Let there be light, and there was AR32'ssteemCreated with Sketch.

in #cars5 years ago

Most of us take our vision for granted; I mean we don't sit around at cafés talking about how lucky we are that we have the gift of sight do we? I don't anyway, and I've never heard anyone doing it either. Seeing is important though and for me is the sense I would be most reluctant to lose.

One of my hobbies is off-roading (four wheel driving) and I do it a lot. To see this great country (Australia) one really needs a four wheel drive; Sure, you can drive around in a car but to get to the truly great spots a four wheel drive vehicle is required. Of course, taking a standard four wheel drive into the outback is not going to get you very far either and a certain amount of accessories are required. I have $25,000 of accessories fitted to my truck, all of which are required. It's debatable as to just what accessory needs to go on first however for many it's driving lights.

To the left you can see my pick up from the front. You'll notice three items on the front of it being the bull bar, CB UHF antenna and the red-ringed spotlights. Driving from place to place, especially in rural or outback Australia, is best done in the daylight hours as animal strikes at dawn, dusk and night time are quite common. Hitting a kangaroo whilst doing 100km will mess your day up for sure, will probably destroy the vehicle and could potentially cause serious injury or death. However what happens if driving at night is unavoidable? Delay's happen when travelling and sometimes one is forced to drive after dark. That's when driving lights are essential as the vehicle's standard lights are not designed to penetrate into the gloom effectively. Not at long enough range anyway.

I have AR32 Intensity spotlights mounted as you can see. They come from Australian off-road accessory company ARB. Mine are spot beam rather than spread beam as I wanted long-range penetration. The spot is quite a loose beam so it throws the light to the sides also. At 1000m they will produce about 1 lux of light which is the amount of light a person needs to read a newspaper by. Of course we don't really need to see 1000m (1km) away so at 300m the light intensity is about 10 lux. Ample at that range.

The lights mount right to the bull bar and offer a good amount of adjustability as per the lower right image; The mounting bracket is a special design which helps minimise vibration. They are also bolted to the bar three times via a central bolt and two outboard pinning bolts. This means they do not move once set in place. The lights are LED and the AR32's have 32 of them each producing some 8200 raw lumens of light. That's a lot. The spot lights are submersible to 3 metres and have been designed to withstand the heavy vibration generated by rough roads. They are rugged.

A little while ago I did a test out in the bush to demonstrate the light difference from standard to the AR32 Intensity's. It's a little difficult to demonstrate the true effectiveness in this way (not in person) however you might get an idea I guess. Below to the right you'll see an image with the AR32 spot lights on. Can you see that hotspot on the middle of the track? If you look at the central image that's the high beams alone and on the left the factory standard beams. I have not moved the truck between shots so you can see how much more is visible as the light intensity increases.

The spot lights are designed for long range use and due to the slight incline on the road the beams are not reaching out and down the road as they normally would causing that hot spot in the middle of the track.

In real life the difference is night and day with the spots on. The beam is loose enough to spread decent light to drive by at closer range and still punchy enough to penetrate to over a few hundred metres so when travelling at speed the light illuminates whatever may be in one's path. Unlike HID lights the LED's don't need a warm-up period. Flick the switch and they are on, flick it back and they are off giving the driver great control especially when there are oncoming vehicles close by.

It's the law here that driving lights are wired to the high beam switch meaning that they will only come on when the high beam factory lights are turned on. I have an independent rocker switch to activate them however I leave the switch permanently turned on. Due to the wire-to-high-beam-rule the spots will only come on when I flick the high beams.

They are great lights, I believe the best money can buy in Australia currently, however there are a few downsides; Not so much negatives as such, just little things that are enough to annoy.

Firstly they are very bright. I mean incredibly bright which is great most of the time however I have found that they illuminate the reflective road signs way too much. The light reflects off the road side signs right back to the eye and if driving for long periods, especially when tired, it can be a strain on the eyes. I have purchased a set of ARB blue lens covers to fit over the lights to help reduce that glare a little which helps.

