LED head lights in winter, snow.

[Seamutt]

I am considering LED headlights but with their low heat output how are they in snow country? Looking for real world experience, dry snow, wet snow, heavy snow fall.

Also real world experience with LED light bars in above conditions.

Thankyou in advance.

[pianotuna]

So now we have a situation where you can't see--and the other driver can't see either. How is this better?

SidecarFlip wrote:


I have a pair of KC Daylighters 150 watt Halogens on the bumper I leave off 90% of the time, unless I have an oncoming idiot with poorly aimed headlights - fog loghts - auxillary lights and no dimmer switch or forgot where it's located at.

Quick blast with the KC's reminds them. They are eyeball cookers.

Courtesy on the roads today is about non-existent. Have a nice reminder on the front bumper.....:W

[SidecarFlip]

Groover wrote:
Since you asked about LED light bars you should check your local regulations. I expect that you will find that they are illegal on public roads. If not, they should be as most are set up to be blindingly bright for oncoming traffic. Great for off-road use though. I hope to put some on my tractor soon. If you chose to put some on your truck please exercise car not to blind others with them.

I agree. If not they should be generally outlawed for on road use because people don't have a clue how to aim them. Kind of like 'fog' lights on vehicles today from the factory... For fog, not all the time...duh.

I have a pair of KC Daylighters 150 watt Halogens on the bumper I leave off 90% of the time, unless I have an oncoming idiot with poorly aimed headlights - fog loghts - auxillary lights and no dimmer switch or forgot where it's located at.

Quick blast with the KC's reminds them. They are eyeball cookers.

Courtesy on the roads today is about non-existent. Have a nice reminder on the front bumper.....:W

[Groover]

Since you asked about LED light bars you should check your local regulations. I expect that you will find that they are illegal on public roads. If not, they should be as most are set up to be blindingly bright for oncoming traffic. Great for off-road use though. I hope to put some on my tractor soon. If you chose to put some on your truck please exercise car not to blind others with them.

[PA12DRVR]

No. 1 son and I both have the same play vehicle (Jeep Wrangler). Mine's cleaner, his is better equipped.....among other things, he has all LED's on the illuminating lights (can't speak to his taillights).

His rig is much better to drive in the snow (as far as lights go) and they don't ice up from snow accumulation: they do (just like my old incandescents) ice up when (as happens in Los Anchorage) we get freezing rain mixed with snow on top of snow with muck thrown in....like the past 2 days. Ugh.

I'm gradually switching all my vehicles (7 but the airplane doesn't count) to LED's as lights go out or if there's some other reason to pull the lights.

[SidecarFlip]

I find HID headlights to be annoying when coming at me on a 2 lane road. No issue with LED.

I have the housing issue and I may rotate the bulbs a bit (mine clock) to reduce / eliminate that.

Mine weren't that expensive in reality. Less than 100 bucks for a pair with drivers and I can see so much better than with Halogen, it's amazing. Think I'm going to do the motorcycles and quads next.

[Kalabin]

I recently converted from Halogen bulbs to LED bulbs, specifically the following.

LED Bulbs

Pros :
* Reflective surfaces really show up now
* The light is a bit brighter, not HID bright.
* In winter conditions I perceive I can see snow, slush or ice on the roads better.

Cons :
* Depending on your housing the light pattern varies
* If you buy LED's that allow you to "clock" the bulb for the housing you will not blind drivers and get a better beam pattern, however they are expensive.
* Due to my OEM reflectors I have what I think are "dead spots" which are no as bright of light as other areas of the road.

[JAC1982]

I haven't had any issues w/ the LEDs on my Explorer. I also think they provide better light at night in the snow than traditional ones.

[carringb]

My van's issue with icing up is certainly due to the vertical headlight surface. None of our other cars have this problem, and they all have HID or LED headlights.

It's also probable that they had the same problem with halogens, but they did such a poor job lighting and were already diffused, it may not have been noticeable.

I thought about heated headlight washers, but keeping a pair of halogen fogs was the simplest fix.

[SidecarFlip]

hone eagle wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
LED tail lights don't however. Not enough wattage drawn to make the necessary heat.

The op was asking about headlights? no?

"LED headlights in winter,snow"
agreed taillights especially on semi trailer get covered and stay that way ,but incandescence lights got dirty too, even though not covered in snow/slush.

Yes but, once the LED bug bites, it's all about converting everything.

I'm all LED except the rear turn signal bulbs. I left them incandescent simply to keep the turn signal flasher from 'ghost' flashing.

LED rear tail light, light units for semi's now come with Mullion lens heaters to melt the snow and slush.

[hone_eagle]

SidecarFlip wrote:
LED tail lights don't however. Not enough wattage drawn to make the necessary heat.

The op was asking about headlights? no?

"LED headlights in winter,snow"
agreed taillights especially on semi trailer get covered and stay that way ,but incandescence lights got dirty too, even though not covered in snow/slush.

[SidecarFlip]

LED tail lights don't however. Not enough wattage drawn to make the necessary heat.

[hone_eagle]

LED lights get plenty warm ,not hot but warm enough to melt snow just takes awhile and you have to clean them first.

[SidecarFlip]

GordonThree wrote:

Seamutt wrote:
I am considering LED headlights but with their low heat output how are they in snow country? Looking for real world experience, dry snow, wet snow, heavy snow fall.

Also real world experience with LED light bars in above conditions.

Thankyou in advance.

I switched from HID to LED on my Subaru because HID warm-up was really annoying for me. Yes I do have problems with ice accumulation over the lenses. Not from snowfall but from water spray off the road.

The 480 watt LED light bar on my Ram gets hot enough to melt any accumulation, however it is rarely used on public roadways because it is too bright.

Yu mean I don't have to fry your eyeballs with my KC Daylighters? Good deal.

[alexleblanc]

Both my Explorer with the HID headlights and F350 with LED's have not caused me any issues yes, but in the right type of weather conditions you'll get ice building on any headlight other than the old sealed beam style - specifically on the highway.