New TruckLite LED headlights

Hilldweller

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I had heard that TruckLite was developing another improved LED replacement headlight and contacted Jerry at the factory to try and score a set of 7" round ones to test in a Jeep; the last two iterations weren't all that impressive and I've had my fingers crossed that these new ones would work better.

Unfortunately they tell me that they gave away too many promos last year and can't spare me a set...

These new ones have fewer LEDs in them and he says they're vastly better.

Has anybody seen them yet or have some sort of photometry report?
 

krutj

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I had heard that TruckLite was developing another improved LED replacement headlight and contacted Jerry at the factory to try and score a set of 7" round ones to test in a Jeep; the last two iterations weren't all that impressive and I've had my fingers crossed that these new ones would work better.

Unfortunately they tell me that they gave away too many promos last year and can't spare me a set...

These new ones have fewer LEDs in them and he says they're vastly better.

Has anybody seen them yet or have some sort of photometry report?

Maybe these won't look like "flashlights taped together", I have been using your quote to describe the ones you tested...ok?
 

cmacclel

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I have a set in my Jeep of the older ones. Is there a way to tell what version? Though they are far from Ideal they are still many time better than the SilverStars I had. Also I scored them for $330 shipped on Ebay.

Mac
 

deadrx7conv

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The newer version should be out next year. It'll have only 2 LEDs. The current light has 10 LEDs(27250c).
Hopefully it won't look like "a bunch of flashlights taped together" since there are only 2 LEDs.
 

verdugan

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The newer version should be out next year. It'll have only 2 LEDs. The current light has 10 LEDs(27250c).
Hopefully it won't look like "a bunch of flashlights taped together" since there are only 2 LEDs.

Do you know when next year they'll be out?

TIA!
 

Hilldweller

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Do you know when next year they'll be out?

TIA!
January or February.

I tried to get a comp set from Jerry to test but he says he gave away too many last year.
I'll take him at his word -----
He's never held anything against my honest tests of the previous products, the good and not-so-good things I reported on them.

Joel --- I see my "handful of flashlights" quote everywhere now. Use it; it's accurate.
BTW, I gave my comp set of last year's TruckLites to a TJ owner that works at 4WheelParts; he's very happy with them. They're decent lights for a trail rig that sees limited night driving in areas without street lights. They're just about indestructible.
 
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TEEJ

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LOL!

I can see PIAA or Lightfarce doing that, and saying "and new UV-Reaktiv (TM) lenses deepen the effect through the life of the lamp, ensuring that harmful yellow light does not interfere with the driving experience."

Genius!

It reminds me of the salmon processing/canning company that fished where there were no pink pigmented plankton in the food chain, so their flesh was white and not the traditional "salmon pink" color. People were not buying their salmon because it didn't LOOK like the normal pink color.

They tried a new advertising campaign where They "Guaranteed THEIR Salmon Would Not Turn Pink in the Can".
 

-Virgil-

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Glass lenses, right?

No, they're polycarbonate -- same as most headlamps these days. And yes, they will eventually develop cataracts (opacify and turn yellow). How long before that happens depends on various factors including exactly what type of polycarbonate is used, what coating is applied, and spectral characteristics of the LEDs.
 

AnAppleSnail

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No, they're polycarbonate -- same as most headlamps these days. And yes, they will eventually develop cataracts (opacify and turn yellow). How long before that happens depends on various factors including exactly what type of polycarbonate is used, what coating is applied, and spectral characteristics of the LEDs.

The only transparent products I know of that don't yellow or cloud in time from sunlight exposure are glass and gemstones. There are some high-molecular-weight polymers that have bonding energies too high to be broken by most UV photons, but they are always expensive and rarely transparent.
 

bshanahan14rulz

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The only transparent products I know of that don't yellow or cloud in time from sunlight exposure are glass and gemstones. There are some high-molecular-weight polymers that have bonding energies too high to be broken by most UV photons, but they are always expensive and rarely transparent.

I've always wondered why they don't just use a different clear polymer for headlights. I guess it is just too cost prohibitive. At least, though, they use better stuff than aftermarket lenses. Those seemingly turn yellow by design.

So, if there were a clear product that sufficiently blocked UV and was still visibly clear, applying that to both sides of the lens might slow the aging? Is it only low wavelength UVs, or is it anything below 400 that seems to yellow most polycarb?
 

Alaric Darconville

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I've always wondered why they don't just use a different clear polymer for headlights. I guess it is just too cost prohibitive. At least, though, they use better stuff than aftermarket lenses. Those seemingly turn yellow by design.

So, if there were a clear product that sufficiently blocked UV and was still visibly clear, applying that to both sides of the lens might slow the aging? Is it only low wavelength UVs, or is it anything below 400 that seems to yellow most polycarb?

It's mostly cost-prohibitive, and there's a lag between the plastic development and the final testing. In the US, the testing literally takes at least three years, as there are exposure tests for the plastics that are conducted in real time (in the Arizona and Florida sun (which, because our planet has only one sun, is actually the same when you think about it)), not "accelerated" like the ECE permits.
 
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TEEJ

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It's mostly cost-prohibitive, and there's a lag between the plastic development and the final testing. In the US, the testing literally takes at leastthree years, as there are exposure tests for the plastics that are conducted in real time (in the Arizona and Florida sun (which, because our planet has only one sun, is actually the same when you think about it)), not "accelerated" like the ECE permits.


Probably a lobbying thing. For some air tests, we have to use "Arizona Road Dust" as the standard calibration dust, etc.

:D
 

-Virgil-

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I've always wondered why they don't just use a different clear polymer for headlights.

Because they don't have to. The durability tests can be passed with the cheaper materials, so that's what gets used. There are interesting new polymers (see for example Grilamid described here and here, but -- nope! -- can't have 'em in the North American market because they're not type-approved.

At least, though, they use better stuff than aftermarket lenses.

By way of counterexample: '86-up Volvo 240, '89-up Volvo 740/760, most Ford and Chrysler products...
 

TEEJ

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Have you noticed the rash of new products to "Make Your Headlights Like New Again!"

My old jeeps always took crappy sealed beams, but, they were glass and didn't yellow, even if they did crack if a rock zinged them, etc.

The new Wrangler (JK) I have now has a plastic bubble over the lamp, no more sealed beams. I'm sure in a few years I'll be looking at the yellow eyed devil jeep.
 
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