Another LED or Halogen light question

[gabrichter]

B2920 adding 1 good flood light on rear for blowing snow in the dark with 3 pt blower. I have had a 55w halogen light on current New Holland TZ25DA worked OK and could take off and put on B2920 but heard about the LED floods. Are they brighter and if so what wattage should I go with one larger LED or two smaller LED on each side of ROPS? B2920 will have standard alternator.

 

[1bush2hog]

You will definitely notice a difference with the LED lights. You can find some less expensive LEDs on Ebay, or go with the Rigid, Vision X, etc. LED's. I recently installed two Rigid D2 Duallys on my Ranger - they are small but rated at 2600 lumens each. They are a combo of flood and spot but you can get them in all spot or all flood as well.

Check out the Rigid website and you can see the difference in all of their models in the videos.

 

[ericdube]

I agree with 1bush2hog on the Rigid Industries lights. I have four Dually D2's driving spots on the front and two Dually's with diffused lenses on the rear of my B2620. They work really well for snowblowing in the winter months when it gets dark earlier, and plus their draw is really low, especially if you still have the stock 14-amp dyno (the 40-amp alternator is an option.) The only major drawback is their cost, but I guess you get what you pay for!

 

[Birdman1970]

I purchased 18W LED 4" round work lights. For light intensity, the lumen output is what is important. You want at least a lumen output of about 1300 lumens to provide the lighting you are looking for.

I personally like a a full flooding of light, so I chose 2 for the front and 2 for the rear of my tractor.

The front ones I purchased from the following website:
Semi-Truck, Trailer, Bus LED Light Bulbs

The ones I got are about 1/3 of the way down on the page with the following specs ($49.99 each):
LED Power: 18W
. Operating Voltage: 10-30V DC
. Luminous: 1380Lum
. Waterproof rate: IP 67
. Current draw 1.4A @ 12V,0.70A@24V
. Optional Color: Black
. Color Temperature: 6500K
. Material: Diecast aluminum housing
. Pmma lens
. Beam: Wide flood beam pattern
. Size: 128mm*116mm*43mm


The rear I purchased very similar ones from ebay....I got the pair of them for a total of $75 shipped and I'm quite happy with them as well.

 

[TimP]

OMG.. Those Dually's seem like the answer I'm looking for.

I've been looking on fleabay and Amazon but have not come across those Dually's.

Yes, they ARE expensive, but it is true that you get what you pay for.

I was looking at some CREE 27Watt LED which run about $180/pair.

Amazingly, the Amp draw for the CREE lights is the same as the Dually (maybe even slightly more) but the CREE give 2000 Lumens compared to the Dually's with 2600 Lumens.

The Dually states they are "Raw Lumens" whatever that means.

I hope it is truly an apples to apples comparison in terms of lumens.

I use the lights mostly when blowing snow, but if I had better light, I would cut grass after sunset too.

I have a B2150 with that darn small Dymo which only puts out about 12.5-13 AMPS.

A pair of the LED lights would draw 4 amps. I wonder if the Dyno can support that along with the headlights and rear marker light ?

Otherwise, I may have to consider an Alternator upgrade and swallow the $600 upgrade cost. I want to avoid that and that's why I started looking for LED's in the first place.

 

[grsthegreat]

I personally like my halogen lights that were supplied with my tractor...i can see at night great with them. Ive played around with LED's for building lighting, and i have to say the've come along nicely in the past few years.

But personally im waiting till their prices drop alot more than they are now. If you could get by with halogen lights for the time being (meaning the alternator can support it0 id go that way till LED technology and $$$ get inline. If your alternator cant handle it...go LED.

I went with a Whelen LED emergency light even though it was more costly than a halogen ONLY because the circuit i was attaching it to was already run and couldn't handle the halogens draw.

I myself have had issues with LED lights burning out WAY before their advertised 20,000 - 50,000 hour ratings....

I had a work light burn out 1/2 their lamps in 2 months.

