# more 3 watt LEDs or fewer 5 watt LEDs?



## Justintoxicated

Hey guys, been a while since I posted here.

Currently I am looking to upgrade the 35 watt HIDs on my atv with something a little less power hungry. 

My setup is currently 2 MR16 size HID's on the bars and 2 35 watt HIDs mounted to the frame. The 35s are wicked bright, and great when out in the dunes for navigating at distance. They are not as great for close up riding. The MR16 HID's take care of that well though. The problem is my stator can really only handle about 120 watts safer is probably 110 (It's a 200 watt stator but it has to do a DC conversion). Of course it is also not putting this out at idle. Battery is Odyssey PC310
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002NGKT6O/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Picture from 2009


Banshee by Glamisduner, on Flickr

The issues with this setup is that unless I have a new battery and full charge eventually one light will shut off and I have to take care to shut off the Big lights when we come to a stop. The other issue I have is warm up time. The guys I ride with like to start up and go, and I have this horrible warm up time. 

I think a new battery would get me up and running again (this is is obviously about 6 years old now and get abused). It still measures about 12.6v not under a load, and with one trip left this year I'll probably hold off until next year to replace it.

What I'm thinking to get are some 18-20 watt LED lights to mount on the frame. Rigid seems to be the best brand but they are pricy. I'd like to find a knock off version of the same thing.

These are dirt cheap, might require sealing the lenses myself with silicon but thats not too bad:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G620ZVU/?tag=cpf0b6-20

The reviews say they are not as bright as the rigid Dually D2's but those are 30 watts and use 5 watt LED's which might be an issue where as these are 18 watts. I have always thought LED efficiency is typically better using more LEDs than fewer but I'm not up to date, and efficiency is key here.

Open to suggestions! Even those that deviate from my plan. Just spend the money and put rigid high powered but semi compact light bar on the handlebars? Just put a curved 120 watt LED bar on the frame and I won't need lights on the bars? Keep the giant HIDs and put some 20 watt dually D2 style lights on the bars?

I'm tempted to try the $40 lights and keep the MR16 HID's on the bars (they are floods). Please advise.


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## WhitedragonBC

No similarly sized/priced LED setup is going to match those 35 watt HIDs for throw. I'd leave them and replace the handlebar ones with a small LED bar.

I've been eyeing these http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NQBBY8M/?tag=cpf0b6-20 lately.


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## Justintoxicated

Hey that looks pretty dang good, and still within power requirements. The hard part would be mounting it unfortunately. I'm no good at fabricating stuff to take abuse and mount to handlebars. Do they make a flood version? I think I would prefer to have a flood. Flood seems more useful in general for nite rides, especially now that so many Side by Sides have crazy lighting behind me. Ideal would be if I could have some flood and spot of course but I can't run much else with those HID's and the HID's I have do not have auto restrike either.

The setup I have now is basically this:
http://www.trailtech.net/lighting/hid/scmr16/472l-y02f

That light might clear the clutch and brake lever if I shimmed the center hole with a washer (it's made to hold a switch).

I could run two of these: 
http://www.trailtech.net/lighting/led/70mm-led

and they would bolt up as a direct replacement, but they would not be saving me any power 

The 40 watt light posted above is a lot cheaper from the source:
http://tuffledlights.com/products/rogue-series-led-light-bar-9-inch-40-watt/


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## WhitedragonBC

With those small reflectors even the spot version is going to be pretty floody.


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## Justintoxicated

Yea I kinda figured as much. I'm also looking at this for the handlebars:
http://www.rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/17561
And then I could replace the HID's below with the 4LED Dually D2's and it wouldn't put too much strain on my bike. Or maybe the vision X 20 watt duallys below if I wanted some throw on the frame mounted lights. I can't really find a comparison of the two.


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## Justintoxicated

I ended up getting a Rigid SR2 Driving 10" light bar and mount.
The pirce of 275 with free shipping was almost $100 cheaper than elsewhere. More than I wanted to spend but it looked to be exactly what I need power wise and in a package that I found acceptable.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NLLD4E/?tag=cpf0b6-20

This will draw slightly less power than my MR16 HIDs but will have instant on. I think this will be a good amount of light on the bars, and I can change out the HID's mounted to the frame later. I might go with some cheaper LEDs for those as they might not really even be necessary to turn on. I'll try this bar with the existing HID's first of course, but probably won't be able to run both until I replace my aging battery.

On this quad the Battery is only for lights.


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