When shopping
for LED light bar, one of the most
important factors you must consider apart from lumens and input voltage is
colour temperature. Colour temperature provides a way for car owners to
describe the appearance of the light generated by a source, or in this case a
light bar. It is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K) on a scale of 1,000 to
10,000.
An LED light
bulb's colour temperature helps you determine what the look and feel of the generated
light will be. It is assigned through the correlated colour temperature or CCT.
For example, if you heat up a metal object, it will appear to glow. Depending
on the Kelvin temperature it is being heated at, this glow will be in different
colours like orange, yellow, or blue. The colour temperature of light generated
by a light source is designed to replicate the Kelvin temperature of the metal
object being heated, hence, the reason why the colour of the light produced by
your light bar is expressed in Kelvin.
Typical Colour Temperatures of an LED Light Bar
Here are the
colour temperatures of the light typically generated by an LED light bar in Australia and other types of automotive lighting.
1. 3000K
LED light
with colour temperature of 3000K is usually yellow in colour. This colour of
lighting is common among fog lights. It helps increase the visibility of a
vehicle when viewed by other drivers and provides the light a distinct colour
difference.
2. 4300K
This colour
temperature is the colour of the light generated by most HID driving lights.
It's whiter than 3000K but it still has a slight yellow tint.
3. 5000K
If you're
going to refer to the Planckian locus graph, you'll see that light with colour
temperature of 5000K is the whitest of all colours available. Car owners who
choose this colour temperature are often those who want to achieve a modern
look with their 4WD LED bar light without looking too aftermarket.
4. 6000K
Larger LED light bars often have at least 6000K colour
temperature. The light with this colour temperature is primarily white with a very
slight tint of blue or purple.
How
to Know Which Colour Temperature is for You
The best colour temperature will ultimately depend on
your preferences and what you're trying to achieve. To help you remember which
colour is which, the lower the colour temperature is, the more yellow or orange
the light would appear. The higher the temperature, the more blue or purple it
would be. Also, remember that just
because a light bar has a higher colour temperature, it doesn't mean that it is
brighter than any other lighting devices.
Make sure to
do your research well and determine your preferences so you can buy light bars 4x4 that meet your requirements.