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Hi I'm looking for a amber light bar that's around 20" long. I'm having trouble finding them. I know most people don't run them but I heard they are good for seeing in the snow and fog. The light bar is not just for wheeling purposes it would be handy for when I get called out for snow removal as well.
Theres two ways to get what you want,You can buy a standard led light bar and get the snap on amber covers for it,Or some companies might a dual color light bar that can go from white to amber with a switch like this https://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/120312aw their is cheaper brands on the market.And these are the amber covers https://www.rigidindustries.com/light-covers?f[0]=field_product_cover_color%3a952
I would pony up and get a set of Rigid D2 or SAE rated D-series lights with amber covers. The cut-off is actually usable in inclement weather unlike the generic ones which will just be bright flood lights and might make visibility marginally worse.
Then you can get a cheap light-bar for off road use if you still feel the need, but these you can run on the street in a snow-storm and not feel guilty about blinding everyone else on the road.
You're generally supposed to use LEDs of the color you want, even behind lenses of the same color. LEDs are not continuous spectrum lights, meaning that the light that comes from them doesn't contain all the colors. An amber lens only lets through amber light and blocks other colors. If the white LED you're using doesn't produce a lot of amber light, there won't be much light to go through the lens, and it'll be dim.
You can put covers or colored lenses on tungsten bulbs, because they are full spectrum. That's why you can have a red lens on a white tail light bulb. But you don't put white LEDs in tail lights, because it would make them too dim under the red covers. I admit I haven't seen it in person, but I would think amber lenses over an LED flood light would have a similar effect and would make your light bar a lot less useful.
My roommate had two amber pods on his rig. I did not like them because they hardly throw any light. They were like slightly brighter marker lights. I'm unsure the brand (probably the cheapest ones you can get) but I would have been disappointed had I bought and mounted them. I will say the color was very useful in inclement weather. It was a very dark amber, like the amber colored photo on the Rigid website from the link posted above.
I have some halogens that have yellow covers on them (much more yellow than amber) and they do okay. They are much brighter than my roommate's pods but the color is much whiter than amber.
Last edited by XJlimitedx99; 12-12-2017 at 08:36 PM.
Light bars tend to flood areas with light and have little to no pattern or other containment. If use in precipitation is desired, this is going to lead to a lot of otherwise unnecessary scattering and glare. The best thing you can do is to improve your headlights. There is a LOT of science at work that many people don't know about or refuse to acknowledge. Consult with a professional, someone like Daniel Stern, or even guys at sites like candlepowerforums.
Light bars tend to flood areas with light and have little to no pattern or other containment. If use in precipitation is desired, this is going to lead to a lot of otherwise unnecessary scattering and glare. The best thing you can do is to improve your headlights. There is a LOT of science at work that many people don't know about or refuse to acknowledge. Consult with a professional, someone like Daniel Stern, or even guys at sites like candlepowerforums.
It's not a full time light source I'm going to need all the time. I don't need something "road legal". I take the slow way to work and in which there isn't much traffic so I'm not worried about blinding anyone.
Buddy of mine has some amber led light bars. They weren't expensive, but weren't cheapies either. They are not bright at all, even compared to just the 2 inch light pods I have. How they do in the snow? No idea, it hasn't snowed here yet hahah!!
When I was driving back & forth between Newport News, VA & Ithaca, NY regularly (like 3 out of 4 weekends), I got some amber fog lights and mounted them under the front bumper of my mercury sable wagon (stock fog light location), and they were awesome in snow & fog......like northern PA at night.
Several times, in heavy snow, especially at night, I'd have them on and the headlights off, and people would get behind me or stay right beside me to take advantage of the amber light too.
I had some Noyoka 2500K hyper yellow fog lights in my Mustang and they were awesome for crazy blizzards in the mountains.
Here is a beamshot with an amber cover, according to AuxBeam which actually seems to be a pretty decent company in regards to R&D and proactive design
If you look at the surrounding photo, you can tell that they didn't just photoshop the color difference, looks like a legit beamshot to me.
EDIT:
Also, quality LED's are truly worth the price. If you look at the Baja Designs Pro series lights and compare actual outputs, they are 2x as bright compared to the cheaper designed lights.
I have personally seen the Squadron Pro combo pattern, and a pair of those puts out over 8500 Lumens and are ludicrously bright, and they use just 4 LED's each. The amber looks pretty effective. Not hyping Baja Designs but I do think they make some of the absolute best lights currently. For very long-distance lighting, a long-throwing HID is still going to win.
Slapping amber covers on white lights is fine if you buy good quality lights.Those cheapo ebay brands you find are crap and you find out once you use them.And really for amber you want fog lights mounted under the bumper that will give you the light you need in snow.
12-11-2017, 07:05 PM
Amber Light Bars
