LED lights overkill

Ok you LED light genius' one simple question. I have two LED light pods from Iggy and heres the specs on them:

Lumen Rating: 10,500 (each)
Size: 9" 37 X 5W high intensity CREE LED
Beam: Spot (includes flood cover)
Material : Aluminum Alloy Body
Lens Material: Premium PMMA
Operating voltage : DC 9v-32v
Color Temperature : 6500k
Watts: 185
Amp Draw: 15
IP68 Waterproof and Dust resistance
Life time : 50000 Hours
Work temperature : -40 ~ 155 °C
LED chip: CREE XT-E 5W

So thats 370 watts total with these pods alone. I also have a Vivid Illumination 30" double row LED bar that I got during a group buy that memario1214 was doing. Its a 31.5" double row so 60 CREE LEDs at 5W each making that 300 watts total.

So the pods and the bar make it a whopping 670 watts of electricity. Now my question is, can I mount them both on my truck on a stock battery setup and stock Tow Package alternator and be good? or do I have to upgrade my alternator or something to be able to handle that much watts? I also have 2 small 6" LED Aux lights in the back that combined use up 36 Watts.

I'll be straight forward with you all, I'm not an electrical tech wizz, so I really need some help or advice in this cause I wouldn't want to overload my electrical system and have a bigger problem on my hands than just having them sit in my garage for now. any help is appreciated.

 

You'll be fine. With a ~15 amp draw for each iggy light. And ~25 Amp draw for the 32" bar, you will be more than fine with the stock battery/alternator. Combined, the amp draw will be ~70 Amps. OEM alternator (If I recall) produces ~200-250A at idle. I've left my LED bar on for over a couple hours with the truck off and it still started fine.

 

You'll be fine! Overkill would be having 30 50 inch light bars.

 

Thanks guys. This is my first time doing something like this and I would hate to screw some thing up.

 

It's cool man I was worried when I first added lights then I realized as long as I don't go crazy I will be okay.

 

Um, there's no way the stock alt runs 200amps at idle. No way. More like 70-80 maybe or something like that. 1st gens i believe have like 60. I'm sure I'm wrong on those numbers but it's not that high. The stock alt can handle some extra amps. But not much. I spent 400 on a HO alt and am BARELY able to handle ~40 amps and 550 watts. Not including my 1000 watt sub amp. I will be getting a second battery eventually. I can't say for sure, but I'm betting you will need an HO alt. Or second bat. I would get the alt. Bama toy (I think) sells sweet kits and HO alts.

Your best bet is to wire them up and see how she does. Then go from there. Not gonna hurt it short term use. Then get the alt if needed. Two things might happen. One, major load on engine, And or flickering. You'll know. Honestly though, I would get the alt anyways. Worthwhile investment.

Edit: and my dc power engineering ho alt that costs $400 puts out 180 amps at idle. And 250( I think it was) peak.

 

I'm no electrical guru either. But on a side note, your stock amp is for the most part, designed to handle the needs of your vehicles requirements (edit:from the factory). Yes you can add components with no I'll affects. But when you start adding more, it's gonna put a stress on your alt and battery even if you don't feel or see it. Thus premature failure. Might take a while. But not worth the risk. Treat her right and supply what she needs. Spending a ton on lights, might as well do it right and spend the extra to top it off and make it efficient. Just my .02..

 

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm just now to the point I need to step up to a HO alternator. And Dual batteries. I'm pushing way more than you on the stock toe package and battery. I'm running a 1000 watt system. 50" rigid industries bar. 20" led light bar. Two sets of cubes. Air compressor. Train horn. And a halogen backup light. Im starting to notice a little bit of flickering with the interior lights I have installed.

 

Ditch the pods or the light bar, whichever you prefer. There is really no practical use for both. People just wanna slap light bars everywhere when they really only need so many lumens. Unless you're racing Baja you really have no need for that much light. Pick one or the other.

 

I have 2 of those Iggy lights along with 2 20" led bars from him, 4 led pods and 2 6" led rock lights and I have no problems with my battery and tow package alt. handling it.

 

Do you need some sunglasses for all that light?

 

Yep, just bought me some Costas

 

Practicality is overrated, it is also a matter of circumstance and opinion. I like a lot of light... For example it may not be practical for most people to have a 900 lumen flashlight in their pocket and a 900 lumen headlamp on their head. But I do, and it's not only practical, but a necessity in my trade. Different lights and beam patterns serve several different purposes.

 

Well if you're going to install everything anyways then why are you asking us if it's going to work? Throw them on there and see what happens. My guess is your alternator will cry for mercy. I would recommend having another battery dedicated to your lighting if that happens.

The human eye has certain limits. You could wash everything out if you want to, but there is certain amount of usable light your eye can process. The brighter your lights are, the longer it's gonna take to see anything that isn't lit. Seeing things is one thing, completely burning your retinas is another.

 

This isn't my thread. The person asking was looking for confirmation that his alternator would support the load. I also like the idea of a second battery, but it's more than likely overkill. My 09 with tow package has an alternator that's rated at 130 amperes from the factory, and at ~14 volts while running, 670 watts is 47 amps.

 

Yes but what's the idle amperage?

Guys gotta remember that the rating for alts is peak ratings. Meaning that while driving at higher rpms your system may be fine. But once you start wheeling or driving slow, your rpms will not only be low but will be fluctuating your output considerably as you roll around, and will probably affect the performance of your lights as your rpms fluctuate. Realistically you should get a second battery so your lights aren't drawing power from your system battery. I think in my case my lights need to be isolated to a second bat. Drawing too much power from the main and while it does okay at steady speeds, I see slight flickering/fluctuations in output while idling or when wheeling. At least I think it's from not having a second bat. My alt should be more than capable with 130 idle amps and like 2500watt output. I am going to be redoing my wiring before too long and upgrade the wire gauging just to make sure before I run a dual bat. But again I think my fluctuations would disappear with it all on a second isolated battery.

So.. OP just needs to test it out and see what happens. Sounds like it might do ok with a 130 peak alt. I'd be curious what the idle amperage is though. But yeah, just hook it all up and test it out and go from there. Again you'll experience one or two things. You'll literally hear the increased engine load (idling down) when lights are activated. Second you may see pulsing/fluctuations/ or worse flickering. Major flickering would be serious. Turn them off immediately and disconnect a light or two and test again to see if it's any better w/o so many lights.

If NOT... make sure to test drive it. Make sure she idles down after warmed up too. Put it in drive and idle. Then go for a spin and be sure to drive in different scenarios/speeds to see if there's any fluctuation in light output. If you still don't experience any of the above, she should be golden! But if she DOES experience one of the above, your system is struggling and crying for an upgrade

 

Good info here.

You should be good to go, that draw wont overload the system.

 

Well thanks for all the input guys. The reason why I want to install Iggy's lights and the lightbar is that Iggys are spots so they throw light far, while the lightbar I have it being a combo lightbar, it throws light more closer and spread out a little bit more.

No, I wont be going to do the Baja 1000 or whatever, but I will be going to eastern wa for camping and just light offroading. I recently finished working a project in Cle Elum and it was dark there. Like darker than dark. So I figured why not just put the lights in since I have them. Just wasn't too sure if my taco would be able to handle it.

 

Post pics and let us know how the install goes

 

What pods do you have that run 10.5k lumens ? I don't think I've seen any like that..