 

[crazyal]

I personally like my halogen lights that were supplied with my tractor...i can see at night great with them. Ive played around with LED's for building lighting, and i have to say the've come along nicely in the past few years.

But personally im waiting till their prices drop alot more than they are now. If you could get by with halogen lights for the time being (meaning the alternator can support it0 id go that way till LED technology and $$$ get inline. If your alternator cant handle it...go LED.

I went with a Whelen LED emergency light even though it was more costly than a halogen ONLY because the circuit i was attaching it to was already run and couldn't handle the halogens draw.

I myself have had issues with LED lights burning out WAY before their advertised 20,000 - 50,000 hour ratings....

I had a work light burn out 1/2 their lamps in 2 months.

I also went with 50w Hobbs halogen flood lights. I looked at the LED lights and really wasn't impressed (mainly because of the vast price difference). If I was limited due to battery/ generator then I would rethink halogen. Getting the right light is as important as how much light it puts out. A lot of Halogen lights are 'spot' and work fine on a vehicle traveling at 50mph. But for a tractor you really want a 'wide flood'. Good lights will list both side to side and top to bottom in degrees to let you know how wide of a beam they put out.

 

[grsthegreat]

I also went with 50w Hobbs halogen flood lights. I looked at the LED lights and really wasn't impressed (mainly because of the vast price difference). If I was limited due to battery/ generator then I would rethink halogen. Getting the right light is as important as how much light it puts out. A lot of Halogen lights are 'spot' and work fine on a vehicle traveling at 50mph. But for a tractor you really want a 'wide flood'. Good lights will list both side to side and top to bottom in degrees to let you know how wide of a beam they put out.

Yup, i did some snow plowing last night...man was it sweet having the light up high and the plow and area in front all highlighted.

was sweet. also nice to plow in bunny slippers and t shirt :laughing:

 

[StrangeRanger]

I'm not a fan of LED's in general because of the "temperature" of the light. But as another source you can also check out DDM Tuning. They make some very nice and affordable HID and LED lights.
I've got some of their 9 x 3w 2000 LED's and they're pretty sick.
j

 

[TimP]

I'm not a fan of LED's in general because of the "temperature" of the light. But as another source you can also check out DDM Tuning. They make some very nice and affordable HID and LED lights.
I've got some of their 9 x 3w 2000 LED's and they're pretty sick.
j

Thanks for the suggestions StrangeRanger.

I'll check them out.

 

[psdx]

B2920 adding 1 good flood light on rear for blowing snow in the dark with 3 pt blower. I have had a 55w halogen light on current New Holland TZ25DA worked OK and could take off and put on B2920 but heard about the LED floods. Are they brighter and if so what wattage should I go with one larger LED or two smaller LED on each side of ROPS? B2920 will have standard alternator.

The biggest factor is whether or not your alternator (or dynamo) has sufficient spare capacity to add the load from additional halogen lights. If the answer is no, but you still want halogen then your first step is to install an alternator with sufficient capacity. And if the answer is no, and you you still want more light without the expense of a new alternator, then LEDs are your best option.

The 55w halogen will draw about 4.5 amps each (watts/volts=amps). If I added three of those to my tractor my battery would soon be totally discharged when using the lights. As far as number of LEDs if you go that route, the best way to determine that is to look at the lumen output of the halogen light that suits you and use that as a guide to select your LED lights. In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that there doesn't appear to be a standard for the LED light manufacturers to measure /rate lumens. It's more accurate if all readings are taken the same exact distance from the emitter, but without standards you might assume that some manufacturers measure the light output right up against the emitter. The point here is that most likely there will be a slight difference in the lumen output of a halogen and LED that are both rated for the same output. It will be slight and may not be noticeable. On the other side of the ledger I find that the whiter light (as compared to the warmer, more yellow light from a halogen) "seems" brighter to my eyes. While it may not be best for matching paint colors I think it works very well for a utility light application.

As a point of reference, I have LED lots rated at 1100 lumens that draw 1.1 amps each. A 55 watt halogen is about 1600 lumens.

