Freelander 1 FL1 facelift LED lightbar

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Dartmoor Navigator said:
this really is a minefield, there's quite a lot of outlets selling these on eBay, anyithing from £60 to £200, but most of them are unbranded. I'm going to give s mate a call who fitted a couple to his trialler 90, I'm sure he said his was about £500 though :confused:
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You can spend as little as £33 on a 24" bar, advertised as a CREE bar.
I am tempted to try one, when the keeper of the purse strings allows. It's relatively easy to tell if it has genuine CREE emitters, by taking a look when it arrives.
 
Dartmoor Navigator said:
What have you got, bud?
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I've got a 300w straight or curved bars. I've sold quite alot of them but we aren't selling products like that anymore and are moving to manufacture stuff instead.

£60 for a curved one. I have one with a cracked lens (works perfectly still though ) for £35.
 
vilguy said:
I've got a 300w straight or curved bars. I've sold quite alot of them but we aren't selling products like that anymore and are moving to manufacture stuff instead.

£60 for a curved one. I have one with a cracked lens (works perfectly still though ) for £35.
Click to expand...

What length are they? 300w is probably quite large???
 
It's a 52" bar, they can be fitted pretty easily with some brackets mounted to the a pillar (you hide the mounting interface between the door and seal) I did similar with our l200.

You can't really shorten them without MAJOR work. I wouldn't fancy it!
 
vilguy said:
It's a 52" bar, they can be fitted pretty easily with some brackets mounted to the a pillar (you hide the mounting interface between the door and seal) I did similar with our l200.

You can't really shorten them without MAJOR work. I wouldn't fancy it!
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Do you know what emitters are fitted?
 
vilguy said:
They claim cree but honestly don't know.

It is choofin bright and lights up a field without any issues.
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Lots do claim to use CREE emitters. I've seen some that contain Epistar emitters buy say they use CREE. The two are very different in light output and beam characteristics.
Obviously you know how bright yours are, so could well be using CREE emitters.
Nodge68 said:
You can spend as little as £33 on a 24" bar, advertised as a CREE bar.
I am tempted to try one, when the keeper of the purse strings allows. It's relatively easy to tell if it has genuine CREE emitters, by taking a look when it arrives.
Click to expand...
I might give this one a go.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126W-20IN...097461?hash=item2823f73d35:g:gZAAAOSwx2dYIYzl
 
Nodge68 said:
The two are very different in light output and beam characteristics.
Click to expand...

Can you pop up a pic i.e. To demonstrate the difference? The Cree LEDs I've seen in the past didn't look like a classic LED, they were more flat and square...

Anyway.... found an online retailer who was an hour's drive away, he told me his lightbar was Cree.... anyway, I got there and the thing is in an unbranded box with no logo, instructions or paperwork, straight from China. So I asked how he knew they were Cree LEDs and he said "because that's what he'd been told by the distributor" (in China) The unit was big and heavy 55cm (about 21 inches) I wouldn't want to shove anything too much bigger in the grill of a Freelander :confused:.... It was £90 so I asked if there was any supporting documentation at all - None, just a brown craboard box and a picture of Howe the bracket fixed on.

That was 2 hours wasted, I left it there.:(
 
Aha!

CREE

12.jpg



Epistar

11.jpg





Narrow escape.... the ones on the lightbar I saw today were certainly Epistar:rolleyes: being marketed as CREE.
 
I was just going to post some pictures of the LED emitters in a couple of my torches, but you found pictures of them.
The CREE chips (there are many types) are much brighter than the generic Epistar type LED. They are both able to run at 3 Watts, some more so. However the CREE are much more efficient at producing light for the power used.
A CREE XM-L makes 320 Lumens for its 3 Watts of power use.
A generic Epistar type chip makes up to 180 Lumens for the same 3 Watts of power used.
So this particularly CREE XM-L makes twice the light of the budget Epistar type chip.
So why do these bars use lower output LEDs? That's a simple one. Cost. The CREE XM-L costs 4 times as much to use.
At Internet prices, I can buy a 3 Watt Epistar type plastic package LED for £1.16.
A CREE XM-L will cost me £4.67. So imagine the cost savings for the manufacture, if they can trade off cheaper LEDs for expensive ones.
Things get worse for some manufacturers. As some don't use top quality (known as top bin) LEDs. Instead choosing to fit much cheaper, lower or bottom bin LEDs. These lower quality chips will be compromised in terms of light output and, or colour. So you can end up with a light bar that uses 120 Watts of power, but produces a light output of well under half of what a true CREE unit. Additionally many non CREE chips are over driven to improve light output, shortening life massively. It's all a bit of a mine field when talking about LED bars.
This is why I'd buy really cheap, after studying pictures carefully, with PayPal protection. Or buy very expensive and be guaranteed a decent product.
 
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Dartmoor Navigator said:
I understand that a CREE chip has a lifespan of 50,000 hours and an Epistar 10,000 with a diminishing light output and spectrum of colour.
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Epistar type chips are old hat now. They find there way into all kinds of budget LED lighting. I've good collection of LED torches, living out in the sticks. I have cheap 3 Watt Epistar LED torch and a 3 Watt CREE XM-L LED upgrade in my Maglite. The difference between them it like night and day. The CREE is 3 times as bright and has a better CRI.
 
personally I do not like those led light bars I prefer spot lights like the ones on my car the KC's on the front are fantastic high watts but expensive
 

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The reason LED bars are so popular is light spread available for the power used. LED is at least 5X more energy efficient than a old fashioned tungsten lamp. Having half a dozen spots is fine, if you don't mind zapping huge amounts of current out of the electrical system.
A quality 120 Watt LED bar will provide around 12,000 Lumens of light. That's the equivalent to 8 headlights on main beam. Not only do they make huge amounts of light, they are also vibration proof. That's why they are popular on off road vehicles.
 
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