SnoBall Preparations?

[BramageDained]

Nope they don't even get hot enough to melt the snow / ice

I'm convinced this is entirely dependent on if you bars use 3w/5w/10w LEDS.

The 10w lights I made and the 10w lights my Dad bought both get noticeably warm when they're on. This is not the heatsink or housing, but, the front of the light.

With the blue covers, a 50 degree ambient and no airflow, mine were 140 degrees. Checked with an IR temp gun. I've never had a problem with my lights icing up, and if they did they would melt clean within a minute or two once turned on.\

I asked for info about this in the lighting sub, for anyone with access to an IR temp gun to check their lights temp after a few minutes in still air vs whatever the ambient temp was. To see how much of a difference there is between 3w/5w/10w bars.

Or, I'll just bring one along to SnoBall. I think it could be useful info for people who live in northern states that are looking to purchase lights.

 

[Huck]

My rigids iced over and on snoball 1 instantly they were useless.

Swapped them for visionx xtreme and they iced over last year up in grand Marais.

 

[BramageDained]

I think the xtreme still uses 5w LEDs.

I'll try and get my Dad to pack the two lights around the license plate with snow, let it sit, then see if they stay iced up or melt clean.

We're supposed to have a below-zero high with upto 30mph winds on Sunday.

 

[Huck]

I think the xtreme still uses 5w LEDs.

I'll try and get my Dad to pack the two lights around the license plate with snow, let it sit, then see if they stay iced up or melt clean.

We're supposed to have a below-zero high with upto 30mph winds on Sunday.

Correct 5w leds

 

[BramageDained]

I just wonder that if you go to 10W LEDs it gives you more intensity over a smaller area, and it's enough to stay clear.

Like I said, I'll try to figure out some sort of test this weekend. I can probably even do it with clear vs yellow vs blue cover.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

Here's a pic I found for ya;

The cover on the top is an Amber Rigid Cover

The two below it are Rigid Clear covers with that Amazon Amber film...Not perfect, but for $8, it works well and you will have plenty left over.

In the middle of ordering. Was going to get blue too since it might be iffy if I get the amber in time before I leave. They have blue 20%. Is that okay tint percentage to work best in the snow?

http://amzn.com/B008BLNXR2

 

[Big Blue]

In the middle of ordering. Was going to get blue too since it might be iffy if I get the amber in time before I leave. They have blue 20%. Is that okay tint percentage to work best in the snow?

http://amzn.com/B008BLNXR2

I'm not a fan of Blue. I think Amber works just as well, seems to throw light better and won't get you in trouble with the police.

 

[Huck]

I just wonder that if you go to 10W LEDs it gives you more intensity over a smaller area, and it's enough to stay clear.

Like I said, I'll try to figure out some sort of test this weekend. I can probably even do it with clear vs yellow vs blue cover.

It might just put out more heat rather than light. Similar to a regular light bulb, it's not a linear translation between wattage and light output. Heat rises faster than light output.

In the dual stack like the xmitter you might not be able to keep it in operating temp.

Look at the big light canons. 50% of the depth is heat sink

 

[BramageDained]

I actually found a paper that said yellow was better than all others as part of someone's PhD thesis(I think it was PhD). I'll try to find it, their test was fairly interesting. I think they used bubbles to scatter light while trying to look through a fish tank.

I'll edit this post if I can find it again. It's probably not the same as snow, obviously, but it was an interesting read.

Edit: It actually said yellow/white(headlights) were very similar. But, better than blue. It is mentioned that with a more yellow/amber filter a noticeable improvement may occur.

Here. Driving in snow: Effect of headlamp color at mesopic and photopic light levels | John D. Bullough - Academia.edu

 

[BramageDained]

It might just put out more heat rather than light. Similar to a regular light bulb, it's not a linear translation between wattage and light output. Heat rises faster than light output.

In the dual stack like the xmitter you might not be able to keep it in operating temp.

Look at the big light canons. 50% of the depth is heat sink

This goes along with something I've wanted info of, but, with no way to find out.

Given the same total wattage of LEDs, and the same MFG(which would assume similar quality of optics). How a bar made from 3W/5W/10W leds compare to eachother.

Cree XML2 10W is 1052@10W, XT-E is 456@5W and XB-D is 309@3W

I know places use the XML/XML2 for 10W LEDs, I'm not sure what they use for 5W/3W.