7w lightbar

[4low]

Im looking at getting a light bar and have come across these new 7w ones.

Has anyone tried these or have heard any feedback on them?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/23inch-3...241639?hash=item3ce9e69967:g:grgAAOSwgApW~bT1

 

[MANNING]

That's a HUGE amount of light if their theoretical output of 33600 LM is true. I doubt it's that high, but even at half that you'd be burning eyes out of heads

 

[Old.Tony]

It's a 336W light bar. That's 28 amps - your alternator cannot produce that much power when the engine is idling, so first trick will be to remember to turn the buggers off when you're idling the motor.

Notice that the light output is listed as "theoretical", at 33,600 lumens. That's a TON of light but it's important to know what it means. "Lumens" refers to how much light is being generated at the light source. The issue with LED light bars (I have 3 on my car) is that the light scatters really quickly, meaning that the light is only effective over short to medium distances. Don't get me wrong, when I'm towing in short stretches, turns, hills etc, I turn my light bar on and keep the 2x130W halogen driving lights off - but when I hit the long straights the light bar is useless. That's when the IPF spotties come on.

It's unlikely that the light bar will put out the claimed amount, but it's still going to be bloody bright. Not quite as bright as this one from Sunyeeau (he's sold to a lot of us in the past, I do recommend him) but if I was buying my lights again, I'd probably buy this one from Sunyee and match it with a pair of 100W HID lights and a bunch of single CREE 10W spots around the vehicle (2 in the bullbar as DRLs, 2 on the ends of each roof bar, two off the corners of the roof rails on my canopy and 2 more under the rear bumper).

Probably would have to add a second alternator and a backup cranker to run it all, but you'd be able to camp anywhere and just light the place up!

 

[4low]

Thanks Manning and Old.Tony

I do only want it for short and medium as I do have Narva spotties. I would only be using it while I am driving, not in idle. I am planning on getting a dual battery put in at a later date anyway so it should be able to run ok. Too many bars to choose from. It is doing my head in!

 

[4low]

I got the lightbar and it's a massive difference! The build quality looks very good too. Mounted it under the top hoop of the bar so sits nice and legal. Tested it tonight in the driveway and the distance is very good

 

[Henrik]

I have too been looking into these new 5D optics.

I have a 20" single row light bar with the 15W led's from sunyee, and though it is very bright, it's not very broad. And I wanted a wide beam to light up the area in front of the car. This one is more for distance (though not like 100W HID spotties).

I was actually thinking about buying another bar, but the old reflector type, since the videos I see seem to show, that they are wider, but not so focused for distance.

But then these 5D's come along - Does anyone know how they compare to the 4D and the reflector type??

Love to see some genuine output shots!

Oh, BTW, how do you calculate if your generator and battery can deal with the extra lights?

 

[Old.Tony]

Don't have a 5D light so I can't say. I've just installed some HID spotties on my wife's car (hence the other thread about universal wiring for high-beam switched driving lights on non-earthed globes) and find they're pretty good - surprisingly better than halogens for a defined spot, quite an amount of light thrown in the general area too, so adding them gave a best-of-both-worlds result.

The trick with the alternator is to both add the wattage in use (including the dual battery system and trailer) and make sure they're below the output of the alternator, which at cruise is somewhere in the 100-120A range on a D40. I keep an eye on my ECU's voltage (using Torque on my phone) - if it's above 14V, the alternator is doing well.

I do try to minimise the amount of power used anyway - so I'll usually switch off the halogens (130W each) and just rely on the 120W light bar. The halogens come on when it's a long straight section, or if I'm in fog I'll switch the halogens on and the light bar off.