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LED light bars


czny
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  • 4 months later...

I can't see how ANY light bar is legal to have on a road going rig?

They are definitely not legal to use other than "off-road", and unlike old drivng lights/KC lights they don't have covers available.

I personally think they suck, even offroad.  Saw an old guy on his hunting trip go into a ditch cause a "gambler" driver blinded him with his Friggin aircraft landing light grade LED bar on a curve on a loggin road.

Plus LEDs burn out or have board issue where individual leds burnout.  They are definitely not as "lifetime" usable as people like to think.  Good ol fashion Halogens for me.

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2 hours ago, FerGloyale said:

I can't see how ANY light bar is legal to have on a road going rig?

They are definitely not legal to use other than "off-road", and unlike old drivng lights/KC lights they don't have covers available.

I personally think they suck, even offroad.  Saw an old guy on his hunting trip go into a ditch cause a "gambler" driver blinded him with his Friggin aircraft landing light grade LED bar on a curve on a loggin road.

Plus LEDs burn out or have board issue where individual leds burnout.  They are definitely not as "lifetime" usable as people like to think.  Good ol fashion Halogens for me.

Well its too late now......already mounted a light bar on my 87 GL. My decision was based on my on road experiences with whitetail deer, elk & bighorn sheep  at twilight & night time.

Not on how much I could blind the next guy.

I have rarely used it but when I did it was a great help seeing far enough ahead & to the road sides to avoid an accident in NW Montana.

Lighten up Dan.:P

Edited by czny
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  • 1 month later...
10 hours ago, Uberoo said:

My only problem even with cheap amazon/ebay light bars is there are so bright you can't use them if your not the leader on a nightime run,No one really gets pissed when you light up the back of their car with 4 55W halogen lights.

Just don't drive in front of me after I get the 80 W CO2 laser installed...12 kV power supply functions as antitheft deterrent too

:rolleyes:

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Down with LED and HIDs!

Halogen all the way for me. And what’s with the 55w globes? I’ve got 130w globes in my driving lights. You don’t need much more than this in three or four lights!

Added that the “cool white” light is more like a blue light, it’s a very unstable light wave and thus is why they look so glary to oncoming drivers - but also look good to the driver as a driving light, they’re not getting all the thrown light back to them.

Cheers 

Bennie

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Wow, why so much hate for LED's? Using them reduces the load on your electrical system and if done correctly they are not a road hazard.

I have a LED light bar on my Brat and it only gets turned when needed and with no traffic coming. If it does happen, it gets turned off just like your high beams.

So far the light bar has worked with no issues, going on 3yrs now.

I also converted both my wifes 05 Outback and my 03 Foz to LED. The wifes car has projectors so it was a done deal. Mine I had to retrofit a set of projectors into the housings.

6ac3cbeb-a61b-4df8-9900-9436f0507545.jpg

 

Btw, the headlights are HID, which might also get converted to LED soon

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5 minutes ago, Turbone said:

Wow, why so much hate for LED's? Using them reduces the load on your electrical system and if done correctly they are not a road hazard.....   The wifes car has projectors so it was a done deal.

Halogen projectors are for halogen bulbs.  Re-based HID/LED bulbs are not the correct way to do it.

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LED light bars ARE NEVER legal on a public road.  Whether you turn them off like high beams or not.

They are for side x sides that only ever see trails.

20 years ago I remember people getting pulled over all the time just for not having their KC lights covered.  

It baffles me why now the police don't seem to care about these TOTALLY NOT DOT approved light bars that run the entire width of the damn trucks roofline.  They are a major hazard.  Hate them.

Hate LED headlights too.  Blinds the oncomong traffic, and doesn't project "deep" into the night very well.  Sure things up close are brighter, but your far depth vision actually suffers for this.

Now LED interior lights,....they are great......never have to come out to a dead battery just cause the trunk didn't get closed all the way!

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Fellow drivers aren't the only thing in the roadways at twilight dawn or dusk nor late at night.

I have had a couple near misses with bighorn sheep, elk & deer up in Troy MT area that made up my mind to add a light bar. Needed it driving thru ID along hwy 28 from Salmon ID to I-15. Pronghorn like to cross in herds there.

