New England B.S. Thread

No experience with a big rig, but I firmly believe that part of the driver's test ought to be getting behind the wheel of a truck with a moderately loaded trailer and have someone cut in front of you and lock the brakes up. Once you've had that sort of butt puckering experience, and realizing that trucks and trailers may not physically be able to stop that quickly, will hopefully make you think twice before doing it after you get your license. Granted, some people just drive like fucktards and don't give a shit, but it might help a few people.

 

The only issue there is whose covering all the totalled trucks from the people who fail the test

 

Sadly no, no GTA type shenanigans, though it would be funny if they did!

The longest I drove was 6 to 7 hours, when I drove down to Florida with my uncle, to drop off a vehicle. I agree with you, I really don't mind driving, I actually like it, but highways can get boring after a few hours.

 

For you guys with heavy lighting mods, two questions.

1) Do you think using an amber light only, I would still be able to see well? This will be a work light used in reverse on a tractor..no high speed, I just want some nice clear lighting. Or should I just go white light? I will also replace the front work lights, but there are other headlights that can help. Most of this will be night or morning snow removal, so possible bad conditions I will be working in.

2) Any good shops with good pricing you would recommend buying from?

Thanks!

 

I'd go with a yellow/amber light, personally. Or maybe even (Gasp!) halogen. I have white LED worklights on my tractor, and for night work during the snowy season the reflected light from them can be a bit hard on the eyes. When they eventually stop working I'll be replacing them with yellow lights, unless I upgrade the tractor again first.

 

That is what I was hoping to hear. I love the amber lights!

Edit, there are already front and rear work lights with halogen, they are okay, but I want to boost the output. I will probably splice those wires and keep all the factory switches.

Thanks!

 

Personally, I like amber much better in foul weather but not all lights are created equal. For slow speed use, like you're describing, I wouldn't spend a ton of money on them, there's really no point. The cheap $20 LED pods you can get off Amazon will do fine in my opinion and give you plenty of light (I wouldn't brand shop for that use, just go cheap with good reviews). Those same pods suck for road driving because there's a lot of light leakage and it just disperses all the light right in front of you, effectively killing your ability to see any sort of distance.

One thing to keep in mind with LEDs is they run cool and ice may build up on the pod. In that case, halogens have a slight advantage. I wouldn't buy cheap halogen pods though, they will be disappointing.

 

I was worried about ice, but I don't think I would be happy with the halogen output. I am gonna search around Amazon and read some reviews.

 

I’m in Swansea and am doing a fluidfilm/woolwax day on Sunday

 

I went with these for the ROPS bar lights that face forward (stupid subcompacts have useless front lights; as soon as you raise the bucket you completely block your lights):

$21 Safego 4" Round led lights Bar 2Pcs 27w Waterproof Flood Beam Led Pod lights Work Light 12v led lights Off Road Lights Driving Light for Truck Suv Atv Tractor Boat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W6QADRG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They dump a lot of light on a large footprint, since they're floods.

The rear-facing work light is a Tractor Supply unit, because I broke the original halogen on a Friday and didn't want to wait for Amazon to ship me a replacement.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-15w-square-worklight?cm_vc=-10005

It's a good light, but you can get similar quality for less on the interwebz.

But like I said, since they're 'white' they have a lot of bounceback if there's snow on the ground.

 

@Noelie84 @Pugga Have you guys used or seen guys with something like this? Would be no wiring, cheap and easily removable. Just not sure about how well the light works with things like this. Also 360 degree light from up high where it cannot be blocked?

$47 LINKITOM Roof Top LED Strobe Light Bar -Double Side Amber 30 LED Emergency Hazard Safety Warning Flashing Beacon Lighting Bar with Magnetic Base for Snow Plow, Trucks, Construction Vehicles

https://www.amazon.com/Linkitom-Fla...=p_72:1248861011&rnid=1248859011&sr=8-35&th=1

 

ENH run tomorrow

https://forums.exploringnh.com/show...un!-This-Saturday-11-9-19&p=400159#post400159

 

No idea on those, sorry. I'm mostly familiar with pod lights. My current set up is all Rigid Duallys which I would not recommend for your set up. They're great lights, but overkill for short range lighting.

 

Wish I could make it, but we're doing the Fenway Spartan, and then going back Sunday for the kids race

 

Non LEDs are going to be better for winter use. LEDs don't get hot enough and the lights ice over easily rendering them useless

 

Yeah I have looked at a few nice options from them and other big names, but its hard to spend that money knowing the actual use. I might just order one of these things with the best review and see how it works, if I can get a 30 foot or so halo around the machine I'd be super happy. I have factory work lights on it front and back for further throw, they just aren't very powerful.

Will report back after I give it a shot.

 

I hear this all the time from various people and am totally confused by it. I have two very high power LED pod lights on my snowmobile, they get so god damn hot it's a miracle they don't melt the lens. All LED's produce so much heat they need heat sinks just to keep operating. Matter of fact I have a burn on my hand from my Nitecore 1000 lumen headlamp. All my Surefire flash lights have a "hot" warning on the front element. What am I missing in the conversation? LED's get hot as ungodly fuck! I would not be surprised to hear that high power LEDs produce way more heat than halogen lights.

 

I guess it depends on the design, I was thinking of led light bulbs specifically. Since they all use heat sinks to release heat, they typically don't heat up the headlight housing like a halogen or hid will. I guess ultimately it depends on design, but those bars are designed to shed heat via the sinks on the rear of the bar, reducing heat buildup in the housing/lens area to maintain service life of the diodes that emit light

 

That's really surprising. Typically, LED boards need to run cool. They have heat sinks and fans to keep the boards cool but don't really produce a lot of heat, they're just sensitive to it. My Rigids don't get warm to the touch, even after running for a while. They don't ice up on me but I've also always had them close to the engine bay and the salt from the road seems to keep them clear.

I'm really surprised to hear your LEDs on the snowmobile get that hot. I'd be curious to know how long they actually last, heat on the board kills LEDs.

 

The pods on my sled I have 2000 miles on already. They will likely last for a long time, Ski Doo doesn't put these things out if they don't last and charge as much they do. And my Surefire flashlights are regarded as crazy high quality lights made to mil-specs. I've had some of them for a dozen years and they get hot as fuck. Like do not touch the front hot!! They make LED flashlights that can start fires with just the light output, there are videos on Youtube. Managing the heat is part of the design of the case.