LED Tractor Lighting

[Fromjim]

I hope to get some help in choosing Lighting for my tractor, up here in Canada we have very long and dark winters and trying to make my work more comfortable I decided to upgrade my work lights on my Kubota M108 X tractor, but the more I read the more questions and doubts I have, the only thing I have found that I can accept so far is to buy CREE LED lights, I have read hours and hours of advertisements and claims only to find out that I believe we are being misled by many sellers of LED lighting, the confusion comes from all directions, as far as I can tell, Lumens is a very good indicator of the light out put but you will see ridiculous claims, some I believe give the value of all the lights in a set in such a way that you may think it is for an individual light and really can't believe what you are reading. They are not lying but worded in such a way that you simply move on to another seller, price is not a help, you can see prices from $15.00 to over hundreds of dollars, some ads seem good until you find out that this light has a pattern of bright lines or other problems distributing the light, wide beams vs spot, even the hardware, wiring, it's hard to remember what you need to look out for when you are buying the best, latest, most powerful, light you can get, even the longevity of the LED should be taken into consideration, new technology is coming out so fast it's hard to keep up. I have read that the CREE is the most advanced at this time, so if this can be confirmed it would really help in the decision making, and I know that a standard is set but even CREE who makes lights to that standard, which I can't remember, is already making lights to the next level or standard, so I guess I am going to have to take notes when I read about the very best there is in Cree Led lighting, in the meantime I would like anyone who is interested in helping people get the very best LED tractor lights post their comments, opinion on the Topic of buying LED Lights.

Thanks

God bless all

James

 

[airbiscuit]

Here is a link o my experience of adding LED lights to my ROPS. They are not CREE (which I admit are good), but they are bright, the beam is wide, and they cost less than $25 with free shipping on Amazon.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/348520-48w-led-vs-55w-halogen.html

 

[shui5612]

Personally the way I see it is : you need to decide how important that single light is in lighting the area you want to be lit. For example if you want to add abit more light to the side of your tractor then you can get cheap eBay lights. while if you have no light and will be relying on that light then I would go slightly higher quality in order to get the best performance. While I've had some pretty good luck with cheap eBay lights, so far only had one fail out of the 30 I have installed on my toys and my friends.
Just look up the size and style you want and you will get much more light when compared to oem or halogens.

If you want something that is slightly higher quality then I recommend AuxBeam. You can get them on amazon. Have 3 lightbars that I installed, one being on a ram truck and another on a subaru impreza. They have so far survived 2 winters of getting sprayed with salt and vibrations and the cold + heat and work the same as they did the day they were installed. I believe procomp is pretty similar in price and quality. Depending on the led style..

Lastly if you want something that is very very high quality then look up RIGID Industries LEDs, they are pricey but it will most likely be the only time you'll ever need to buy them in your life. Many styles available and light patterns. Very high build quality. I've had a set on my rear bumper of an f150 that get constantly sprayed and hit with gravel, even survived a small fender bender accident and they have worked flawlessly for 5 years now.

Only issue with LEDs is they don't heat up to melt the snow off.

If I could give them a score on : brightness, quality, bang for buck then it would be:

Cheap chinese:
5/10 brightness
5/10 Quality
10/10 value

Auxbeam:
7/10 brighness
7/10 quality
7/10 value

Rigid:
9/10 brightness
10/10 quality
5/10 value

There are more expensive brands out there that perform slightly better but the prices are astronomical.

Figure a normal 50w halogen would give 2-3/10 brightness and a 50w xenon performs a 4-6/10 in terms of brightness

So even cheap leds will give you plenty of light and good visibility but it is the overall quality of the light and where it is focused that counts.

I'm from Montreal so we have the same winter here

Hopefully this helps.

P.s. I don't think you would benefit any from CREEs since they are often made to be spot lights that are "driving" lights meaning they are in between a spot and a flood beam, giving a medium range and medium width of the beam.

Depending on how many lights you are wanting to install, their location, I can help you out through PM to help you select the lights you'll need and make for a good set-up.

 

[Otgaugres]

Links below to my LED installations on both my Polaris Ranger and JD 4066R. In both cases, I used Mictuning LED’s that I purchased on Amazon. I think these are relatively low cost lights, but so far, after 1 season, performance has been awesome. Not knowing what the OP’s needs are, hard to say whether relatively minor differences in light output or patterns is of consequence. In my case, very happy with the results, and they didn’t break the bank. Good luck.

John Deere 4066R LED Light Bar Installation - YouTube

2011 Polaris Ranger 800XP with Mods for OTG AuGres - YouTube

 

[bspeedy]

I have had good luck with Tuff LED lights from Amazon. I have three that have been on my tractor for a couple of years and one that has been on the back bumper of my pickup for a year or so. No issues and very bright. About 20 bucks a pop on Amazon. I have also used the Nilight brand lights from Amazon. About half the price, but not as bright. No issues with these either. My strategy is to use the lights with hundreds of positive reviews. I have been 100 percent satisfied - acutally shocked at the quality of these lights for the money.

 

[plowhog]

James, your avatar picture shows a cab tractor. I've seen reports here on TBN that LED lights that are not CREE have caused radio interference problems. One more thing to consider, ugh.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Links below to my LED installations on both my Polaris Ranger and JD 4066R. In both cases, I used Mictuning LED’s that I purchased on Amazon. I think these are relatively low cost lights, but so far, after 1 season, performance has been awesome. Not knowing what the OP’s needs are, hard to say whether relatively minor differences in light output or patterns is of consequence. In my case, very happy with the results, and they didn’t break the bank. Good luck.

John Deere 4066R LED Light Bar Installation - YouTube

2011 Polaris Ranger 800XP with Mods for OTG AuGres - YouTube

I couldn’t tell from your video, did you buy combination flood / spot light bars. That’s what I used on my Polaris Ranger XP700. 20” on front and 10” on rear.

 

[varmint]

I bought carefully selected LED lights from eBay, usually cheap but not necessarily the cheapest, and have had zero issues with quality, construction or performance. Because they are so low cost, and draw so little current, it is easy to use a number of them, lighting as needed. FWIW, I have never had an issue using them in driven snow, either. About the only time I have used the lights is plowing snow at night. Light bars have gotten great reports, as well.

The waterproof switches are from eBay, and I imagine they all come from China, no matter whose you buy. You most likely won't be driving at high speeds, so seeing well beyond 50' isn't that important? Avoiding hotspots and shadows is important, though, which is where multiple lights help. You want to avoid having the light beams shine on you tractor's components, obviously, because that will distract from what you need to see.

 

[kevinwak]

I personally went with Rigid Industries D2 lights on my JD 2520. I work long hours and wanted something I could depend on to be 100% reliable when I get him from work in a blizzard, or need to mow lawn at midnight. (Which I have done lots since I work lots of night shifts and don’t have neighbors)
I had a first hand experience to the quality of Rigid lights before I bought them. We have two field operator trucks at work with Rigid light bars. These are turned on between 4 and 12 hours a night (depending on if it is summer or winter in norther Alberta) every night of the year including Christmas for the last four years and we haven’t had a single issue. We use them to light up our work area on wellsites at night. They were expensive and I think they are more than worth it.

 

[marchanna]

I bought a pair of $20 LED lights from amazon and I知 quite happy with them so far. CREE or SMD leds are both fine. The key is a well sealed housing with a good heat sink body. LEDs can overheat which usually causes them to fail. No need to spend a lot of money, theyæ±*e all made in China anyways.