LED headlights???

[Ductape]

MJP, there is a shop about twenty five miles from me that stocks that style of LED bulb. What do you suppose postage to Poland costs?? I believe they are somewhere between ten and twenty dollars each. Sorry..... its been a couple months since i was there. Last time I was there i bought some 1156 style tail light bulbs to put in my Kubota, with all the diodes facing out. Its a commercial truck accessory shop and they have a great selection of lighting in stock.

At some point i'll take a pic of my LED tail lights..... i did have to modify the housing a little, but they look great and draw nearly no juice.

 

[ktm250rider]

You can get 6" recessed cans with LED light sources. LED cost is mainly attributed to the lumen output. Also, the higher the output, the higher the heat generated which must be delt with in order to maintain that ouput. Color temperature also affects cost.

 

[MJPetersen]

MJP, there is a shop about twenty five miles from me that stocks that style of LED bulb. What do you suppose postage to Poland costs??

That is what is so exciting is that the picture that I posted is from a POLISH electronics supplier. They have an internet shop and I can just order online and have it delivered to my house. Super easy--and less expensive than sending something to me. Although mailing something like a bulb or 2 would not be all that much. Thanks so much for your great kindness.

At some point i'll take a pic of my LED tail lights..... i did have to modify the housing a little, but they look great and draw nearly no juice.

Please do post a pic of your lights. I thnk that any way that we can save a few watts will help our tiny dynos cope with more lighting. This has become a very interesting topic for me.

Thanks for everyone posing interesting bits of info.

Mike

 

[mwb]

A few years ago I fixed a the back light on a Ford radio (car). The original incandecant bulb was impossible to find so I bought an LED to try. It was a spot which was no good so I took the LED to the bench grinder and reshaped the lense. After a quick polish it worked pretty good. I don't think you would want to try grinding all the LED's on that 14V fixture though.

I wonder why mfr's don't make 'unfocused' lenses? I know there are different angles available but why not a flood style? THis would work much better with existing lamp housings.

 

[bradv42]

Just to comment on this thread, I am an engineer who works for Truck-Lite whose products have been mentioned on this interesting thread. We have been building LED products since 1991. Some comments that I would like to make are as follows:
1. Be careful when you do retrofits changing from incandescent lamps to LEDs as many lamps have parabolic reflectors where the filaments are at the focal point , when you add an aftermarket "LED bulb" you may in fact make the light dimmer thus wasting your time and money.
2. If your tractor is equiped with a flasher for the given application, a retrofit "LED bulb" in a warning lamp may cause the flasher to not work. Many flashers are "fixed load" flashers and when you install the LED, its current draw is so much lower that it increases the duty cycle (flash rate) of the flasher.
3. Like any electronic product, LED Products are continuing to drop in cost as the technology matures we are seeing improvements in lumens (light) per watt (power). This means that if LED's were too expensive before, wait a few months and reprice them. We are one of the world's top users of LED's, our products are made in America as we have three factories in Pennsylvania and one in New York State.
4. Truck-Lite products are available through all NAPA stores as well as other distribution. We have LED work lamps with trapazoid, flood and spot beam lamps. Information can be found at www.truck-lite.com .
5. The lower current draw (1.2 amps) of the LED Work Lamps will work great for your compact utility tractor that generally has a small power source.
6. The fact that Truck-Lite uses a white color simular to the color temperature of the sun makes them able to improve your visibility. Wait until you see a well designed LED worklamp on a cold winter night, you will experience some wow factor. If you light them up beside the incandescent work lamps, the incandescent lamps will look yellow.
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

 

[milkman]

Look around at this place Super Bright LEDs should be able to find a light and replace the bulb with one of these a lot cheaper than some of the others. I haven't tried these but sounds like they'd work.

 

[jimmer2880]

Brad,

thank you for the thorough post. That helps a lot.

 

[Ductape]

I picked up some 1156 style LED bulbs today for the headlights in my B3030. They are TRUX brand lights @ $24 each. A bit pricey, but all white LEDs are more than colored, since they aren't made in as great of a volume. I should note that amber or red were half as much, at $12 ea. I couple months ago, i replaced my tail light bulbs with LEDs. My goal is to free up available wattage for more worklights and/or any other electrics, and improve visability. The bulbs are very similar to the ones MJPetersen posted...... the diodes wrap around the light, with three facing forward.

 

[Ductape]

I took a pic with one LED, one incandescent...... the incandescent looks more yellow colored. Unfortunately, the right headlight shines right at the blower chute, so it was impossible to tell which bulb shone brighter on the inside of my overhead door.

 

[Farmerford]

Brad:

Thanks for the post. I mounted two Truck-Lite LED worklamps on my Kubota L4330 and I am very satisfied with them. I particularly like the sturdy metal housings.

All my vehicles save one have round headlights (71 MB, 77 Bronco, 86 CJ-7). Do you expect LED replacements to become available for them?

