Long single row LED Light bar vs short 2 row LED light bar

[Bigpat Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bigpat]

Hi

I've been looking at LED light bars for my 120 Prado with a Sovereign Bullbar and Nite Stalker driving lights. I'm not keen on mounting the light bar above the bullbar because of restricted vision, bonnet access and NSW has already tried once to ban lights above the bull bar and the cynic in me says that they will try and unfortunately succeed in banning them next time. So I plan to hang it upside down from the top bar of the bull bar.

In terms of space I've got 750mm width across the top bar and up to 50mm depth from the bottom of the top bar to the top of the lights. There's 320mm between the lights.

This leads me to two possibilities:

1. Hang a long, slim, single row light bar off the top bar of the bull bar similar to this one on ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/391188159...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
2. Or got for a short 2 light bar like this and make the most of the space between the lights http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12inch-72...item35d83e007c
3. Or got with 2 x 6 inch lights to fill the space between the existing driving lights like these: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-6INCH-...item35f0d6f293

Thanks in Advance
BigPat
PS I'm only using the ebay site to indicate what I'm looking at and I'm not endorsing it in any way :-)

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

As I see it. Long and thin gives a lower profile and less wind resistance. Double row gives the most light for its length.

Life is a compromise

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

It will also depend on the power you want, the more leds the higher the
light output, so if you want 200W for example you may have no option
other than a twin row.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

2 Lightbars eliminates any of the grey areas (legalities) around fitting a single light bar!

Cheers Andrew

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

We use the 6" pairs for reversing lights, wouldn't recommend them up front. They are good as reversing lights.

[Guest Close Guest]

In general, the higher power LED will go further. It is also partially due to the optics. So a 5W led would generally shine further than a 3W led.

2 lightbars will just complicate things with double the connections, brackets and fittings.

[Mule Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mule]

This http://www.stedi.com.au/4x4-driving-...spot-lamp.html or possibly earlier model of this is what I have and for me it is Awesome. I have not measured it up against other lights but more than enough reach and spread for relaxed night driving. I mounted it in the normal place on the top of the main bar but you could just as easily mount it inverted to the top bar. I felt that it may have a little more protection from wind rocks and sticks mounting it where I did. I also went for a single bar to help minimise loss of air flow through the radiator and grill.

I see that the ones you have looked at on ebay are less expensive but also less powerful. I suspect that any of these will be a good improvement over no driving lights but if your budget can stretch then something like the 120w would be a quantum improvement.

[Bigpat Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bigpat]

Hi All

Thanks for the comments so far. I won't be going with 2 single lights. The question is long single row vs shorter dual row.

BigPat

[TurboD4D Member Find all posts View Profile Close TurboD4D]

Hi All

The question is long single row vs shorter dual row.

BigPat

Have a look at the stedi website. They have the data you are looking for. Width and length of light projection for various models
He is just a couple of examples
ST1000-200w 139.5m @ 10 lux | 1 lux @ 295.5m | .25lx @ 690m Beam 82m wide at .25lx
ST1040-240w 193.5m @ 10 lux | 1 lux @410m | .25lx @ 810m Beam 76m wide at .25lx
good prices with free delivery as well

[Bigpat Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bigpat]

Have a look at the stedi website. They have the data you are looking for. Width and length of light projection for various models
He is just a couple of examples
ST1000-200w 139.5m @ 10 lux | 1 lux @ 295.5m | .25lx @ 690m Beam 82m wide at .25lx
ST1040-240w 193.5m @ 10 lux | 1 lux @410m | .25lx @ 810m Beam 76m wide at .25lx
good prices with free delivery as well

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have a look.

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

Is this page now sponsored by STEDI? ?

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

I have learnt the hard way, before buying ask them to supply an independent
report of the lights specs, ie power output.

Some of the lights on the above website have bars that look very similar to those
sold on ebay.

I recently purchased some osram 60W 7" bars and a 300W what bar, the 60W bar
pulled about 20W and the 300W bar 110W.

A set of cree 7" lights rated at 36W, on light pulled 32W the other 20W.

Most are quoting the theoretical maximum power output not the actual
power output.

[TurboD4D Member Find all posts View Profile Close TurboD4D]

Is this page now sponsored by STEDI? ?

Why do you ask?

[D4Dforme Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4Dforme]

We have a 18'' single row 12 led Great White on the missus Rav4 and it's a good light but for the price is a bit disappointing ($500+) compared to my 30'' Cosmoblaze double row but I suppose that's to be expected.

I also have a 22'' double row chinese Hanma light bar which I had on my old 120 it's is actually a pretty good bar for the price I bought it about 3-4 years ago when the technology was still pretty expensive and it cost around $200 plus back then.

Single v's double for me i'd have to say double to be honest but single does look neater and doesn't block airflow to the radiator as much either.

Checkout the Cosmoblaze gear sold through Elinz in Melbourne they also sell a cheaper no name range it's all available through E-bay aswell.

Pretty bloody happy with my 30'' double row and the do make other sizes also and claim IP 69 waterproof rating..........There are a few reviews on them on some American sites and they rated them up along with Ridgid etc but at a much lower cost......my 30''was about $450 with freight I think.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

The Cosmoblaze is a good example of what I wrote above, their 100W cree
is not a hundred watts for example specs show 9V - 36V current 3.9A - 4.58A.

The lights should run at the same brightness from 9V - 36V if we take the
highest current thats 9 x 4.58 = 41.22 watts not the 100W quoted.

The 100W refers to the fact that it has 20 x 5W cree so theoretcial power
output would be 100W if all cree were driven at 5W.

Manufactures do derate the leds to improve the life of the LED etc but
to drive them at less than 50% of their output one would have to wonder
about the quality of the leds and the lamps design ability to shed heat.

If your happy with the light output then fine, but if you think the price your
paying is buying a 100W light bar your wrong, they could have just as easily specified
the correct power output but would you then have paid the same amount for a
41W light bar?