Thread: Illuminator 42" LED Light Bar

I think the consensus here is that the big cheap light bars are great for providing a large amount of short distance light which fits a lot of scenarios.

I will probably buy the cheap one for the roof rack to provide that kind of light, a lot of my night time driving is on country roads with a lot of bends, and tracks so this would be great for that.

For Highway driving I still need to replace my HID's as they are rubbish so I will look at alternatives, i.e. the Rigid 10 or 20 inch combo bars, they seem to give a fair bit of distance, but my HID's work and as much as I don't like them there is no urgency to replace them yet, well i should say no budget!

I came across this bar for the roof as an alternative to the iluminator. It is a 480W light bar with 5w LEDs and curved, would come in at around the same price as the iluminator once you purchase the wiring pack. The one below comes with one and for $155 delivered seems reasonable. Not sure of the benefit of the curved bar, and have not even measured to see if it would fit. It does seem that they are all coming down in price though.

https://www.vicoffroad.com.au/automo...s-suv-4wd.html

I have heard some good things about the round LED spotties from 4wd supacentre from a mate that has them on his 110, that might be an option for you, it seems the round LED or HID spotties are the best for long distance.

Originally Posted by cal415

I have heard some good things about the round LED spotties from 4wd supacentre from a mate that has them on his 110, that might be an option for you, it seems the round LED or HID spotties are the best for long distance.

I have those 9 inch led spotties. They are unbelievably bright. And you can't beat the price.

Fit LED driving lights then go do something like the Burra-Morgan or Wilcannia-Cobar run at night.

Put money on it there's a Roo strike....
The CRI is that poor...

Good light is not only bright - it provides contrast between Blue/Green/Grey. Something LED and HID have not yet been able to achieve.

I run JW speaker LED headlights, lightforce genesis 55watt HID, and a 40in lightbar(Unknown brand from rijidij) having driven out that way at night as well as up the centre of Aus, darwin, the gulf, cape york, etc etc) with loads of night driving and found this setup to be ample with both distance and close range, i can distinguish colors and have had no issues with spotting wildlife in the distance, the only time i hit a roo was when a silly bugger decided at the last minute that he wanted to jump under my camper trailer as i was passing him.... it didnt end well for him.

Originally Posted by Tombie

.......
The CRI is that poor...

Good light is not only bright - it provides contrast between Blue/Green/Grey. Something LED and HID have not yet been able to achieve.

Not entirely sure what you're alluding too here Tombie, but the lower value color rating index of LED lights won't really affect the contrast between blue green grey mix enough to warrant this being a consideration.
CRI is very important in photography to maintain colour accuracy when colour accuracy is critical.
For most purposes now, with digital, it's much easier to colour balance in editing, but it's so much easier to do it right from the start.

If anyone has trouble differentiating blue/green/grey contrast mixes, it'll be simply a physical limitation of their eye's ability ..
I've used lights with CRI's of a low as 68, and (now extinct) 98+ incandescents and halogens .. and to my eyes, differentiating contrasts was never an issue. Taking photos is/was tho and the low CRI value lights made processing images to an acceptable level much more work.

The worst lights for CRI values are those god awful CFLs, and very few had any half decent colour balance(most are usually too heavy on the green), but to the naked eye, even tho you can see the difference, they didn't really look too bad.
Since the advent of high quality high power LEDs, many photogs have now switched to LEDs, and many skipped the trend to go with horrible CFLs, even tho they saved massively on power consumption.

For me, the only consideration for the colour of LEDs for car home or whatever(other than for photography work) is simple .. white(6000K +).

If you don't understand what I'm eluding to, look up the science behind how your eye works, and CRI...

Photography whilst dependent on quality light is very different. A sensor vs your eyeball is a different thing all together...

As you age the ability to discern becomes reduced as well... some people are better than others for longer..

Effects of Blue light, light lacking yellows etc is well documented and known.


