Hilux 4x4 Forum

I drive occassionaly in the night on the terible Brits - Thabazimbi road.(which I know is not advisable ). I need extra light power to see the potholes and potential koedoes, accordingly I assume spotlights instead of floodlights will be preferrable. Also, I will need to dim the lights alot due to oncoming traffic. As I understand HID lights gas takes a while to warm up for optimal performance, by which time I might have to dim them again, accordingly HID is not an option...I think?I still have the standard Tuna lights.I have read on a few forums and in some 4x4 magazines that LED spotlights, even though marketed as spotlights rather provides a bright floodlight effect, which would therefore not suit my purpose. Also, apparently the round LED "spotlights" are quite heavy and could be a problem to keep them attached on heavily corrugated roads such as in the Kgalagadi...my Nudge bar broke off last year there...apparently the SANParks workshop see such nudgebar and roofrack damage regularly.Accordingly, do I go with a mere headlight bulb upgrade or do I go old school and purchase something like the IPF or KC spotlights? There are many threads on the forum re spotlights and headlight upgrades and I think I have read them all (I think ). However I need advice tailored for my specific need. Accordingly, any suggestions, even if you can convince me in favour of the options I have preliminary excluded I.e LED spotlights (round or bar) and HID headlight conversion? 

With Halogen and HID you are going to get deep penetration but only right in front of you.

I have one of these LED bars on my van. Although you do not get your 1000m penetration like some of the HID's but you get 200m+ (depending on the one you get) of daylight in front of you and that includes the sides of the roads where you will be able to see Kudu's approaching etc.

Take this picture as an example:


This is the amount of light produces by one of these, a 20.5" LED BAR


It produces 120w which gives 10800lumens of light. The are very robust.

You can click here to find out more

my 2cw

I bought a set of HID spots at NAMPO this year. And yes it takes some time to warm up, but only the first time you switch them on. If they're warmed up you can dim for oncoming traffic, you can dim for about 30 - 40 seconds before it cools down again and need about 5-10 seconds to warm up again. I'm sure I will be able to see someone/something standing is the road up to 700m, and even if it might not make as much light right in front of the vehicle as LED's, it still is 3 times brighter in front of your car than with the standard headlights on bright.

I will never replace my HID's with LED on my Hilux, but on my Prado I choose the LED bar simply because I can "hide" the LED in the grill and the HID's can't be hidden(I don't like adding bullbars/spotlights/winches to my Prado, I like it standard) m2cw

I also did a light upgrade, I replaced all the standard globes the 9005 and 9006's with Osram Nightbreakers and I must say a huge difference. I'm now adding the Hella Luminater spotlights just because. I must say the Osrams are more than adequate.

I stayed old school for the simple reason of the led is to white and find it difficult for my eyes to adjust when I dim the lights. The big secret of old school lights is different lenses.
One light is a pencil beam and the other a driving light , so the one gives you distance and the other wight .
I have CIBIE SUPER OSCARS on my third 4x4 and is still very happy with them.

Me likes your avatar Rudi

Donkey wrote:Me likes your avatar Rudi

Thanks

CasKru wrote:With Halogen and HID you are going to get deep penetration but only right in front of you.

I have one of these LED bars on my van. Although you do not get your 1000m penetration like some of the HID's but you get 200m+ (depending on the one you get) of daylight in front of you and that includes the sides of the roads where you will be able to see Kudu's approaching etc.

Take this picture as an example:


This is the amount of light produces by one of these, a 20.5" LED BAR


It produces 120w which gives 10800lumens of light. The are very robust.

You can click here to find out more

my 2cw

Cassie,
I have never seen a LED light bar in use to make a comparrison between the light bar and conventional incandeccent lights. I was under the impression that the advantage of the LED light bar is that it consumes less power. You have stated that the 20.5" light bar is 120watts. My IPF's are 65watts each and shine substantially further then 200m. So what is the advantage of the lightbar?

The amount of light produced versus the power consumption.

Cassie,
I would love to see the difference between the LED lightbar and say for example the IPF's on my truck. I may even convert to a lightbar. I have never had a real life oppertunity to see the difference. Certinally the photos on 4x4 direct make the lightbar look awesome.

Mountain Man wrote:Cassie,
I would love to see the difference between the LED lightbar and say for example the IPF's on my truck. I may even convert to a lightbar. I have never had a real life oppertunity to see the difference. Certinally the photos on 4x4 direct make the lightbar look awesome.

My van is just out of action at the moment (having the transfer case overhauled) but when it's running again, we can arrange a time and place where we can compare if you'd like

I have one of the shorter one on my daily runner as well now and very happy with it's performance

I have a 20" lightbar on the front of my Hilux, and it gives fantastic light to the front as well as the sides. My only gripe is that I would have liked it to have some more "penetration". That I will remedy by fitting the set of KC Dayliters spotlights that are on the Jeep to the Hilux. Just need to get the brackets made up.

With that combination I reckon all my lighting needs will be satisfied. We tested the lightbar on a night run between Cape Town adn Pofadder and it made a HUGE difference..

CasKru wrote:

Mountain Man wrote:Cassie,
I would love to see the difference between the LED lightbar and say for example the IPF's on my truck. I may even convert to a lightbar. I have never had a real life oppertunity to see the difference. Certinally the photos on 4x4 direct make the lightbar look awesome.

