I had two of these...

http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.as...=0&partID=3791

... lights on my truck that I recently sold.

Can anyone compare the light output of those lights to the Vision X Xmitter LEDs?

I looked it up online and found that lumens/12.57=candlepower, but the KC's show like 285,000 candlepower and that seems like more output than the Xmitters, but it can't be...

Can anyone out there help?

 

You're comparing apples and orchards. Start here for a better understanding of what's going on:

Lux versus Lumen Wikipedia Article

 

Ok, now I'm really confused.

Can anyone out there tell me if the how many of the KC Slimlites would be equivalent to a 6" Xmitter? 2:1? 3:1? 4:1?

 

I'll try to better explain what was in the Wikipedia article:

Your question is basically: How bright will the road/etc be with each of these products?

The output of the Xmitter is given in lumens. That is a measure of light output. It is not a measure of how brightly lit an object at a certain distance would be. If the Xmitter has a very broad beam, then the object might not be very brightly lit. If it has a pencil beam, then the object might be lit very brightly. Think about how the intensity of a Mag-Lite changes as the beam width is adjusted. It's the same principle, because the output (in lumens) of the Mag-Lite bulb remains unchanged even though the brightness of the path ahead changes (some areas becoming brighter as others become dimmer). You do not want to know what the Xmitter light output is, because you really want to know how brightly lit the road/etc will be. But that depends on how wide the beam is, and Xmitter hasn't provided you that kernel of info.

For the KC Slimlites, the measure that's available is in foot-candles. This is a useful measurement for how brightly lit the road/etc will be. But, it doesn't tell you how much light the KCs are putting out (which would be lumens). So, KC is telling you what you want to know: How bright will the road/etc in front of you be.

The best way to get the answer to your question is for someone to take a light meter and measure, at the same distance, the light output from each of these lamps/arrays. But, even that could be misleading, for the KCs might provide brighter illumination in the center of the road, while sacrificing illumination on the sides (thus measuring higher in the center, while dimmer on the sides, than the Xmitters).

Does that help?

 

Your question is a very hard one to answer outright.
Lumens are a measurment of luminous flux, and this is the total number of packets of light produced by a light source. A lighted kitchen is about 400,000 lumens
Watts on the other hand is a measurment of how much power is consumed by driving the light force.
LED's, which I'm sure is what you are talking about, is a very bright light sorce for the number of watts consumed to drive them. Unlike a long range driving light of about 80 watts that is focused and projected by a housing with a reflector in the rear, the LED is not focused or projected, and therefore although the light is more intense, and brighter up close, it is diminished with distance,
In other words LEDs much like a flourescent light can be used to make a room very bright, however the light stays within a given area, and that is the room. At night in a lighted kitchen you can see very well within the room, however it is quite hard to look out the window and see the back of your yard with the kitchen light lit. On the other hand one standing at the back of your yard looking into the kitchen can see the kitchen very well. This may not be a good example because the light within the kitchen is reflected from the cieling and walls, that therefore stays within the room.
There are light bars made for vehicles, and they are made in such a manor that they produce much light. It is the shear number of the LEDs that are housed within the bar that makes them so bright, but since the LEDs are not focused or projected, again the light will diminish with distance.
Emergency vehicles use LEDs mounted within lightbars, not so much for the drivers ability to see any great distance, but rather for approaching drivers to be able to see them.

 

Mark & Lorrel, those write-ups make it alot clearer now. I see what you're saying.

I'm thinking now it might be good to have a mixture of the XMitters and KC's (or similar) so as to have some long range lights as well as the LEDs for closer up.

Does that make sense?

 

It does, as long as the Xmitters are putting out the broad light beam that you want. Of course, there are KC Slimlites that have a broader pattern up close, if you preferred (for aesthetic reasons only) to have four or more lights that were identical. And, all of this depends on what kind of off-road night driving you will be doing (since I expect all of this will be illegal for road operation where you live).

I find that the road in front of me is well-lit when I turn on my fogs, low beams and a pair of KC SlimLite 100 Watt driving lights. Lots of light in front, and plenty of light down the road. That combo is, of course, illegal for street use in Oklahoma (and even illegal to have wired to run that way, though no one is checking).

 

Thanks, Mark. That's helped alot. Just one more thing for me to contemplate until I get my JK.

 

I'll definitely try to get a look at the LEDs before I buy, but I'm not sure how tough that'll be.

Either way, I've got a while.

 

Wow, just exchanged a few emails the past couple of days with one of the guys from Vision X.

Check out these pics.

Apparently, the owner is a retired 4-star General. Must be nice to have that kinda retired pay. He probably makes about twice what I do as Active Duty! Heck, maybe more.