These are sometimes called driving lights or euro beams. There are also some lights that are a hybrid of spot and floodlights. There are spotlights (sometimes called pencil beams), and there are floodlights, sometimes called work lights. There are two basic beam types to choose from when selecting your off-road lights. It’s generally accepted that lights built with Cree LEDs are of a higher quality than some of the other LED lights on the market. Lower quality lights usually have a lower wattage rating, so don’t be fooled by a less-expensive LED lightbar that looks essentially the same as a more expensive version. The higher the watts, the brighter the lights will be. Like halogen lights, LED lights also come in several different wattages. Another really cool advantage of LED lights is that many of them can function properly on multiple voltages without any modifications. LED lights are generally extremely shockproof and waterproof. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material. LED lights are a two-lead semiconductor light source. The availability of low-quality imported LED lights has certainly helped fuel the fire. You also can’t discount the fact that many people simply think the long thin light bars mounted above the windshield look cool. Their compact size, durability, long life, low amp draw, and absolute brightness are among the reasons. The popularity of LED lights has skyrocketed over the last few years. If you haven’t seen an LED lightbar on a Jeep or other 4x4, you’ve probably been living under a rock. Most modern HID lights have the ignitor and ballast built into the light housing, but some off-road HID lights have an externally mounted ignitor and ballast, which makes installation more complicated. They require an ignitor and ballast to bump up the voltage. HID lights do not run directly on low-voltage DC current. Once the arc is started, it heats and evaporates the metal salts forming plasma, which greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc. The gas facilitates the arc's initial strike. The translucent tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. Instead, light is produced via an electric arc between two tungsten electrodes housed inside an arc tube. HIDs are a type of arc lamp, so there is no delicate filament that heats up. They did find their way onto high-end off-road race vehicles, though. However, their high cost kept them out of the reach of most 4x4 enthusiasts. HID off-road lights have been available since the ’90s. HID (high-intensity discharge) lights are also known as Xenon lights because of the inert noble gas used inside the bulbs. Higher quality halogen lights run around $100 apiece. Halogen off-road lights vary in price but typically cost as little as $20 each. At the very least you could end up melting wires. With this many amps, poor wiring and mismanaged electrical draw can create heat and could cause a fire under the dash of your 4x4. It is unwise to run even one or two 100-watt lights off a simple switch in the dash without the use of a relay. This high-amp draw requires the use of heavy-gauge wiring and relays. Of the three light technologies, halogen lights consume the most power and place the greatest demand on an electrical system. Combine this with the engine ignition, fuel pump, heater blower motor, and the other electronics in your 4x4 and you could be challenging your charging system. However, when you mount four 100-watt lights to your 4x4, they have the potential to consume more than 33 amps. By itself, one light is not all that big of a deal. A typical 12V 100-watt halogen light will draw slightly more than 8 amps. As expected, the higher-wattage lights draw more current too. The higher the wattage is, the brighter the light will be. Halogen lights are available in many different wattages the most common being 55 and 100 watt. So you can forget about duct taping grandma’s vintage desk lamp to your front bumper. However, the design and function of a halogen bulb makes it more vibration resistant and allows it to last longer and shine brighter than an incandescent bulb. Halogen lights function similar to a traditional incandescent light bulb, where electricity is used to heat a tungsten filament and create light. They were the only game in town for several decades because the other off-road lighting technologies had not yet progressed and become affordable. Halogen lights are the oldest and least efficient of the three prevalent off-road light designs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |