Guys, Just wondering if anyone has fitted LED work lights (cab/head lights) to any of their equipment to replace the existing globes and what the results are. I'm looking at replacing the work lights on my JCB backhoe (which is wired with Lucas "Lord of Darkness" electrics), JD and Inter tractors. The standard globes (and probably the wiring) in all machines are getting weak. Being winter in Oz at the moment, it gets dark earlier and we often start or finish in the dark. I've found 4 x 27W LED spread beam work lights on the net for $135.00 AUD. A local ag supplies place has the same or similar lights for $75 ea and the guy there swears by them. The benefits seem good. Bright light with low current draw. Good for old wiring and can cope with 10-30V so one size fits all for either 12V or 24V machines. I had considered HID, however they are expensive in comparison to the LED lights. What are the LED; range, beam angle and reliability in general like? Thanks
I have replaced signal/flashers on a backhoe and have thought about going with led work lights but haven't yet. I have seen led light bars on 4x4's. I have heard that you get what you pay for, and you'll probably want a combination of spot and flood lights. Tom
I put some on my old Case skidsteer, but they burned out. I replaced them but they burned out again. I wired them to the 12v from the battery, and they were rated 12v -30v. I don't know what happened.
One of my mates has one of the big 3 piece 500mm LED light bars on his Nissan Patrol (4X4). It puts out an amazing amount of light. Good enough to turn off all his other lights including spot lights. The light bars are a bit pricey over here still at $450.00 so I don't want to fit them to my machines at least not yet. Before the lights burned out on your skidsteer LWG, did they work fine or did they burn out as soon as you fitted them?
If you can just change the bulb you can use a cheap hid conversion. Tom
Most of the mines I work with are switching to LEDs on the both large and small equipment. Longer lasting, less energy usage, less repairs...... The range, lumens, usable light differ from one to the other. Be careful who you talk to about changing out your lighting, LED sales are much like snake oil sales people, they will use every trick they can to get you to "buy in"
LED's are the way to go but shop around, there are many places on the net that sell identical hardware and prices vary alot. They cope with vibrations much better than regular lights and that is good on any type of machinery.
R_A, the first pair functioned well for about 10 hours of running time. then one burned out, and the second followed shortly. The second pair blew out within minutes of turning them on. I could see some of the individual LEDs had just fried themselves.
Whoever you purchase them from, have the salesman take one apart first. If all you see is a batch of LED's in various patterns with no other electronic devices, stay away from them. If on the other hand you find a regulator board ahead of the LED's, this at least gives you an idea that the mfg. has (possibly) protected them from over voltage. An LED working within it's voltage (depends on color and other things) rating will last an incredibly long time but given a short over voltage and its scrap. The better manufacturers will match the LED's for color and threshhold voltage so the lamp will have a better light pattern and brilliance.
We use Cat LEDs on all our loading & support equipment, basically everything except haul trucks. On some machines we use 3" x 3", on others 5" x 5", on others a mix of the 2 sizes. It depends what fits best in the space the former halogen lights fitted. We have repleaced a combination of halogen & HID on those machines with all LED. No denying that they are expensive at US$300+ a pop - but well worth it IMHO, compared to halogens at around $100 each & HID at $600. They are given a 10,000-hour life. On 20+ machines (some with up to 18 lights on them) we haven't failed a single one yet ........ I guess I should take some pictures of them working at night.
Cheers guys. All good advice. I've decided to order a set and see how they go. I did consider HID's however couldn't find a globe replacement for a direct swap on the existing halogen globes and on the Deere, one of the rear light housings is missing anyway. All my machines are 12V so hopefully with a 10-30V range the alternator charge of 14V will not be a drama. The lights all come with a 12 month warranty and more than 300 sets of lights have been sold without any complaints. Once they arrive I'll fit them up and test. I'll try to get back and post some photos and a review in this thread.
Any input on these? http://www.ebay.com/itm/27W-12V-24V...=589270872288056881&pid=100015&prg=1006&rk=1&
I'm using square lights, only so they will fit better into the existing openings on my machines. The round lights are probably the same quality. LE, those lights you have found on Ebay have CREE LED's which are the better ones to go for (or so I have read). The light output and light colour seem good too.
If you want a comparison, try buying a single Cat LED to compare against the other brands you are buying. You will probably need to sell a few pints of blood or a kidney to finance it but the results could be interesting.
Have you guys looked at the LEDs offered by Rigid Industries? They aren't cheap but you get what you pay for
Check out HELLA AS 5000LED work lamps, they have wide and narrow beam configurations.
Vison X and rigid are the major hitters in the off road lighting market for racing. AMAZING light outputs on them simply amazing. IT wont be long before most everything is running LED bulbs.
Heretic lighting is making a fair splash as well.
i dont like led lights for work purposes. ever use an led flashlight? an led bulb is bright as to be seen better. they dont project light as well as an incandecent or halogen. i would go with halogens or some other hot burning bulb. they use more power but i think that the work productivity and saftey factors are well worth it. without doing a side by side test you cant judge the difference.
That was true about gen 1 LED flash lights but the new gen 3 stuff is leaps and bounds over the original stuff.
OK, been a couple of weeks since I was able to get to HEF and post my results. I replaced all the old halogen work lights on one of my tractors with LED lights that arrived via EBay. First impressions were that the lights looked solidly constructed and well sealed. I tested each of the 4 lights in turn to make sure that all functioned correctly. Even with the spread beam pattern and daylight, the LED lights put out very bright light. Fixing to the tractor was easy as all existing holes & wiring was in place. It took about 45 mins to get all the lights bolted on, and that included access to the top of the cab for the rear lights. A quick test during daylight hours showed the lights were drawing much less current draw on the gauge than the old halogen lights (as to be expected from LED's) As night approached I took the tractor for a run and used just the LED's. The light was very good and much brighter than the halogen lights. With the high position of the rear lights, the visible area behind the machine was greatly improved over the halogens as well. I then directly compared the LED's to the halogens. This was easy as the tractor's main head lights and row crop lights are still halogen. With the LED's switched on first, the halogen lights did not seem to make any major difference to visibility. When I had the halogens on first, turning on the LED lights made a large difference. To really test out the lights, we decided to put the machine to work at night. With 4000 trees to plant, we hooked up the tree planter and set about planting a few trays of seedlings. As with any night works, you need as much visibility as possible, particularly when following the edge of paddocks and contours. Again the LED's were up to the challenge and even provided enough light through the small window opening in the tree planter as well as out both sides behind the wide piece of equipment. Whilst planting in the dark I ran all the lights just to be on the safe side. I think we could have just used the LED's however every lumen of extra light is a help when working in the dark. With this first set of LED lights being very successful, I think I'll change out all of my machine lights to LED. As soon as I have the chance, I'll take and post a few photos.
would definately like to see some photos
It was not so common in the earlier days, but there several ones who have put up led flashers and lights in their backhoe and the 4*4. I guess you should have them, should come in your budget and as far as I use them, they are pretty reliable. _____________________ portable work lights
I put some Led lights on my combine harvester this fall from Baja designs.They come in flood or spot pattern.3600 lumens.Cost about $ 300.00.They run cool and I was very impressed with there output.These are the squadron model.They also sell light bars if you need to see for very far.