LED Light bar suggestions/ideas

Hey everyone,

My name is Calvin from Illumination Supply. Our business is primarily in the handheld flashlight business and DIY parts. Recently I've begun to do research into expanding into the LED light bar/worklight industry and I wanted to ask you guys about what you look for in LED light bars such as tint, CRI, mounting hardware, connectors, etc. You can also comment on if you prefer having harnesses tap into the accessory line or hi-low modes. I look forward to hearing your suggestions and input.

 

Hi calvin!

 

Free Bump

 

Everyone and their brothers already sell LED bars don't waste your time

 

if you can beat competitors prices/quality and can offer group buys or something, im sure you might get some business!

 

Actually if you would sell complete kits, OEM switches, harnesses, relays, wiring and lights, that is something I haven't seen.

 

x2 on that. Everything else has already been done a lot. There is yet to be a complete kit though.

 

Glad this post came up! All the other light bar companies go for max lumens and thus run 6500K color temp LEDs. I am looking for 5000K LEDs to get away from that nasty blue tint and get better color rendering. No LED with good output is going to be over 75 ish CRI. I certainly dont want a full on warm color temp either as I dont run halogens. I bought floods from Scorpion LED specifically because I could buy a 5100K LED version, which they don't advertise. I am unwilling to buy Rigid Industries because they do not offer lower color temps.

Specifically I am in need of a full overhead light bar that will allow the use of the factory roof rack. If I could get a custom version that sacrificed the outter couple slots of LEDs for colored emergency lighting LEDs all the better. I need something in the 12500+ lumen range, flood/spot combo.

If you just want to import premade Chinese 6500K light bars and resell them, that is a saturated market.

Another LED item I want/need would be either a PIAA 530 / 570 in a 5000K color temp (even a LED swap service) or another emitter facing reflector style design with a sharp cut off and controlled output suitable for street use. 5000K color option of course.

Would like a kit to do this...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/250422-rigid-light-build.html

 

Thanks for everyone's input. My industry is primarily in the handheld LED flashlights and we've had success within niche markets such as high CRI. I'm not going to lie and say that we'll be designing a product from the ground up in the USA, the cost would be ridiculous. Saturation aside, is there an actual product quality issue with the imported Chinese 6500k light bars? Because in all likelihood I would be basing a product off of one of them and modifying it to meet my specs and experience from the other industry.

 

probably best to search lighting on this site. There have been a few group buys for LED bars as the Chinese flood the market.

It would also be nice to see a source for the SLT-773 LEDs used on the instrument panels

 

I agree with the whole kit idea.. My 30" light from Totron came with an adapter at the end but since there was no kit available, I cut it to splice wires in and sourced my own wiring kit with relay. While it's doable for a lot of people, I rather have had a nice plug and play kit. I damn sure would have paid extra for one had it been available.

Also, I have yet to see any colored covers for any of the chinese' lights available. The first company to do that is going to get a lot of business. The only other company I've seen with light covers is Rigid Industries. Not everyone has that kind of money for their products.

Like stated above, the cheaper light bar industry is awfully grown now. To get into it this late in the game AND make a profit off of it would be a waste of time unless you have something unique and custom to offer.

 

I'm assuming amber would be the primary color most people would buy, and maybe some of the emergency light colors. I'll look into it.

 

Someone needs a dimmable light. 10000 lumens is great in the middle of nowhere but being able to dim it to an appropriate level to use on country roads with out an aux controller would be nice.

It is going to be tough to beat the quality of the Chinese bars. The lights really are top notch. I can trade you a 4" bar for a sweet flashlight lol.

Where are you located?

 

Haha, I already have a sample selection of the Chinese bars. I'm also aware that it's very likely the same manufacturer for most of the sellers I've been seeing threads about on here. We're located in the San Jose region, CA but we don't have a storefront.

 

Agreed! Some led bars are too bright in tight woods in my opinion. Dimming would be very useful. I think the biggest advantage of my led bar over my hid Hellas is even light spread. I don't like hot spots and prefer my led bar most of the time when slow crawling through the woods at night.

 

Cool not too far from me. Let me know if you want to get together and do some collaboration.

 

I for one, don't want to see much as in the actual light output, but more in the mounting hardware options.
Like a slider on the bottom to adjust to lighting tabs.
A clamp style to attach anywhere on a bar or roof rack.
Etc

Dimmable idea was pretty good and can see it done. I think if it can be done, then hell, why not go balls to the wall and make it to where one side gets brighter when the wheels are turned that way or something of that sort.

I do think a "hi-lo" option is kind of cool. I see someone fabbing one into each headlight housing.

Hmmm. Had more ideas but forgot