4x4 LED Driving Lights: Where Durability Meets Aesthetics

 Like any lights as well as those that come fitted from the factory, 4x4 driving lights are made to help make your journeys safer and more convenient. In the case of off-roading driving lights, they help make the trail ahead more visible and they also make you more visible to other drivers. Their powerful and long-range beam produced by a simple yet effective technology, makes exploring the bush at night a safer experience. The tech that powers driving lights nowadays is LED and that's not by accident since LEDs are more common across different industries.

What Matters in LED Driving Light

source: gtfoverland.com

Beam Pattern

With driving lights you get to choose between 3 different beam configurations called patterns and those are flood, spot and combo. A light with a flood beam pattern is known to illuminate close quarters quite well thanks to its wide beam angle. If you buy 4x4 LED driving lights with a spot beam pattern expect them to illuminate over long distances. Lights with a combo beam pattern have both a spot and a flood beam so you get a 2-in-1 solution.

IP Rating

An IP or ingress protection rating refers to the level of protection the lights have from both liquids and solids. This rating comes in the form of 2 digits. The first one is representative of the light's protective capabilities against solids while the second is indicative of the protective capabilities against liquids. The higher both numbers are the better as that means the lights are sealed off quite well. The highest rating is an IP 68 or an IP 69.

Mounting

The mounting bracket of the lights should make installing them quite easy. Although that also depends on the available space on your vehicle it shouldn't depend entirely on it. If it does it means you don't have a bracket that's as accommodating as it should be. At the end of the day, you're installing an aftermarket part.

Wiring Loom

The wiring loom is actually a key part of 4x4 LED driving lights since it can be the difference between them not working and working well when going through deep waters. To avoid issues, make sure that the lights you go for come with a wiring loom that makes use of Deutsch connectors as these are both water and dustproof. 

Lumens

The number of lumens an LED driving light can produce determines how bright it can be. Simply put, the higher the number of lumens the brighter the light but that doesn't mean you should get lights with the highest lumen count. This can be blinding for other vehicles on the beaten path as well as animal life.

Watts

While a powerful light able to switch between different beams is a convenient solution it can also be a power-hungry one. To avoid this from happening, you should buy LED driving lights that use fewer watts for the amount of power they produce. This makes them more efficient and therefore less taxing on your auxiliary battery. 

Colour Temperature

The colour temperature of the light being produced can vary quite a bit which means it can have a warm yellow tint to it or a white and even blue one. This is expressed in K (kelvin) and the higher the number is the cooler the light and the lower it is the warmer the light. Lights between 3900 K and 4500 K are deemed safe for off-road use.

Advantages of LED Driving Lights

Efficiency

With the use of LED driving lights you get to reduce the amount of power your additional lighting uses if you were to replace your current driving lights. If you don't have any you'll still notice how efficient they are. There is low to no power loss with LEDs especially if you go for ones that are bright enough for your trips through the Outback.

Power

The semiconductor powering the light is not just efficient but also quite powerful. Because there is no power loss there is not one lumen going to waste and therefore LED lights can be some of the most cost-effective accessories you fit your 4x4 with.

Longevity

When you have both powerful and efficient lights, you get long-lasting lights and LEDs are exactly that. They usually last for about 50,000 hours with high-end models being able to last even longer. An LED driving light is a truly set-it-and-forget-it solution.

Emissions

LED lights, in general, emit low heat and UV emissions which means they don't only have no effect on the lifespan of surrounding components but are also not bad for materials that react with UV rays. They are an overall safer solution for the environment.

Safety

At the end of their lifespan, unlike more traditional lighting solutions, 4x4 LED driving lights don't require special handling and discarding of mercury since they don't have any.