 

[TimP]

I have a B2150 with the oem Dynamo, which is onyl about 12.5 AMPS output.

I want to put the Daully D2's on it.

Each D2 draws about 2 AMPs, so a set will draw 4 AMPS.

Can I get away wiht the oem Dynamo and with the Dually D2's AND the headlights running ?

I'd REALLY like to put 4 of them on the tractor, but I think it may be too much for the Dynamo.

What do you think ?

It's going to run me $890 if I have to upgrade the Dyanmo to a 40 AMP.

Tim

 

[psdx]

..depends on how many watts your headlights are. And also, do you have tail lights that come on with the headlights? If so - how many watts for them? As an option, if the wattage for the tail lights is significant, you could buy LED replacements for those bulbs. The bottom line is that you need to add up the total watts, divide by 12 to get the current (amps) and compare it to the 12.5 you quoted.

 

[rjwerth]

Oh boy. Lots going on here.

First concerning lumens: one fixture referred to "raw" lumens. This means the manufacturer of the fixture took the spec from the LEDs they are using and multiplied that by the number of LEDs in their fixture to give you that spec. They never actually calculated the actual lumen output of their fixture. Bad form and potentially quite inacurrate.

Concerning LED "burnouts.": I'll bet the LEDs work just fine. It is the power supply and/or the circuit board that typically goes south on cheap fixtures. If their heat management really stinks than certainly the LEDs will fail as well. The moral of the story is, as always, you get what you pay for. I don't know how often you guys have to change you halogen lamps, but I'm guessing with the amount of vibration they recieve from a tractor or worse, a snowblower that they go out often. A good LED fixture will last as long as you tractor with 0 lamp replacements.

LED brands: Cree is making the greatest LEDs out right now and their R&D isn't holding back. However, they do not typically have control over what people put their product in so someone can advertise that they use Cree lamps...but still use a crap design and trash the LEDs.

 

[TimP]

..depends on how many watts your headlights are. And also, do you have tail lights that come on with the headlights? If so - how many watts for them? As an option, if the wattage for the tail lights is significant, you could buy LED replacements for those bulbs. The bottom line is that you need to add up the total watts, divide by 12 to get the current (amps) and compare it to the 12.5 you quoted.

I have to do some investigating to try to get the watt rating of my headlights.

They are low/High beam types. And I DO have a single small tailight. Don't know the wattage of that either.

Looks like I've got more snooping to do to get those wattages.

How about any current needed to keep the tractor running and battery charging ?

I have a B2150 and even have the Shop manual, but it doesn't give any specifications on the light wattages, actual Dynamo Amp output etc.....

Thanks.

 

[TimP]

LED brands: Cree is making the greatest LEDs out right now and their R&D isn't holding back. However, they do not typically have control over what people put their product in so someone can advertise that they use Cree lamps...but still use a crap design and trash the LEDs.

The Rigid Industries Dually D2's use the CREE LED lamps.

And It seems with the Rigid LED lights, you do get what you pay for... because you pay a lot.

But if I'm going to get LED's... I have made up my mind it will be the Rigid Dually D2's.

 

[TimP]

I saw a Post on the forum which wasn't too old where someione had some really, really nice looking U-Brackets on his Roll Bar to which he mounted his lights.

I have searched and cannot find the one I read.

Anyone have a better memory than I do and can recall seeing some nice mounting U-style mounting bolts?

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive had halogen lights on my old JD870 for over 10 years and never replaced a lamp. Used them only in the winter for snow removal though.

 

[crazyal]

Have you looked on ebay for a replacement larger alternator?

 

[Birdman1970]

I saw a Post on the forum which wasn't too old where someione had some really, really nice looking U-Brackets on his Roll Bar to which he mounted his lights.

I have searched and cannot find the one I read.

Anyone have a better memory than I do and can recall seeing some nice mounting U-style mounting bolts?

I believe the mounting bracket you are thinking of is the trailer stake pockets the gentleman used in the following post from Tractor Supply Company:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/155443-my-b2920-light-project.html