Thanks again.

 

[rvaitor]

Brad:

Thanks for the post. I mounted two Truck-Lite LED worklamps on my Kubota L4330 and I am very satisfied with them. I particularly like the sturdy metal housings.

All my vehicles save one have round headlights (71 MB, 77 Bronco, 86 CJ-7). Do you expect LED replacements to become available for them?

Thanks again.

Yes, Brad appreciate the post.

 

[bradv42]

Brad:

Thanks for the post. I mounted two Truck-Lite LED worklamps on my Kubota L4330 and I am very satisfied with them. I particularly like the sturdy metal housings.

All my vehicles save one have round headlights (71 MB, 77 Bronco, 86 CJ-7). Do you expect LED replacements to become available for them?

Thanks again.

I think that you will be pleased to hear that we will soon be announcing a 7 inch round LED headlamp in 12 volt to fit all those applications (http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...n_US/LEDHeadlamp.html&storeId=10001&langId=-1). We have been supplying these American engineered and manufactured headlamps to the US Army for about one year now but of course they are 24 volt applications. We have more than 100,000 of these lamps in Iraq and Afganistan. We have recieved a great deal of feedback from the soldiers indicated how happy they are with the performance and the fact that they can see well enough that they do not even have to get out of the armored vehicles to direct them in tight situations. The beauty of this application is the fact that many of the applications are off highway where LED's are the perfect technology for the application. Farmerford, thanks for being our customer!

 

[bradv42]

One more comment, for those looking for an LED worklamp with a flood beam pattern we (at Truck-Lite) launched this product earlier this year- please see the attached link - Truck-Lite - Catalog Product : LED Floodlamp 6 Diode Pattern
Have a great day!

 

[LRH]

Good to see the flood pattern available, when you stated in the earlier post that Truck-Lite produced LED worklamps in trapezoid, spot, and flood, I went to the web site since I knew they were not in the '08 catalog and did not find them on the website either, so I was getting ready to ask for the part numbers, so thanks for posting. Do you happen to know the beam spread?, and if they are currently in stock in Falconer? I have 4 of the trapezoids installed, and 2 more still in the boxes, I think I will order 2 of the floods in lieu of the 2 traps I have still in the box.

EDIT: Just checked; Falconer shows 7 in stock currently of the single units, I did not check bulk packaged stock...........so I will order some Friday, thanks.

 

[LRH]

Just ordered 2 of the 81380 floods, Truck-Lite actually showed 10 in stock today. I will see how the slightly shorter, but wider beam pattern compares to the trapezoidal.

 

[Ductape]

Is it possible to order direct from TruckLite?

 

[medicshawn]

I'm a big fan of LED's. We have switched to them for most of our emergency lights on our fire trucks ambulances etc. They are super bright and you don't have to worry about bulbs going out any more. They are tried and true under pretty harsh conditions.

I looked at Leds for worklights but had trouble finding them for a reasonable price even on Ebay. I may have to look at Truck light it seems some of those lights can be had for under 100. I already replaced some of my turn signals to reduce my power consumption.

 

[LRH]

Is it possible to order direct from TruckLite?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As far as I know, they only sell to dealer/distributors. I have some friends who are a dealer so I ordered mine myself through his computer. There are some good prices out there online, Ryder has them for $95-96 with free shipping on orders over $200, saw someone with a price in the low $80's for the -3 bulk packed units; which is a good price if the freight is realistic.

 

[ampsucker]

anybody else thinking it is a little out there to pay 100 bux for an LED light? i mean, you can upgrade the alternator for a little more than that, right? if your problem is you don't have enough output for larger lights, upgrade your alternator and then you can put in 10 regular bulbs for the price of one LED light!

i'm also questioning the post about the 10 LEDs in one lamp generating a lot of heat. the whole point of LEDs is that more energy goes into making light and less into heat so 10 each 1 watt LEDs should generate far LESS heat than one regular headlamp.

LEDs are only worth the money where low power consumption, instant on with no delay (brake lights for example) or low heat output are part of the design requirement. with a tractor engine driving an alternator and the light sockets more or less open to the air, i don't see either of these design issues making a pressing case for the still relatively high cost of white LEDs.

if all you want is whiter light, xenons or coated incandescents and a higher output alternator would be just as good a way to spend your money.

amp

 

[Scooby074]

I think its a pretty smart move. LED lighting is definitely where the future of lighting in the home and on machinery lies. Lots of light and low draw. Not to mention the long life and durability. The price has come down to a point where a individual as opposed to a business can afford it. Look no further than trailer lighting. Most of the well built consumer trailers have leds and almost all commercial trailers are led.

Yes high power LED generate ALOT of heat. And heat is a killer of electronics, so heat management is very important. Thats why they use the lights aluminum housings as heat sinks. Were not talking about a $5 Home depot flashlight when it comes to the heat output of these high power LEDS.