LED Light bar questions

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
Administrator
Location
Retired in Minneapolis
I'm thinking about putting an LED light bar on the front of my Tracker.

Now I'm trying to decide what to buy. Does anyone have some insights?

Quality? What is too cheap and what is over priced?

Is a full width unit needed or is a 20" enough light?

Maybe spots instead of a bar? I seee some light bars with spots built into the ends so the light pattern is kind of like a dumb bell.

How much light power?

This sounds a lot like buying a climbing rope LOL
 
Tom Dunlap said:
I'm thinking about putting an LED light bar on the front of my Tracker.

Now I'm trying to decide what to buy. Does anyone have some insights?

Quality? What is too cheap and what is over priced?

Is a full width unit needed or is a 20" enough light?

Maybe spots instead of a bar? I seee some light bars with spots built into the ends so the light pattern is kind of like a dumb bell.

How much light power?

This sounds a lot like buying a climbing rope LOL
Click to expand...
My only experience with a light bar is the one that came on my ditchwitch sk1550 it will blind you crazy bright
It also has clear l.e.d lights on the back ang they are actually plenty They are just like trailer brake lights but clear instead of red
Not sure the lumens or watt
They came on the machine
 
LED technology is pretty great, they seem to last forever. I ran a snowcat for awhile that was covered in LED light bars. My favorites were the amber colored bars for use in flat light/blizzard/fog conditions.
 
Tom Dunlap said:
I'm thinking about putting an LED light bar on the front of my Tracker.

Now I'm trying to decide what to buy. Does anyone have some insights?

Quality? What is too cheap and what is over priced?

Is a full width unit needed or is a 20" enough light?

Maybe spots instead of a bar? I seee some light bars with spots built into the ends so the light pattern is kind of like a dumb bell.

How much light power?

This sounds a lot like buying a climbing rope LOL
Click to expand...
Much like climbing ropes, the purpose of the light bar will have an effect on what you want to buy. Some are flood lights for a wide light path, others are spot lights for a narrow high beam and then some are a mix.

I've seen cheap ones, about the width of a side by side light up everything in front in the dead of night. A cheap 6" wide led bar can light up a work area in front of a mini skid with some of the light going out 100+ feet of the machine, further if it hits reflective material.
 
Yipes! the vid really shows the difference

I've come up with a plan.

Buy some square spots. Make up a base with embedded rare earth magnets. WIre them with plugs. Then I can move them anywhere I need light. With a small spool of wire with alligator clips/battery clips I can have light where ever I need it.

I found the Northern has two square ones for $20
 
Crazy right? And as the guy says, that's just a "60€ or so from aliexpress," no name Chinese light bar. I don't know if you looked at the link, but it's just like a 20" on top of a guys van.

What I think it does illustrate though is that even a 'small-ish' unit can put out HUGE amounts of light, maybe too much depending on the situation and something adjustable is likely worthwhile if looking at anything bigger than small spots.
 
@Tom Dunlap Keep in mind that light bars are considered off road lights, and are illegal in many states on road.

With your last comment, it almost seems as if your looking for interior vehicle lighting? Or are you wanting to move 1 or 2 lights to different corners of your vehicle? For interior lighting in truck beds, enclosed trailers and toolboxes; led strips work really well. Residential LED light strips (120vac) are actually 12vdc with transforms on the power cord. Discard the power cord and transformer and wire directly to your vehicle wiring for easy, low profile lighting.
 
Exterior only. I understand, off-road only.

My Dad bought a bubble lense, dual filament tail-light sockets and switches to make a camp lantern. Even using the low, single filament bulb would light up the tent trailer just fine. The wires were wrapped around a spool. The whole works would go in a box smaller than a 12 pack. If we used the tent light and didn't drive anywhere for a couple days he'd star the car to recharge. Never left us stranded. I have multimeters and an LED readout plugged into a cigarette lighter so I can monitor battery charge.

There are sooooo many 12v interior lighting options for inside the camper. I have dual batteries with an isolator switch to keep them apart from the starter battery in the camper.

My idea with the LED spots is to only deploy them when I need them. They can get stashed inside with the spool of wire in the way back.
 
I know nothing about off-road vehicles or light bars but last summer, I passed by a huge off-road rally of some sorts in rural Michigan. Everyone was gathering in someone's farm field, maybe around 500 vehicles. Looked and smelled like Woodstock. At the entrance drive, someone was giving out instructions to the newcomers. They were parked in a golf cart, flying a huge white flag with black letters that simply stated "Fuck Your Light Bars". Gave me a chuckle but I always wondered what the story behind it was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom