Discover Auxiliary LED Automotive Lighting: The Solution for Glare Problems
While there’s no shortage of opinions about how LEDs affect pedestrians, cyclists and oncoming drivers, there’s also no debate about their performance. The ability of dedicated auxiliary LED lamps to illuminate the road and surrounding areas is unsurpassed by any other type of automotive lighting on the market.
Not only are LEDs brighter and clearer than classic halogen-style lamps, they also generate less heat and last longer – attributes that ultimately mean they’re more efficient. And when vehicle owners insist on mounting only ADR-compliant LED auxiliary lamps onto their vehicle, they can ensure that they’re keeping both the motoring public and themselves as safe as possible.
Attributes That Give Auxiliary LED Lamps the Legal Advantage
Let’s be honest: with safety consistently qualifying as the chief concern for drivers across Australia, it’s no coincidence that auxiliary LED lighting automotive systems are such major talking points within the driving community. Off-roaders, hunters and first responders have understood the benefits of LED auxiliary lights for decades which, in addition to their higher outputs also include:
- Instant start-up times. Unlike the heat-up time halogen lamp filaments need to reach full brightness, the electro-luminescent process used to power LED chips allows them to achieve maximum brightness almost instantly.
- Consistent light outputs. The premium quality chips used in modern LEDs offer both a brighter and higher lumen-per-watt output than ever, allowing them to produce a more uniformed temperature colour than ever.
- Lower power demands. As LED lamps draw only 20% of the energy that halogens do, the lower power demand equates to less stress on a vehicle’s electrical system, which would also coincide with an improvement in fuel economy.
The adjustable warm-, neutral- and cool-white illumination qualities of LEDs is the attribute that brings them to the forefront of safe on-road usage. And it’s the same attribute that allows them to emit flicker-free, fully correlated colour temperature (CCT) ranges throughout their entire lifespan, without ever fading or weakening.
It takes a fully ADR-compliant LED auto lighting fixture, however, to combine all these attributes into a lamp that doesn’t cause a problem with blinding glare. It’s a tall bill to fill, which is why companies like BZR, Lifestyle and Hyperion can be trusted for auxiliary driving lights, lightbars and spot lights that satisfy CE, EMC, CISPR15 standards for electromagnetic compatibility, as well as ADR13 compliance for safe and lawful on- and off-road use.
Getting To Know Which LED Lamps Work Best For Which Application
When it comes to ADR-compliant LED automotive lighting, not only is it helpful for drivers to know the nature of the problems design rules are intended to eliminate, but also to understand what a proper compliance solution ultimately entails. Excessive glare, uncomfortable blue tinting and disorienting beam heights and patterns are the main problems associated with the use of unregulated LEDs.
Fortunately, improvements in both the white colour and CCT colour brightness of modern LED auto light chips from manufacturers like OSRAM, CREE, and Lumiled largely resolve these issues. The problems associated with disorienting LED symmetries and beam patterns, however, are the main reasons ADR compliance is so critical.
Improperly focused LED auto lights are a primary cause of poor night time depth perception, as well as the main source of blindness and disorientation experienced by oncoming drivers. That’s why ADR-compliant beam patterns are so important for the following light types:
- Oval driving lights. Modern LED driving lights are designed to be mounted in pairs no higher than the leading edge of the bonnet, and are available in 7.0“, 8.5“, and 9.0“ diameters. Critically, they can be used in either spot or combination patterns, and offer ideal viewing comfort for both on- or off-road use.
- Single and dual row lightbars. With lengths ranging between 10.0“ and 50.0“, single and dual row LED lightbars are selectively designed to produce either narrow or wide beams. They’re also versatile enough to be safely mounted in pairs as driving lights, or for spotting, or working light duties when mounted individually.
- LED auxiliary work lights. Mine-spec LED work lights are designed specifically for auxiliary duties under the toughest on- and off-road driving conditions. Depending on how they’re certified, however, when mounted in pairs of up to four lights, they can be used as driving lights.
The fact is, while each of these LED light types has its own range of on- and off-road applications, they all can be safely and legally used under ADR13 in a way that allows drivers to take full advantage of their long-life/low resistance characteristics. Every ADR-compliant automotive LED lighting for sale has its own unique qualities, though. This is especially true with regard to their reflectors, as the enhanced optics of modern auto LED lights offer a range of improvements that allow them to deliver safer and more precisely controlled light than ever.
Reflector Design Is the Key to Incredible LED Performance
It’s impossible to appreciate the increased brightness, superlative focus and incredible light dispersion of ADR-compliant LED lights without an appreciation for the functionality of modern LED reflectors. While halogen-style lamps rely on a single, full-sized reflector to radiate light, each individual chip in a LED auto lamp has its own reflector.
And as the number of reflectors used in any particular lamp housing can vary from a mere 9 pieces in 7“ driving lights to more than 90 pieces in dual row lightbars, the more reflectors a lamp has, the more accurately it can tune its illumination.
Unlike early generations of auto LED lights Australia had at it’s disposal, modern LED auto lights benefit from nanometrically-precise reflectors, with the most common variants being:
- Parabolic reflectors. Similar to the parabolic reflectors found in flashlights, parabolic LED reflectors are designed to deliver wide, long range beams of lights with minimal contrast or distortion.
- Elliptical reflectors. Elliptical LED reflectors are similar to the reflectors used in microscopes, and are designed for the most efficient spreading of light over the widest possible areas.
- Specular reflectors. The specular reflectors used in modern LED lights perform in a manner similar to the highly reflective variants used in microscopes and excel at creating precise, highly focused beams of light.
- Asymmetric reflectors. Asymmetrical reflectors specialise in creating light beams that are concentrated in a single direction, and are perfect for projecting no-glare beams over moderate distances.
- Diffuse reflectors. LED diffusion reflectors are most closely related to the reflectors used in cameras and photographic equipment, and are designed to spread light softly and evenly in a wide pattern.
Ideally, when combined with the 150° viewing angle of modern LED auto lamps, vacuum-metallised polycarbonate reflectors are effortlessly capable of producing genuine 180° beam angles. And as the beam angle of ordinary halogen-style lamps stays strictly between 20° and 50°, the non-glare advantages that these next-generation reflectors dedicated LED auxiliary lights give is nothing short of incredible.
The Final Word
High quality auxiliary LED lighting automotive systems are the solution for the nagging problems of glare and driver blindness. And with the latest generation of LED lamps now available for every application, vehicle owners can be sure that they have the lights at their disposal for every occasion.
Тhere’s no substitute for the benefits LED lamps bring to night time driving, hunting, or working. It takes ADR13 compliance, however, to ensure that they’re safe for everyone – vehicle operators and pedestrians alike.