My van is just out of action at the moment (having the transfer case overhauled) but when it's running again, we can arrange a time and place where we can compare if you'd like

I have one of the shorter one on my daily runner as well now and very happy with it's performance

Cassie,
I look forward to it. Would be very interesting to see the differences. Give me a shout when you are ready.

CasKru wrote:

Mountain Man wrote:Cassie,
I would love to see the difference between the LED lightbar and say for example the IPF's on my truck. I may even convert to a lightbar. I have never had a real life oppertunity to see the difference. Certinally the photos on 4x4 direct make the lightbar look awesome.

My van is just out of action at the moment (having the transfer case overhauled) but when it's running again, we can arrange a time and place where we can compare if you'd like

I have one of the shorter one on my daily runner as well now and very happy with it's performance

Cassie

Just remember it must be at night

Louis, Cassie stays in Benoni, not Brakpan...


-F_D

I have a 20" lightbar on the front of my Hilux, and it gives fantastic light to the front as well as the sides. My only gripe is that I would have liked it to have some more "penetration".

Thys it is because you do not have the right 20" light bar. All light bars are not the same and there are many light bars out there that gives a very wide beam with very little penetration.

louis fourie wrote: Cassie

Just remember it must be at night

Family_Dog wrote:Louis, Cassie stays in Benoni, not Brakpan...


-F_D

Straight out of Benoni... en so gelaat staan

pietpetoors wrote:

I have a 20" lightbar on the front of my Hilux, and it gives fantastic light to the front as well as the sides. My only gripe is that I would have liked it to have some more "penetration".

Thys it is because you do not have the right 20" light bar. All light bars are not the same and there are many light bars out there that gives a very wide beam with very little penetration.

Piet, what lightbar would give the best penetration?

Thanks for all the information guys. I am particular interested in the test results between Cassies' LED light bar and Louis' IPF's. I am sure we all can't wait for the photographs.

In the absence of photo results in favour of the LED bar, I am leaning towards a pair of LightForce spots for the penetration. I want the LED bar to win (it just look so good on the vehicles together with its power consumption and lifespan) but with reference to what I have read here it is doubtful the LED bar will be victorious.

Another interesting test would be to compare a halogen spot with the same spot with a HID upgrade to determine whether the extra white light that a HID spot delivers justifies the dramatic increase in price between the halogen and HID spots? Does anybody know whether such a test has been done?

The brightness of the light has an influence but it's the reflector technology that determines the distance the light will penetrate and all reflectors have a specific focal point and if the light source is not perfectly within the focal point, you are not going to get the performance.

Also keep in mind that if you buy a set of Lighforce spots for instance. They will work perfectly and I know the HID's can penetrate up to 1100m. But when you replace the bulb (which will be an expensive exercise as well) and you don't fit exactly the same bulb that was in there before, you are going to loose performance in that all manufacturers bulbs differ slightly so the light source will not be in the focal point.

Same goes for halogen where not all the filaments on all the the globes are in the same spot

I had a set of hella comet 500 on my bakkie and replaced it with HID spots. Yes I know I can't compare comet 500 with HID, but not even the KC 6" I had on my d/cab can be compared to the HID's. I bought a set of Roadrage 7", 55 watt HID at NAMPO for R3950, and a replacement globe is R300. And as I said, 700m is more than enough for me.

I want to put a LED bar on my Prado, what happens when one or more of the small LED's pop, I know they have a long life and all, but I've seen a lot of LED truck tail lights where a few of the LED's are not working. Can it be fixed/replaced or do you need to buy a new LED bar ?

FYI, have a look at this light bar:

http://www.takealot.com/one-led-126w-4- ... ID34170114" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's 42 * 3W(309lm) led's which is 12978 raw lumens. It's something that I am looking at getting

Kyle.

Those 3 watt LEds are rather useless and do not have much reach.
Rather look for a bar with 10watt LEDs.

We helped a client the other day, somebody fitted a 20" bar with those 3 watt LEDs on his Ford Ranger and he was upset because the Ford Ranger's standard lights gave him better reach than the LED bar.

You get LED Bars and you get LED Bars.

CasKru wrote:The brightness of the light has an influence but it's the reflector technology that determines the distance the light will penetrate and all reflectors have a specific focal point and if the light source is not perfectly within the focal point, you are not going to get the performance.

Also keep in mind that if you buy a set of Lighforce spots for instance. They will work perfectly and I know the HID's can penetrate up to 1100m. But when you replace the bulb (which will be an expensive exercise as well) and you don't fit exactly the same bulb that was in there before, you are going to loose performance in that all manufacturers bulbs differ slightly so the light source will not be in the focal point.

Same goes for halogen where not all the filaments on all the the globes are in the same spot

I have seen where the Osram Night Breakers WORK on some cars, and is a total mess on others - exactly because the position of the filament vs the reflector needs to be spot on for it to WORK.

pietpetoors wrote:r.

You get LED Bars and you get LED Bars.

And then you get the ones which are flood and the ones that are spot.

The Flood LED bar will blind you. Making it difficult to see far ahead. I know of a few okes with the flood bars that actually took them off.