head light up grade or not

[joes mack]

Hello all we are looking at the pos of upgrading the head lights on our fire trucks I have been looking at the led lights for our CFs I know it will take away from the looks of the trucks but it will also give us better lighting on the back roads and the highways( which are narrow and curvy ) at night. the main concern is for the on coming drivers  are the led lights on the bigger trucks too high to be considered safe for the on coming drivers? I know all of the newer trucks being produced today have led lights I actually  drove a new granite with the leds and that is why I told the members about them and started checking on them for the fire department. what are your thoughts and experiences with the led lights.   

[41chevy]

they are not an issue if you do following thing. Have the head light re aimed. The LEDs have a different beam pattern. If you put them in with out having the re aimed you will blind on coming traffic. Put them in my Mamon and first night had most everybody flashing me to dim my lights that were not on brights. Looked at the paper work with the lights which clearly stated to have them re aimed to prevent the issue I had. 

[Lmackattack]

They make LED round head lights that look stock and only have a slight hint of color to them. when they are off they look 95% stock. when they are on you will have wished you had swapped over to them sooner.   I recently did this conversion on a peterbilt with single square bulbs. the LED replacements for the pete were just amazing how much better I can see now.  And Yes you will likely need to aim them down once installed

 

Search for known brands such as Grote,Trux, United pacific etc....some of them are the same light but cost less.

[joes mack]

thanks guys for the input. I have another question to ask when I was looking at lights I saw some came with a lense warmer is that a big issue in the winter if you don't get the bulbs with them or would it just be easier to wipe the snow /ice off

 

[hatcity]

LED,s do not generate heat. driving in snow/ice, it can/will build up and become less effective

if its for emergency use, I would throw the extra coin and get it

[Lmackattack]

I cant really comment on the issues with LEDS / slush and Ice. I will say that even with the old bulb style headlights I still found I had to pull over and clean them of the grime and build up. I think you would find the same issues with the LED even if it has a warmer but cant speak from experience

 

[41chevy]

On my Marmon with out the warmer set up, the ice and snow freezes solid enough you've got to scrape it off

[carlotpilot]

I am also thinking about replacing some of our trucks lights with leds  but finding an aiming device that works correctly for them has not been an easy task because they do not throw a concentrated beam. as for approaching them if you happen to have ocular implants those things unaimed are downright painful

[96bulldogpower]

Look up “genssi XDR9” series lights in your specific size.   They make them for all the rectangle size lights.   You can source them from eBay or other online stores.   

There are a number of cheap led lights on the market but these genssi lights really are amazing.  They have a beautiful and concentrated light pattern and are super easy to aim. I used our shop roll up door to aim the headlights at night.  They look like a Mercedes Benz lighting up the road and you just can’t beat the price, not to mention I’ve tried the big brand headlights and they do not compare.    We’ve been running these headlights on three of our trucks, one of them has had the original pair for almost three years without a hiccup.   

 

Good luck, I just figured I’d pass along a good experience with a product.