LED headlights???

[jgrreed]

Does anyone know of a source for LED headlights/worklights??

I see JD is selling them now. They say they last 100 times longer than a regular bulb, and they charge roughly 100 times the price!!!!

Thanks,

-Jer.

 

[Scooby074]

Grote makes them now. I havent used them personally, but Grote is good stuff. Any dealer of grote stuff should have access to them Grote Industries: Product #63671 - Spot, 24V, NEW I think these should be good from 10-30V according to their website. You might want to be sitting when they give you the price though. Heres a much cheaper (around $120)Grote Spot http://www.grote.com/product.php?product_number=63641

If youd rather round lights that are cheaperTruck-Lite LED Worklamp 81360

 

[jgrreed]

Thanks!!

-J.

 

[jgrreed]

your lead led me to another brand called Maxxima, as well as a site called vehiclelight.com that carries really nice heavy duty round light.

The Grote Trilliant is on ebay for $465.00!!!! Wow!!! It does look pretty bombproof though. By the sounds of it I'd likely interupt the local wildlife's sleeping cycles by having them around though!!!

I suppose if they are super tough, and will really last for the life of 10 tractors, it's worth it. At least that's what i'm going to tell myself.....

I was thinking that I would put two rounds on my ROPS to increase the forward/side lighting to see past the FEL, and one biggy (maybe a trilliant) in the middle of the ROPS (hanging under the crossbar) for the rear. Anyone have any opinions on this plan?? Is the trapezoidal pattern the way to go??

-Jer.

 

[ampsucker]

white LEDs have been the last to come on the market mainstream. red, yellow, green, etc. (mostly for traffic signals and stop/turn) have been around longer.

expect white/blue to be more expensive. still not commonly available in 120 volt configuration (for home lighting use) or in sealed beam focused spot configuration in any voltage. about the only place you'll commonly see white is in low voltage flashlights and worklights.

and yes, you pay for the diodes and circuit boards with any LED, so they are more expensive. generally not worth it unless you have a situation that demands low wattage or low heat production (solar home/RV/camping/industrial, etc....)

however, unlike compact flourescents, they actually do live up to their lifespan claims and may be worth it in the long run if you can live long enough to see the payback time....

amp

 

[Scooby074]

your plan sounds good. But as good as the Trilliant sounds (from what ive read online they were quite sucessfull in the Baja races) i couldnt spend that kinda money on one. At near $500 your getting into HID light territory. Ive installed HIDs on equipment before and they are extremely bright and give a good light. Led's would last longer though. Id probably go with the cheaper LED ones front and rear. It probably wont be as bright as the top of the line, but it should be adequate.

The Only LED ones i see on Vehiclelight were floods? Traps might be better for what your doing.

 

[SPYDERLK]

They will be available at 90% off by the time the warrantee runs out.

 

[jgrreed]

your plan sounds good. But as good as the Trilliant sounds (from what ive read online they were quite sucessfull in the Baja races) i couldnt spend that kinda money on one. At near $500 your getting into HID light territory. Ive installed HIDs on equipment before and they are extremely bright and give a good light. Led's would last longer though. Id probably go with the cheaper LED ones front and rear. It probably wont be as bright as the top of the line, but it should be adequate.

The Only LED ones i see on Vehiclelight were floods? Traps might be better for what your doing.

Ya, 500 is a lot....

Maybe I'll do two round traps front, and two round traps back.

-Jer.

 

[Scooby074]

Good luck in your choice. I would probably go with the cheaper grote traps over the truck lites. Grote Leds have always done good for me.Maybe others can comment on the quality of the trucklites

 

[LRH]

I have 4 of the 81360 Truck-Lite's, and am very pleased with them. At current time, they only come in a trapezoidal pattern, which for most tractor work is the best pattern, but it also means the lamp assy must be mounted base down to get the correct beam dispersion.

 

[mjncad]

I did a mix of one trapezoidal and one flood for my front and rear work lights. That way I get the best of both worlds.