The fact they are so bright also means they must be dipped a lot earlier when vehicles approach from the other direction. I have been flashed by oncoming vehicles' head lights as a warning to dip them from almost 2000m away which means I then have another 2 kilometres to travel on normal beams risking an animal strike before passing that car in the opposite direction. Oh, just for the record, I don't suggest high-beaming someone at close range if they happen to have a set of these...They are blinding at close range so you'll probably find you come off second best.

Secondly they are very expensive at $1844AU fitted. That includes the wiring loom of course however it's a lot of money considering a decent light-bar can be fitted for around $900-$1300 and HID spot lights for around $1000-$1200. They are a premium product at a premium price and for me they are worth the money considering how often I'm out in the countryside in the dark.

Trying to drive at night without adequate light pushing out in front of the vehicle is just plain stupid, especially in the outback. There's too many things to hit, all of which can be potentially very destructive. Kangaroos, emus, wild pigs, wombats, camels and even tyre-carcasses discarded by big rigs and their trailers can destroy a vehicle. That's why it's best to travel in outback and rural areas during daylight. It's not always possible though and that's when driving lights come into their own.

One doesn't need to spend the sort of money I did, I actually worked for the company (ARB) when I accessorised my truck so received hefty discounts on the purchase and fitting prices of everything otherwise I would not have been able to afford to put all these things on my truck so quickly. Having said that if you're driving at night in remote areas spot lights and a decent bull bar are essential accessories and may just save your life.

Sort:  

Very enlightening Galen.🤣

Posted using Partiko Android

I knew someone would say something like this. :)

Congratulations @galenkp! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You made more than 8000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 9000 upvotes.

Click here to view your Board of Honor
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

To support your work, I also upvoted your post!

Support SteemitBoard's project! Vote for its witness and get one more award!

You got a 21.86% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @galenkp!

@ocdb is a non-profit bidbot for whitelisted Steemians, current max bid is 15 SBD and the respective amount in Steem.
Check our website https://thegoodwhales.io/ for the whitelist, queue and delegation info. Join our Discord channel for more information.

If you like what @ocd does, consider voting for ocd-witness through SteemConnect or on the Steemit Witnesses page. :)

What gets me is people blinding me with these super bright lights. Then you have a moment when you literally go blind as my eyes adjust after they turn them off. That makes for a very dangerous time just for some one else's so called need to drive on main roads with them on. Some actually turn the high been off with enough distance not to be of much problem. People need to consider others as most just don't seem to care. I spoke with one fellow how took his LED lights off his vehicle as he said that he would go temporally blind him self after dipping his high beems with the LED lights.

Posted using Partiko Android

Yeah, some people are idiots I guess. Yet, others are not.

Posted using Partiko Android

Very true mate very true. Stay safe out there with all those idiots driving around. :)

Posted using Partiko Android

I rarely drive on the road at night in a situation I could use my spot lights. They're more for use on the dirt when I'm out and about off the black top. Night time off-roading is great fun. Even easy, day time tracks, take on a whole new aspect under lights. Plus, when I go culling I always have to drive at night. The spotties are great for that.

So many just seem to have to use these super bright lights. Were I live we have lots of hills and corners and you can see these vehicles coming just by the light glow over the trees etc. You can sort of prepare for them coming round a corner or over the hill though it still blinds you. I guess they cannot even notice other vehicles with standard lighting as there's over power them. Yes I do like night time off roading done it on quad bikes and my 4WDs I have had. They are the times that they should use them not so much on road.

Posted using Partiko Android

Yeah, you're right, often their lights are so bright they can't see on-comers. To be honest the AR32's are brighter than they need to be and go further too.

I think a bit of sense needs to come into play but often it doesn't.

Posted using Partiko Android

If they don't be sensible they may end up being totally illegal to use on road.

Posted using Partiko Android

Agreed.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70601.40
ETH 3576.96
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.75