotter than a typical halogen bulb but who cares, these systems I'm looking at are self contained. I have had to characterize lighting systems at work.

The RTV900 has a 390 watt gross power budget.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

you say 390 gross?thats not a whole lot you need to add in what all the electronics the engine needs to run.my rhino i think has 500watts gross but it uses just about all of it to run the electronics on the engine and it doesn't leave much room for lights . look at your manual and add up everything that has to be used to run the engine then see what you got left.your chargeing system will probably draw the most now i know yes it doesn't constantly run to charge the battery but when you add lights and stereos and stuff the battery goes down faster and the charging system works harder and stays on longer. my old hpx gator could not keep up with 4 55watt halogens within an hour or less they would start to dim and the charging system fuse would blow from being over worked. never go by gross watts always go by net watts and always stay well below the net wattage you have or you will be stranded one day or night .i had to add a alternator off a toyota and an extra marine battery to run my stuff.here's a few instances from other guys who installed them you need to look at the amperage draw too.

http://www.hondaatvforums.net/forums/repair-maintenance/4125-h-i-d-lights.html

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/showthread.php/38346-VisionX-Xmitter-vs.-VisionX-HID-s

 

[Monster5601]

you say 390 gross?thats not a whole lot you need to add in what all the electronics the engine needs to run.my rhino i think has 500watts gross but it uses just about all of it to run the electronics on the engine and it doesn't leave much room for lights . look at your manual and add up everything that has to be used to run the engine then see what you got left.your chargeing system will probably draw the most now i know yes it doesn't constantly run to charge the battery but when you add lights and stereos and stuff the battery goes down faster and the charging system works harder and stays on longer. my old hpx gator could not keep up with 4 55watt halogens within an hour or less they would start to dim and the charging system fuse would blow from being over worked. never go by gross watts always go by net watts and always stay well below the net wattage you have or you will be stranded one day or night .i had to add a alternator off a toyota and an extra marine battery to run my stuff.here's a few instances from other guys who installed them you need to look at the amperage draw too.

H.I.D. lights - Honda ATV Forum

VisionX Xmitter vs. VisionX HID's

Since it is a diesel, I need only to factor in the fuel shut off solenoid.

As far as LED lighting, I am not going to drop $500 plus on an LED bar that does the same thing as one HID but uses more power.

Back to my original question, anyone?

 

[kebdvm]

I'll second the LED lights. I installed 2 on my RTV900 that are 27 watts each, 2,000 lumens each. They really light things up. Got them off EBay for ~$120 for the pair.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

sorry to say but that solenoid isn't the only thing drawing power .i collect all types of lights i have over 50 flashlights of diferent makers and the best and cheapst ones to run are leds. i have my whole yard lit up with lights there is no dark spots in my yard at all.i tried to help you with the original question by pointing you in a better direction than where you was heading.i can't see where you say hid's draw less power than leds. done been there and done that when it comes to putting lights on utv's and atv's and the best way is leds they put out more light for less amperage and wattage draw. i'm sorry but i tried if you still want hid's then go buy them but when your stranded in the woods at night because your battery is dead don't say we didn't try to help you.

 

[Monster5601]

sorry to say but that solenoid isn't the only thing drawing power .i collect all types of lights i have over 50 flashlights of diferent makers and the best and cheapst ones to run are leds. i have my whole yard lit up with lights there is no dark spots in my yard at all.i tried to help you with the original question by pointing you in a better direction than where you was heading.i can't see where you say hid's draw less power than leds. done been there and done that when it comes to putting lights on utv's and atv's and the best way is leds they put out more light for less amperage and wattage draw. i'm sorry but i tried if you still want hid's then go buy them but when your stranded in the woods at night because your battery is dead don't say we didn't try to help you.

You are right, I forgot, the diesel also has a small fuel pump along with the fuel shut-off solenoid.

Comparing LEDs against HIDs, your claims are just not supported by the numbers I've discovered doing basic research. I compared a 27 watt LED work light against a 35 watt HID work light and this is what I found:

27 watt LED, 1620 lumens, 2.25a @ 12 vdc, 6000K color temperature.
35 watt HID, 3200 lumens, 2.9a @ 12 vdc, 4300K color temperature.

The numbers are telling me that for 650 milliamps I can get nearly twice the amount of visible light from the HID work light. In addition, the HID produces a color temperature closer to natural daylight than the LED work light thus increasing the lux.

650 milliamps equates to just under 8 watts of power at 12 volts, running two HID work lights I will consume an additional 16 watts of power over LED work lamps and have twice as much visible lighting output at a slightly higher lux.

You have not convinced me that going with LED work lamps would be beneficial.

 

[authority]

Has anyone any experience with the HID work lights available on eBay? There seems to be a common style of HID work light available from a number of sellers from around $60 up.

I also did a Google on HID work lamps and found many eTailers selling them for north of $300.

I know the price of HIDs has dropped significantly over the past couple of years and the prices I see on eBay seem to be inline with HID kits.

I'm looking to add a set to my RTV900 to light up the front area better.

Thanks for any input.

Hi Bob,

As my business is selling exclusively lighting for machinery and emergency vehicles, I'm slightly biased but here is what we have found with the HID's you're looking at:

The off shore inexpensive HID work lamps typically use an H3 HID conversion kit similar to what you would use in a vehicle, retrofitted into a low quality housing with a cheap lens and mount.