 

[MJPetersen]

I put LED in my headlights. They are at least as bright as the originals, I believe brighter, but to be conservative at least as bright, but not nearly as bright as what I understand you guys are talking about. I used a standard bulb for 12 volts that is commonly available and adapted it to my existing lamp sockets. I figure that if they last even 1/10 th of the advertised time then they should long outlast the tractor.

I chronicled my experiment in LED headlights here. I really like the ultra white light and low power draw, which will allow me to install others so that I can get more light. Mine cost me about $15-$20.

Mike

 

[EarPlug]

Here is a light that I found at vehiclelight.com

I called them about the $199 price tag and what they told me that most of the cost is in the design of the housing. With 10 one watt LED's there is a lot of heat that needs to be dissipated. Also, LED's do not work real well with simple reflectors and needs a special lens.

They also told me that they are selling many of these for use on combines for night work.

I haven't bought one yet 'cause I'm still choking on the price.

Jack

 

[jgrreed]

Here is a light that I found at vehiclelight.com

I called them about the $199 price tag and what they told me that most of the cost is in the design of the housing. With 10 one watt LED's there is a lot of heat that needs to be dissipated. Also, LED's do not work real well with simple reflectors and needs a special lens.

They also told me that they are selling many of these for use on combines for night work.

I haven't bought one yet 'cause I'm still choking on the price.

Jack

Did they say what pattern it is? Trapezoid, flood, or spot??

Look up the price of a Grote Trilliant..... it dislodge the price you're choking on now, and obstruct your small bowel instead!!!

-Jer.

 

[EarPlug]

Did they say what pattern it is? Trapezoid, flood, or spot??

-Jer.

It is basically a Flood pattern.

 

[LRH]

Does anyone know of a source for LED headlights/worklights??

I see JD is selling them now. They say they last 100 times longer than a regular bulb, and they charge roughly 100 times the price!!!!

Thanks,

-Jer.[/QUOTE

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Back to the OP's original question; Truck-Lite, Grote, and Hella are going to be the 3 easiest to obtain, premium brands from companies that make/manufacturer the products in house vs packaging someone else's product, and each have large R&D depts, especially Hella. I have a friend who works at the Hella US distribution center who could have gotten me some LED's or HID's, but with all the overwhelming choices offered, I was afraid I would want to try all of them to obtain the "perfect" combination. I did not want to put him to that much trouble with his employee purchase privileges; the Truck-Lite's were readily available to me. Another brand is Peterson; PM or Peterson Manufacturing, but I don't think they make any high end products, nor does Bargmann. Signal-Stat was the lighting division of Federal-Mogul; it was bought out by Truck-Lite with duplicate products dropped, and what was kept is now an entry level product, and no LED's other than turn signal/marker lamps. Most no name products, usually from China, are still too expensive to gamble if or not a warranty replacement will be available, or if an almost new lamp will just wind up in a dumpster should a failure occur.

 

[LRH]

I put LED in my headlights. They are at least as bright as the originals, I believe brighter, but to be conservative at least as bright, but not nearly as bright as what I understand you guys are talking about. I used a standard bulb for 12 volts that is commonly available and adapted it to my existing lamp sockets. I figure that if they last even 1/10 th of the advertised time then they should long outlast the tractor.

I chronicled my experiment in LED headlights here. I really like the ultra white light and low power draw, which will allow me to install others so that I can get more light. Mine cost me about $15-$20.

Mike

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The LED assy you have is probably much brighter, and a cool bluish white compared to the OE lamps supplied with your Yanmar. Most older Japanese tractors did not use Euro "H" bulbs nor sealed beams, which would have been state of the art compared to what they did use; which were about equivalent to the average backup light with just enough light to get the tractor out of the field and put away in the barn, but not enough light to do much work. The reason your's look just slightly brighter is due to the fact all of the LED,s are facing forward, and not using the reflector to shape the pattern. You are still better off with with these due to the low current draw. My B3030 has poor headlamps for such a modern tractor , but the bulb placement against the reflector does throw a good pattern for a 21CP bulb. I have tried 1156's @21w/32CP and 795/795X bulbs 50W/108CP, but the small wiring looks inadequate. What would work the best for mine and your front lights would be the 1156 replacement LED's that have the LED's on the side and wrapping around to the back so some light bounces off the reflector. I just don't feel like ordering them and paying $10.00 freight on a $10.00 bulb. I might just put amber 1156NA's in them and wire in an alternating wig-wag flasher for more safety when cutting grass along the roadside.