BTW, LED light bar on my roof is curved to illuminate road sides. Road sides where the unexpected animals are.

One elk cow is enough to cream a little Subie let alone a full size truck. 3 of 'em last time that happened.

Added air horns too. Need those more often to get cell phone obsessed idiots to pull their heads out of their a$$es.

Converted my 87 GL to 4 headlights some time ago. At first outers were 8000K HIDs but that didn't last long in So Cal with CHPs.

Changed to LED outers but these are a single horizontal row of LEDs top with 2 LEDS more lit in center vertical on low beam. Made sure to aim them lower.

Inner pair are halogen tied together with my halogen fog lights just below bumper, on a separate dash switch, an OEM foglight switch.

I can drive at night with just halogens this way.

Edited by czny
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12 hours ago, Turbone said:

Wow, why so much hate for LED's? Using them reduces the load on your electrical system and if done correctly they are not a road hazard.

I have a LED light bar on my Brat and it only gets turned when needed and with no traffic coming. If it does happen, it gets turned off just like your high beams.

So far the light bar has worked with no issues, going on 3yrs now.

I also converted both my wifes 05 Outback and my 03 Foz to LED. The wifes car has projectors so it was a done deal. Mine I had to retrofit a set of projectors into the housings.

6ac3cbeb-a61b-4df8-9900-9436f0507545.jpg

 

Btw, the headlights are HID, which might also get converted to LED soon

 

7 hours ago, czny said:

Fellow drivers aren't the only thing in the roadways at twilight dawn or dusk nor late at night.

I have had a couple near misses with bighorn sheep, elk & deer up in Troy MT area that made up my mind to add a light bar. Needed it driving thru ID along hwy 28 from Salmon ID to I-15. Pronghorn like to cross in herds there.

BTW, LED light bar on my roof is curved to illuminate road sides. Road sides where the unexpected animals are.

One elk cow is enough to cream a little Subie let alone a full size truck. 3 of 'em last time that happened.

Added air horns too. Need those more often to get cell phone obsessed idiots to pull their heads out of their a$$es.

Converted my 87 GL to 4 headlights some time ago. At first outers were 8000K HIDs but that didn't last long in So Cal with CHPs.

Changed to LED outers but these are a single horizontal row of LEDs top with 2 LEDS more lit in center vertical on low beam. Made sure to aim them lower.

Inner pair are halogen tied together with my halogen fog lights just below bumper, on a separate dash switch, an OEM foglight switch.

I can drive at night with just halogens this way.

 

Yeah, you guys are the exception to the rule in that I genuinely know you aren't dumb asses blinding people purposefully or not.  You are aware drivers.  A rare breed.

I just don't have faith in the other millions of checked out drivers out there.

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19 hours ago, FerGloyale said:

 

 

Yeah, you guys are the exception to the rule in that I genuinely know you aren't dumb asses blinding people purposefully or not.  You are aware drivers.  A rare breed.

I just don't have faith in the other millions of checked out drivers out there.

Even so, I’ve been blinded plenty of times with LED bar weilding vehicle’s that just don’t see the oncoming vehicle with dipped headlights... or sometimes with high beams on (enter high beam wars - where I think they work out their lights are still on high beam).

Cheers 

Bennie

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Almost two years later and people are still adding to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hilp25Yfwj8

Think we're getting off the off-road lighting theme & dwelling on bad on-road driving manners. I've been blinded by inconsiderate oncoming vehicles too.

Morons playing their "music" cranked up too loud driving past my house while I'm trying to sleep in So Cal was/is a huge pissoff for me. So are the fart-can exhaust systems.

Hope they go deaf at an early age. 

Yet another good reason to live in a quiet rural area.

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

ive got a 2ft light bar on my rig i mounted the switch on the grill and i only hook it up to the battery when i need it i also have 4 low powered leds in the bumper pointed low 2 out to the sides a bit and 2 straight ahead those are on a switch on the inside the fog lights are about as bright as the headlights and alot bluer and easyer on the eyes tban a tipicle led light bar so not much chance of blinding anyone with them but they light the side of the road also work good off road when im following someone

i have some 6" led mini light bars im installing inside the hood scoop on the impreza for exploring the desert at night

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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