How to Distinguish Lumens and Watts of LED Lights Bars

LED light bars have proven itself to be a handy tool for any driver, especially off road enthusiasts. This handy device can be installed to a vehicle and could add a much more powerful lighting that could help you see better during night time travels. It can provide light in places that normal headlights can’t reach. How does the light bar contribute such powerful light? It all boils down to the amount of lumen it has.

The Difference Between Watts and Lumens on LED Light Bars

First of all it is important to distinguish between the difference of Lumens and Watts and how it relates to an LED light bar. Watts is how people measure the amount of electricity a lighting device requires to produce light. It is the determining factor of how much electric energy the device is capable of handling to produce the light that is essential in a light bar.

Lumens, on the other hand, is the scientific way of determining the quantity and quality of brightness of a light. It is the basic unit that gauges how bright the light bar is, which could help you determine how much light to suit your needs. Measuring this is a little bit complex and more vague than determining the length and weight of an object, which is why comparison is the controlling factor on how bright a light bar is.

How Does This Relate to LED light bars?

People have grown accustomed to think about the brightness of lighting device via Watts. If you go out to the hardware store to purchase a light bulb, you would automatically look at its wattage. A 100w bulb is brighter than a 60w light bulb. The problem with this means of measurement is that it typically only works for incandescent type of light globes.

Now that the dawn of modern light technologies gave birth to Light Emitting Diodes or LED, the way people measure brightness have changes drastically. In perspective, LED can emit the same amount of lumens for a fraction of the watts. This means that LED are no longer required to use the same electricity as an incandescent light globe.

That is how to determine the difference between the importance of lumens and watts. If you want to purchase an LED light bar Australia, feel free to explore the website.

How to Protect Your LED Light Bar from Extreme Heat

While an LED light bar doesn't produce as much heat as an ordinary automotive lighting device, it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't suffer from a potential overheating. LEDs do produce heat, but not in the form of infrared radiation that ordinary lighting devices generate. Instead, the heat they produce is within the light bars themselves because of the presence of semiconductors that are needed by LED devices to generate light.

What You Should Understand about Heat and LEDs

An LED light bar is expected to last at least 50,000 hours. Unlike ordinary lighting devices, it doesn't suddenly die or burn out. When it is almost at the end of its lifespan, you'll easily notice because the light it produces becomes dimmer and dimmer.

While LEDs last longer than most lighting devices, heat can significantly affect their life span. Elevated temperatures can lead to the rapid deterioration of the LEDs, which then results in the light that the LEDs produce to dim much faster than expected. If heat is not dispersed properly, it is very likely that you'll enjoy just half of the LEDs' expected 50,000 hour lifespan.

Protect Your LED Light Bar from Heat

To ensure that your LED light bars in Australia will be able to fulfil its duty up to its expected lifespan, here are some tips you should follow:

1. Ensure that the light bar has a reliable heat sink

Heat sinks provide LED light bars with efficient thermal management. What they do basically is to disperse the heat generated by the semiconductors to prevent the light bar from burning out from within. Therefore, before you settle for a particular light bar, ensure that it has a working heat sink. It doesn't matter whether the heat sink is made of metal, heat pipe, or other materials. What's important is that it can help disperse heat properly.

2. Don't obstruct the vents of the light bar

To ensure proper thermal management, see to it that you don't install the light bar in a location where its fins or "breath vents" are obstructed. This way, the hot air from the inside of the light bar can go out freely and won't be trapped within the device.

3. Clean your light bar

Dirt and dust that accumulate on your light bar can clog its vents. Therefore, make sure to wipe down your light bar from time to time. Pay special attention to the back of the lighting device, especially if you have recently driven your vehicle on a dusty road.

Heat is one of the biggest enemies of LED light bars. As such, be sure to keep yours cool at all times to make the most of its unique capabilities.