.

 

[MJPetersen]

The LED assy you have is probably much brighter, and a cool bluish white compared to the OE lamps supplied with your Yanmar.

My original bulbs were not all that bright as you stated 25/35 watts apiece. Bulbs that I used MR11s do have the LEDs exposed in front of their own reflector (unlike the MR 16 which is completely enclosed, and I experimented to try to get some of the light to bounce off the reflector, but as you stated most just shoots straight out the front. It is far better than original, but not what I really want.

What would work the best for mine and your front lights would be the 1156 replacement LED's that have the LED's on the side and wrapping around to the back so some light bounces off the reflector.

I had never heard of this bulb, but you can bet I am going to be doing some research on it in the VERY near future. I have a daughter going to the States for a month right after Christmas and she could bring me back a few.

The advantage of using the MR11s is that they are easily locally available. Thanks for the suggestion and if you have a suggestion on where these bulbs can be purchased let me know.

Mike

After posting I did a quick search on the numbers that you gave me and found that they are available here. I included a pic of what I found--it is a very reasonable $8.50. It is 14 volt, so it might not be as bright as it could be, but most interesting. I did find that the bulbs did not always come in this configuration like you described, but rather most often had all LEDs facing straight forward and sometimes a few pointing back. I like these, and think that I NEED them.

 

[LRH]

My original bulbs were not all that bright as you stated 25/35 watts apiece. Bulbs that I used MR11s do have the LEDs exposed in front of their own reflector (unlike the MR 16 which is completely enclosed, and I experimented to try to get some of the light to bounce off the reflector, but as you stated most just shoots straight out the front. It is far better than original, but not what I really want.



I had never heard of this bulb, but you can bet I am going to be doing some research on it in the VERY near future. I have a daughter going to the States for a month right after Christmas and she could bring me back a few.

The advantage of using the MR11s is that they are easily locally available. Thanks for the suggestion and if you have a suggestion on where these bulbs can be purchased let me know.

Mike

After posting I did a quick search on the numbers that you gave me and found that they are available here. I included a pic of what I found--it is a very reasonable $8.50. It is 14 volt, so it might not be as bright as it could be, but most interesting. I did find that the bulbs did not always come in this configuration like you described, but rather most often had all LEDs facing straight forward and sometimes a few pointing back. I like these, and think that I NEED them.

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Yes, those are what I am talking about, except there are some that are bulb shaped that have the rear most row of LED's angled back about 45 degrees towards the reflector, versus straight out the side. These, and/or the ones you pictured above make better use of the reflector. Around where I live, most everyone only keeps the least expensive forward mounted LED's. As for the bulbs you are looking at being 14V; that is most likely the maximum normal voltage it is designed for; it will probably function from 8-20 volts without damage, and probably from 10-16 all day every day with no change in output or service life.

 

[PILOON]

Interesting topic!

I too have been toying with LED's

What I discovered is that LED's ONLY project forewards (very narrow like 15 deg spread) and that is why we don't find them for home lighting. And also why 'direct replacement' bulbs have them sticking out like a pine cone in order to take advantage if the conical mirror reflector, but in fact with a LED a mirror is not req'd.

All told it means that with LED's a mirror is not required to concentrate the light and 'aim' it.

Just take a chunk of plastic and drill a series of holes and insert the LEDs and ALL the light will project in the direction the LED is aimed at.

In other words if you want a wide flat lighting simply curve your 'plastic holder' slightly and you will create a wide but flat flood light.
A LED does not spill in all directions.

I purchased about 50 LEDs from a HongKong supplier with appropriate resistors for something like $10 or $20 just to play with. Kinda neet stuff!
LED's don't work at 12 volts, so a dropping resistor is needed however you can do a 'series/parallel' job and eliminate the resistors