LED lighting at half output?

Jack Stilts

Skid Plates
Location
Michigan

One of the ideas brewing in my head is installing an amber LED bar for snow / rain / etc. Still relatively new to the wiring process; would it be possible to wire it with two separate power options, like 50% and 100%? Or is that something that is set in stone with the light bar itself?

Reason being - I'd like to not blind traffic by having it on, but I'd still like it to cut through a blizzard / rainstorm. ‎
 

Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
It would likely be a hack to the bar itself. Unlike incandescent bulbs, you can't just toluene down the voltage of less light. Since these are silicon, you get below a certain threshold and they'll go from full bright to full dark.
 

mudchet

Got Mud?<br><img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/
Founding Member
Location
Brentwood, TN
The way to achieve dimming is with something callled Pulse Width Modulation or PWM. You can buy PWM controllers from superbrightleds.com like this one
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...12-24-volt-dc-single-color-led-dimmer/62/365/

I havent heard of using PWM with offroad lighting so a call to superbrightleds.com or some type of experiement is in order before you spend any big $$.

Its a bit funny that most people are going for maximum blinding power and you are actually trying to achieve regulated lighting that does not incapacitate those outside your vehicle.
 

Jack Stilts

Skid Plates
Location
Michigan
Thanks, guys.

Kev, I'll give them a call.
And what can I say, I'm a nice guy ;)

I'm definitely not the guy with six 40" light bars on my vehicle with my main drive being through a well-lit city.
 

TJTJ

Skid Plates
Founding Member
Location
NJ
LED have a forward voltage, but, there are dimmers for them. VisionX for example makes one JUST for their off road LED lights.
 

Jack Stilts

Skid Plates
Location
Michigan
Thanks, TJ. Checked with them; they have a dimmer but it's only compatible with their LEDs and no others.

Waiting to hear back from the other guys.
 

mudchet

Got Mud?<br><img src="http://i164.photobucket.com/
Founding Member
Location
Brentwood, TN
Thanks, TJ. Checked with them; they have a dimmer but it's only compatible with their LEDs and no others.

Waiting to hear back from the other guys.

Ok, did some more digging on this because I am curious. Offroad lights may have a driver circuit which would likely not work with the PWM controllers I mentioned in a earlier post. There are some lights out there, like the VisionX, which have a manufacturer-designed dimming option. The link to TribalWhipstore.com shows their driving lights with have an "Courtesy" option which dims the light to 10% of full. So you get 100%, or 10% power.

This link discusses a guys search for dimmable LED's.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?353210-Dimming-OFF-ROAD-LED-floods

http://www.tribalwhipsstore.com/6-L...44F1D276FF4704899025AFEE18CFDB.m1plqscsfapp04
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
I'm not sure what the wattage is, but I picked up an LED compliant dimmer for some stuff in the truck, lemme do some digging on it and see if it'll work.
 
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