Chicken Drumstick Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Can anyone recommend any spot/flood lights. Here's the important bit, ones that use projector lenses rather than reflectors? Not looking at LED light bars. Wanting to stick with bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 What's the reason for wanting to stick with bulbs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 11, 2016 Author Share Posted October 11, 2016 Not really keen on the visual look of the LED light bars. And I think they still have a long way too come. Most are cool white and crappy LEDs. I've also recently been impressed by these new fast start HID ballasts, which tbh seem to be a good way to go for now. These are designed for mainbeam use, so no reason why they couldn't be installed in a spot light housing. Very good output and nice 4300k tint and high CRI. It doesn't have to be a projector lens, but I have some projector lens headlights and mainbeam lights on other cars and I have generally been impressed with their beams over reflector lights. They also aren't as fussy with having the bulb element in 'just' the right place like a reflector is. So a HID bulb should still give a good beam pattern and spread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy2986 Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 A while back I converted some KC daylighters to run on HID. I know its not a projector lamp but you can get a choice of lenses and the bowel at the back of the light was big enough to hold one of the smaller HID ballasts so it was a simple 2 wire installation (just +ve and ground ) out of the fitting. The light output was very good and you get a choice of colour temperature. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 You could buy the projectors and retrofit them into spotlamps of your choice. Theretrofitsource.com i've used in the past. The projectors are pretty deep though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 I've got some spare KC bowls if you're interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoSS Posted October 12, 2016 Share Posted October 12, 2016 LED's every time. Far more efficient than incandescent (higher output for less current), longer life. Should be longer life and more reliable than HID depending on quality. Of course you always get what you pay for, and then some luck. But cheap HID are also going to be Chinese and a risk. I now have 7" round LED headlights, certainly better output and beam. Quality we will see... I have 2 lightbars, which on the whole are good quality. I looked at them closely before fitting and saw the lens wasnt particularly well sealed, so dismantled and siliconed them. Also look here Pirate 4x4 interesting test of 7" headlights - Halogen, LED & HID comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 I still haven't seen an LED light / light bar that actually casts a good quality light. No word in that Pirate article about colour rendition. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 13 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said: I still haven't seen an LED light / light bar that actually casts a good quality light. No word in that Pirate article about colour rendition. Its fair to say that most people aren't going to fork out the money for a decent brand though and just fit the cheapies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 I'm actually quite well up on LED lights. My other hobby is torches.... I'm yet to see a light bar that uses good LEDs with good tint and CRI. And almost all use low output LEDs too. And small optics used on them are not good for throw or distance. There are good LEDs out there, but none yet used in aftermarket vehicle lighting solutions. Having a 50" light bar just highlights how poor the actual LEDs used currently are. Anyhow, even in the torch world, the brightest best throwing torches are still HID powered pretty much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoSS Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Colour rendition is a bit down to personal preference. My LED's are similar in color to the HIDs on my Audi, and i dont mind the whiter colour. They are certainly leagues ahead of the original halogens both in terms of beam pattern and reach. It's worth mentioning they are projector LEDs which from research gives a far better beam pattern than reflector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 HoSS are you talking headlights, or extra lighting? Almost all LEDs I've seen for sale are 6500k or higher. An OEM HID is typically 4300k (sometimes 5000k). Anyhow, I've been doing some research and KC Hilites offer some interesting light units. Although somewhat more pricey than most of the ebay specials. http://www.kchilites.com/ For quite lot of their lights they even tell you what LEDs they are using and the temp rating. Although sadly not all of them. Anyhow, done a comparison of the classic 6" Daylighter, as it's available in 3 different bulb types. Knowing what LEDs and optics most of the ebay specials use, I know they will be a long way short in performance compared to the Daylighter. Quite interesting results. 6" Daylighter 6" Apollo Halogen 130w LED 20w HID 55w Halogen 100w Lumens 3187 2452 5000 2452 Beam Distance 1058m 972m 1609m 886m Amps 10.83A 1.67A 4.16A 8.3A Pair $188 $367 $1046 $153 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 Seems the led is matched by even the lower option Apollo halogen. And a fraction of the cost. I do find it somewhat suspicious that the lumen claims are identical for the LED and 100w halogen, but it could be true. All of the above are in the 'spot' light format, but can be had in 'spread' too. the LED has a lower output for the spread beam, but the others don't. So based on this info, it looks like good halogens either match or beat top notch LED lights and at a fraction of the price. The HID is a monster, but so is the price... Only real advantage of the LED is the low amp draw. But tbh, if you have the wiring to handle the halogens, it's not an issue and not something you'd notice from the drivers seat. I suppose the only thing it does mean is, you could use the LED light without the engine running fairly safely, while running big risk of a low battery with a halogen. But I'm not really sure how valid a use case this really is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 I'm a huge fan of KC's although I'm not a fan of LED spots. The biggest issue I find with the KC units is the depth of the bowl. If you want a couple of bowls you can have them.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shackleton Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Won't get into the LED vs bulb thing other than to echo the comments about the draw on current of bulbs. The Cibie IODE 35 is a good lamp if it's low profile lamp bar or under bumper kind of thing you're looking for, and while there are lots available new for quite high prices you can get a pair of used ones for very little if you watch. The 35 comes in any lens configuration you can think of, mild steel or stainless bodies and they'll look period too if that's a consideration. I have the Cibie catalogue from 1985 I used for reference when selecting mine and the rest of their lineup is there too. Drop me a PM if you want it, can't post it here. I have a contact for new covers too if you need those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 1 hour ago, honitonhobbit said: I'm a huge fan of KC's although I'm not a fan of LED spots. The biggest issue I find with the KC units is the depth of the bowl. If you want a couple of bowls you can have them.. Thanks that's very kind.What sort of money do you want for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Sorry - I'm only on here irregularly Free. Gratis. Nada. Nowt May have to post them though - you can pay for that if it's more than a fiver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I have a torch you don't have - I may chuck that in the package as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Drumstick Posted October 26, 2016 Author Share Posted October 26, 2016 On 21/10/2016 at 10:49 AM, honitonhobbit said: I have a torch you don't have - I may chuck that in the package as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.