[Vwdiesel] OFFTOPIC: LED lighting

[James Hansen]

I have these in floods, not beams.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/190718274574?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m
1497.l2649
Probably pretty much what you are looking at.
I bought 20 of them, a buddy wants 8, I'm using the rest.  Best thing is
they are good for 12 or 24v, so my Iltis will get decent backup lights,
along with some of the 24v equipment, track hoe, cat, etc...  The rest go on
sprayer, and tractors. I think they are great.  Was just at a big farm show
in Saskatoon today, they were selling what appear to be nearly identical to
the ebay ones, for a c-note each.

I personally wouldn't bother with 10w lights, the more the merrier, use 27w
all round.  

So far no failures in the cheapie LED's.  I've converted a substantial
number of halogen implement lights to HID, using the tuner kid car kits
available on ebay.
So far one transformer has expired, out of a dozen lights.  They are BRIGHT,
and incidentally, 5 or 6000k temperature like the led's.  
That said, the 27w led's are a candle compared to the HID conversions. 

If you need lights that stand up, Bosch makes very good worklights, that
were intended to be 100w halogen. Glass lenses, steel housings.  I've had
them on stuff for nearly 20 years, and they are stout, on outdoor equipment,
no exposed rubber.  I've converted most of them to HID at this point, which
is like carrying the sun around on the roof of the tractor.  2 rear floods
replace ALL the stock lighting on the rear of my tractor, on the front of a
combine, you don't even notice that the OEM lights are on or off with 2
forward floods.
-james

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Val Christian
Sent: January-09-13 4:40 PM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] OFFTOPIC: LED lighting

This is off topic, but diesel...

I have a compact diesel tractor, which lives outside.  The rain, the snow,
the bird poop.  Every 6 or 7 years I have to replace my lighting, because
the rubber fixtures holding sealed beams rot out.  The fender mounted lights
are not quite as helpful as I have a loader on the tractor.  The most the
lighting is used is in the winter, and while I sometimes use the loader for
clearing snow, 95% of the time, I am pushing with a blade reversed.
So the most critical lighting is for backup, and since I am working in snow,
the illumination level can be rather low.

So looking for more permanent lighting, I have come up with a hodge-podge of
partial solutions:

-27W LED floods, intended for the front
-10W LED floods, small size, intended for the rear -low wattage strip lights
for marking the fenders when on the road (red) -low wattage strip lights for
the front (low illumination, for snow work)

The 27W LED floods subjectively put out more light than a halogen headlight.
The color temp of all the lights is about 6000K, and does not shift with
voltage.
The lighting draw less than half of the previous lighting, and the lumen
output will be much higher.  (eg the four 27W floods are 2010 lumens each)
All fixtures are IP67 waterproofing.  All the gaskets are silicone rubber.
Some of the internal power modulators need retrofit.  They are encased in a
transparent packing tape, and on a high vibration platform like a tractor, I
think they are likely to wear through, and short/fail.

Has anyone else done this on their equipment/car?  It seems to me that LEDs
are getting close to the point where they could replace HID lighting, with
equivalent performance, and no warm-up times.

Has anyone using LED lights encountered systemic problems, like them
inductive spike failures?  I have heard that a welder had problems with them
on his welding truck.

Long post, sorry, but I welcome any observation or ideas.


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