Dimming OFF-ROAD LED floods

Hello! First post here! I have done a lot of searching on here and the web, but have not found anything relating to dimming LED's that already have a driver integrated into the housing.

I want to mount 3 LED off road flood pattern housings on my roof rack (one on each side and one on the back) and use them at full illumination for slow off-road expedition, but I also plan on camping out of the vehicle, and I want to dim the lights after I set up camp with a PWM POT dimmer. I have not purchased the lights or dimmers yet. I have looked into building my own from LEDsupply, and I would love to do that at some point, but I need them quickly and with the amount of projects going on right now, I am thinking of purchasing some cheap (35-50$) 15 to 27 watt LED housings of Amazon and controlling them with either one or 3 separate dimmers.

Can I do this this easily? What am I missing?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions that you may have.

Some drivers can be dimmed, some can't, at least not easily. You'd have to know something about the driver in order to know how to dim them properly. Taskled's discontinued d2Flex would have been a good choice for a compatible driver.

If you got the lights and opened them, posted some good pics of drivers and wiring in the right forum (builders and modders?) you might get someone who knows or can figure out how to dim them.

It might also help to post a searchable description of what you are looking at. I know you can't post links with only one post registered, but I did a quick search on amazon and didn't see anything like what I though you were talking about.

You could also think about getting the lights and replacing the drivers with muti-mode drivers from DX, Kaidomain, Taskled, or any of a host of others. If you want to explore, this is an extensive but not exhaustive list of available LED drivers and things that could be used for LED drivers: http://www.videofoundry.co.nz/ianman/laboratory/research/driverlist.php. Anything that claims an input up to 24V will likely survive in a vehicle under most conditions, especially if you place a transient supressor at the input.

As far as I know, I make the only high power LED driver designed from the ground up for automotive use, with Taskled's CCA1 being limited to 1A (though at that current it's probably the best available anywhere, and not even expensive). There are a few on DX that claim to be automotive, but they don't look to be designed for the rigors of that environment. I could be wrong; as an engineer I'm sometimes amazed at how clever the makers of cheap stuff can be, not only making few parts perform multiple functions, but also selling product at less than my parts cost.

I read your post about your automotive driver and can appreicate the R&D that you have put into that project. I think your price is reasonable for a quality product, and I would gladly purchase that if you can think it will meet my criteria and stay within my budget after buying all the components.:thumbsup:

Also, thank you for your thoughts on how to proceed and your link to the drivers page. That is very informative. Wow, I had no idea there were that many drivers! If I have to open up the housing, solder wires and run said wires from each housing back to the dimmer which would reside inside the vehicle, I don't want to do all that ! I would like to keep it simple and don't want to run all those wires.

It may not be easy to accomplish with inexpensive ready-made components, but instead of regular switches, I see 3 rotary knobs on the dash of my vehicle. They turn on the lights and increase their intensity the further that they are turned clock-wise. Is there a way to just run 2 wires (+/-) to each light from the dimmer and accomplish this? I was hoping I could get by within using something like an inexpensive RGB dimmer... put in "rgb pwm dimmer" on amazon. The first one that pops up claims 3 amps per channel.

If you want to get an idea for the type of light that I was thinking about, go to the amazon search bar again and enter "24W led work light". You will see a 4" square light come up. Please suggest something else if can think of something. The wider flood the better... anything up to say 30 watts, as long as dimming them down also means drawing less power. I don't want to loose all the power to a parasitic dimmer that just scrubs off all the power to heat. I don't have dual batteries on my 4runner and part of my reason for going with LED's is I want to run lean. The only other consideration is EMI. I don't want to have interference on the radio when the lights are dim. I have read on here that longer length wires can cause interference.

Am I asking for to much? Is there a ready-made kit out there already? If there is, I can't find it. I would be willing to pay say...75$ per light if it could be dimmed efficiently. Surely I am not the only one wanting to do this:thinking:.

Wow, my hat is off to your ambition. I often look for the easy way. I'd probably mount multiple LEDs and use center off, double throw switches with "high" and "low" options, not bothering with full range dimmers.
That 24W light on amazon appears to have eight LEDs in it. If there was an easy way to switch on just one or two, you'd have your choice of offroad maneuvering flood or low light for camping.
Years ago, before Airborne Sales folded, I bought a two bulb "fuselage light" that I mounted flush into one side of a truck bed. I had "high" and "low" bulbs, and it was a great loading or work light for the interior of the bed. I still wish I'd bought more of them.

The VisionX LED lights come with the option of a dimmer switch. You could probably just get that and call it a day.

I had thought a high/low switch, but i would really like to dial in just the right amount of light needed at the time. If I need to cook under the canopy connected to the roof rack at dark, maybe 80 to 100% brightness is in order. If it's pitch black out and my sweetie and I are holding down some lounge chairs, I may only need 5%, for that chillin' by the campfire vibe. Just enough light to be able to see that guy wire. The relaxation is can turn to cussing pretty quickly if you don't see the guy wire!

Can anybody recommend an inexpensive LED flood that can be dimmed with a simple, PWM dimmer?

Don't know how I missed your post TEEJ. I would love to have some of those lights but I was hoping for a low budget build. I often use my truck as a shuttle vehicle during kayak runs and it gets parked in some pretty shady places at times. If they get ripped off, I don't want to be out a ton of money.

You are right TEEJ...I talked with Tony at VisionX and what a really nice guy! They sell a nice little 1/2Amp 500ln utility flood for 100$ retail and a separate dimmer for 49$ retail, mounts in the dash and works just like I want. The only downside is that they don't like to go down very low, he said they will shut off around 30 to 40%. 350$, but I bet they are worth it. I just cringe at the thought of coming back from the river to find them ripped off... Still wanting a less expensive option if anyone has any ideas????

The IS1011 would drive an incan or halogen as well as an LED. Why not use one of them and an inexpensive headlamp, foglight, or whatever you think would provide sufficient illumination?