Even though LED auxiliary lighting has been around in an affordable form for nearly half a decade, there are still a lot of “old-school” ideas floating around about what to look for in lights, without really knowing what makes what with regards to the new kids on the block, the Bright powerful and affordable range of LED lights, we will try to dispel some myths and old wives tales about upgrading your vehicles lighting system!

WATTAGE!
Wattage is a scientific measurement of electrical current, it describes the power of a device in a circuit and used to be a fair indicator of just how powerful a device or lamp is, if you were to think about a similar unit, you could almost compare wattage to horsepower, as the unit describes the amount of work being done by a circuit.

Unfortunately, thanks to leaps in technology, things aren’t as clear as they used to be, lamps and halogen bulbs use restrictions of electrical flow to produce light due to heating a wire in an inert gas bulb, the heat is what creates light, and the more heat you can produce the brighter the light. This is where the idea of wattage and light intensity came from.

Thanks to LED technology advancing to a point where it outshines halogen, there are  huge variations in ‘wattage ratings’ this is because LED’s don’t heat up nearly as much and the wattage required for the lumen output is far less and results in a much brighter output for equivalent lamps.  

For example, LED lamps generally use around 85% less electrical energy for the equivalent output of light.

Because wattage is no longer a direct comparison between light output, we now take advantage of the latest technology in NATA approved laboratory testing to give us not only the exact figures of lighting output but also data like the spread of the reflectors and maximum range.

Pencil or flood

If you’ve been around for a while, or have an old boy who’s seen it all, the words “pencil beam” or “flood beam” might have echoed around the mancave, these words are from the days of single bulbs in a single reflector.  

The terms refer to the spread pattern of the reflector behind the light when viewed from above. Just like the name suggests, a “pencil beam” offers a pencil thin beam, that projects light a long way down the road, and a ‘flood beam’ floods the area with light, the traditional wisdom usually was to have one of each, mounted up and wired to your bulbar, to operate on your high beam, this means you get the best of both worlds and can project light down the track and fill in the area that’s within a close proximity of the vehicle.

This has all gone out the window with modern LED driving lights and LED Lightbars having dozens of light sources, with each light source having a tailor-made reflector to give a complete range of light output.

Each of the Adventure Kings LED Lamp’s offers both pencil and flood style reflectors offering a range of lights to suit everyone from the weekend warrior, the punter driving the mall crawler, the fully modified and worked 4WD capable of hitting impossible obstacles and the professional driver racking up thousands of remote area kilometers every week.

Lamp Life

Lamp life is the lifespan operating time that is given as a rating to all types of lights, a typical Halogen globe has a lifespan of around 2500 hours which, up until a few years ago was seen as being an incredible marketing point and a vast upgrade from the earlier incandescent bulbs used in automotive applications which would only last around a thousand hours before requiring replacement.

LED’s flipped the lighting industry on its head, with equivalent outputs of usable light but with far greater longevity, with a typical LED being rated for around 50,000 hours, which if being run for an incredible 12 hours a day would be over 11 years of practical usage.

LED’s get their staggering longevity from the method of light production not being based in resistance, this means they produce far less heat and the entire circuit and circuit board have a lot less wear and tear, the lower temperatures means more affordable reflectors can be used to reduce weight and costs associated with manufacture.


Waterproofness

Thanks to the extended life and bright nature of LED’s, you can seal them inside tough and fully waterproof enclosures like the cast alloy designs found in the Adventure Kings range, which take a battering and come back for more, not requiring globe changes, like the old fashioned technologies, LED designs can be ruggedized and hardened, and because they are assembled in controlled environments can be hermetically sealed from the elements with thick gaskets and firm clamps. Resulting in IP68 waterproof ratings that are repeatable and reliable.

Every vehicle needs a set of LED Driving lights or an LED Lightbar, so if you are thinking of upgrading, head over to www.4WDSupacentre.com.au or call our expert team on 1800 88 39 64 or drop into one of our stores to see the range in person and to walk away with an unbeatable bargain on your auxiliary automotive lighting!