They provide as you stated about 3300 actual lumens of light, and depending on the quality of the lens and reflector may work very well for you.

I want to reinforce however that LED work lights are not nearly as powerful as they are made to seem in the literature. We rely on LEDs for most of the machines we outfit in todays market, but to have an equivilant light certified to a 35w HID output, we are using a 60w LED version. Now this is certified at 2800 lumens, which is within the machine manufacturer specs of 3000 +- 300 lumens. (these are all extremely heavy duty OEM applications) and machine downtime is far more important than cost. LED lights designed for use on machinery are certified for ingress protection (ie pressure washing, water submersion, dust ingress to IP68 or IP69K. They are rated for grms vibration resistance, they contain circuitry which protects the diodes in adverse heating conditions, and they last for years beyond the life of the machine, they feature Deutsch DT2 connectors and hardened glass which can be washed when hot.

In keeping with your budget and requirements for durability, those maybe a valid choice. I have personally tested many off shore knock off products and they usually work for a few hundred hours before the bulb and occasionally ballast stops working.

Our high output LED lamps for Cat, Komatsu and Deere equipment are between $650 and $1200 each, and the comparable HIDs are $689 each, so you can definetely afford to buy a few sets off ebay and not worry so much about the longevity.

Charles

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I bought one of the cheapo $60 units 2 years ago and loved it. Used it for a handheld spotlight in the skiff and the battery draw was nominal compared to a regular hand held light. Unfortunatly it did not survive the float test

 

[wyndham6]

Nice post, Bob. Very informative. NordicLights? I shall begin my shopping!

 

[Monster5601]

Thank you Charles for the information, this is what I was looking for. For my occasional use I'll take the eBay HIDs.

I sometimes characterize lighting sources at work (automotive electronics) and although LEDs are gaining in popularity for signaling, marking, and background/mood lighting, they are not yet ready for headlamps. LEDs that have the ability to light the way are still pulling way too much amperage compared to HIDs.

You didn't mention the current requirements for the high power LEDs, what I have characterized have pulled around 22 amps to produce the same amount of visible lighting from a projector lamp, just curious.

Thanks again.

 

[WilliamBos]

Has anyone any experience with the HID work lights available on eBay? There seems to be a common style of HID work light available from a number of sellers from around $60 up.

I also did a Google on HID work lamps and found many eTailers selling them for north of $300.

I know the price of HIDs has dropped significantly over the past couple of years and the prices I see on eBay seem to be inline with HID kits.

I'm looking to add a set to my RTV900 to light up the front area better.

Thanks for any input.

Give Thor a call at http://www.theatvsuperstore.com/default.asp?m=0 he will set you up. He tests what he sells, so it is a proven product.

 

[authority]

Thank you Charles for the information, this is what I was looking for. For my occasional use I'll take the eBay HIDs.

I sometimes characterize lighting sources at work (automotive electronics) and although LEDs are gaining in popularity for signaling, marking, and background/mood lighting, they are not yet ready for headlamps. LEDs that have the ability to light the way are still pulling way too much amperage compared to HIDs.

You didn't mention the current requirements for the high power LEDs, what I have characterized have pulled around 22 amps to produce the same amount of visible lighting from a projector lamp, just curious.

Thanks again.

I did not:

The Nordic Lights N460LED pictured above on the left is a 60W 24V(only) LED flood lamp which is installed as OEM equipment for Cat and serviced by us in the aftermarket. 60W at 24V is 2.5 amps. We outfit these as a direct replacement to HID lamps such as the Nordic N400 pictured on the right above. This is rated at 2800 actual lumens, which if you compare to other manufacturers 6 10w LEDs is somewhere around 5500 theoretical lumens.

I saw what you had mentioned about the color temperature of the light, you are correct in that our OEM HID lights using Philips or Sylvania D1S and D2S bulbs, which emit 4300K. The Nordic LEDs are emitting 6000K, but this bluish white light is actually preferred on jobsites over the 4300k HID.

Your ebay lights may have 6000k bulbs in them, (I don't know if it is specified in the post) most of the HID conversion kits I see around here have these 6000k bulbs as standard.

Ask away if you guys have questions, I can even have engineering do up some beam patterns for various machines/mounting configurations if we're slow.

Shown below is one of the 12V LED work lights, the Nordic N44LED, I'm going to put 4 of these on my tractor when I get a few hours to bring it home for the 50hr service. 3.3A at 12V, 40W. 1800 actual lumens. Its approx 3 55w halogen lights while drawing 1.28A less each lamp. I'll take some pictures to compare.

Charles

 

[authority]

Here is a picture of my desk showing size-wise the differences between LED and comparable HID lights. (and TBN in the background)

Charles

 

[kuboman]

There is no comparison to HID lighting. There is not a LED that is affordable that will give you the light of an HID. They are worth every penny.:thumbsup:

 

[rvennerbeck]

The $35.00 kits on eBay for HID work extremely well. I have converted several vehicles for myself and friends. I will look into finding a suitable HID bulb that I can cobble into my existing B6100 headlamp. They have an initial high ignition current but immediately drop to less than 3 amps. The light output is amazing! My SO works for an LED manufacturer (Phillips) and I get lots of engineering samples to play with. The HID is a much more economical way to go for the $ per lumen.