Regardless - people here also likely have very different uses - and intensity of use..

6-10 hours behind the lights at night is not uncommon here.

In regards to the cheaper lights - environmentally very few here have their vehicle exposed to elements when not in use..

The environment here destroys them quite well... only bars I've seen holding up exceptionally well are Rigid, then Stedi (although a couple of their housings have faded slightly)...

Enjoy

I'm probably up there with the top 1% in terms of long hours driving at night.

Originally Posted by Tombie

If you don't understand what I'm eluding to, look up the science behind how your eye works, and CRI .......

Strong blue light .. lacking yellow and CRI are all totally independent aspects of light.

1. emitted light contains no yellow(as such).
What you perceive as 'lacking yellow' is simply a very blue(or white) light.
Emitted light basically contains red blue and green(RG spectrum(that we can see).
Obviously it contains UV(and lower) and IR(and higher), but we can't see them.
2. CRI refers to the amount of R,G or B(respectively) in the overall spectrum that a light emits. There is no value for any particular emission, only a value that approaches 100 which is a perfectly balanced blend of RGB.
That is, if a light emits higher green(common) or red(also common) spectrum, it's CRI is lower than the perfect 100(usually an incandescent bulb). Halogens are also mainly close to 100 too. But there is no value difference between either the high green or red coloured lights(ie. they could both be something like 80)
3. It's a well known fact that for the best possible contrast conditions, the harsher the light, the better the possibility to produce strong contrast.
Whiter(or bluer) light is harsher, warmer(or more yellow) lights reducce this ability.

As for what we see, it's kind'a hard to believe but our eyes adjust for colour with amazing ability. This is easy to see for yourself with normal household items, like a piece of white paper with black text.
View this paper under harsh light(~6000K) and it looks white(with black).
And view it under warmer lighting(eg. 3700K) and it still looks white(with black). When you compare side by side, it's obvious the differences that the two different conditions render, but viewed independent of each other, they still look the same.
This happens every day for all of us without even knowing it. sunrise/midday/sunset conditions! a white car still looks white irrespective of what time of day it is(because your eyes and brain tell you so!)
When you delve into technical photography and spend many thousands of dollars on colour calibration devices and computer monitors, just to keep on top of it all, you see things very differently to how you think you see them!

NOW! I']m not trying to come across as Mr Know-it-all here .. just trying to explain that after many thousands of dollars chasing accurate colour(ie. your reference to CRI) .. I have a good idea on what to look for.
ps. I could have easily bought two D1's for the cost of my pc screen alone! .. let alone the graphics card and screen calibrator.

I hung onto my office incandescent globe(@ 100W) for far too long considering it's basically on all the time. When I did change it, I purchased what was sold to me as a high CRI(98) CFL.
It was in a word crap!
To my eyes, it looked ok-ish) but to the camera(which is far more accurate) it was crap!.
Went through many other CFLs and then many different (highest power)LEDs, and finally came to rest with a Phillips of some type(25w).
Not only does it render very good CRI, it's main purpose is very blue 6500K colour.
Makes contrast rendering about as perfect as I can get in this little room.
Same deal for car lights.
My headlights(on the D1) are yellow, and the light bar very white.
I hate driving around town in the dark as the yellowy lights drive me bonkers, but once the LED an be lit up, everything looks like it should.
(I just wish they had just a bit more push).
I have plans to get some LED headlights one day(looking at a pair of expensive Phillips) but need to be sure they will fit first. I may have to mod the area of the bulkhead behind the globe to make sure they do fit tho.

I'm getting old myself too now, so I know the effects of failing eyes.
For me it's as simple as, the more yellow the light, the much harder is it to differentiate(ie. discern contrast). White(harsher light) is much easier to deal with.

Anyhow, great chat .. and I'm curious as to where 'elsewhere' is!
And I hope my cheapish bar holds up well enough once I figure out how to get there too!