[fonzy]

What`s everyone's opinion on these lights?? Which one is brighter for field work where dust can stick on the lens. This is on a cane harvester elevator that currently has halogen lights that once a bit of dust sticks to the lens they are like candles. I know a few guys that have put LED light bars(6"Long) on there but the harvester currently has a few HID`s on the cab roof facing forward and I`m very impressed with the light out put. Also probly a dumb question but is Xenon Lights just another name for HID or are they a different beast??? Thanks

 

[redline73]

Having run both LED and HID's my vote is for LED. There is lots of radio interference that happens when I turn on the HID's at night. The ballast on HID's tend to mess up radio signals. The LED's take less power to run and are just as bright with zero interference.

 

[birchcreekfarms]

Led for me

I like the led light better as well, have had both on tractors and as backup lights for trucks. The hid's take a while to warm up to full output every time they are switched on, the LED's are instant. That is comparing both of the ones A&I offers. The led comes in a nice aluminum housing that seems quite durable whereas the hid's are in plastic. The hid's also require more room to mount due to the balast being incorporated into the housing

 

[SWFarmService]

Pros and cons to both, optics are what set the two apart, I run both to balance everything out and some led's will also screw up the radio, cheaper bars over 8" especially, there is some cheep noise insulators on eBay somewhere

 

[fonzy]

There is no cheaper solution that adding a HID bulb and ballast into an existing housing you have. The optics of the lens completely determine how much output you experience. In general most HIDs put out far more light than LEDs, because most LEDs are extremely expensive to buy that have the output quality of a HID. Most certainly you can get LEDs that equal HIDs, but you will probably spend quite a bit of money. You can upgrade a good light housing to HID for $35, so they are very inexpensive. LEDs can be great for lighting a small area, but if you are looking for a light that shines a half mile down the road or lights an enormous area getting LEDs to do this is substantially more that HIDs generally speaking.

Mate I like your thinking! If I could leave the existing housing there and just change the lens would be good.
Where do you buy the bulbs to suit a JD housing?? And what is ballast???? sorry for the dumb question. Cheers

 

[ronski]

I've got lights from larsenlights.com and have been very happy with them. They have https://www.larsenlights.com/tractor-combine-hid-kits-all-in-one kits for your housing. (But after you buy a set you'll hate the factory lights on all your other equipment)

 

[redline73]

There is no cheaper solution that adding a HID bulb and ballast into an existing housing you have. The optics of the lens completely determine how much output you experience.

I wont argue that HID's arent bright, because they are. But how do you solve the problem with the ballasts? I converted the factory halogens in my Gleaner and were easy to convert to HID, I just dont have a radio when I switch on the lights. How did you solve that problem?

 

[SWFarmService]

I got some noise canclers to put in with mine but we have upgraded most of our decks now and use Sirius radio, life is sweet now

 

[farmallman1949]

I'm in favor of the LED lights myself. The main reason being the electrical load that the HID lights can put on an already stressed system especially something like a combine, silage chopper, or even a cane harvester. The only reason I mention those machine is because a lot of the machine functions are electric over hydraulic and then you add things like yield monitors, guidance systems, auto steer system, etc. you will probably run into a lot of electrical issues with that piece of equipment.

 

[alfred123]

we have both on our 4wds the hid are a little brighter but the lights tend to die after a while new more expensive lights seem to do the same im told. CNH is always replacing ballasts im told. The LED lights are awesome less power draw we have a 30 in led bar on the one 4wd and 4 dually D2s from rigid industries they have been great low power draw almost as bright as hid and very reliable I vote for led

 

[farminflyboy]

You can get led bulbls that re pace halogen bulbs now, same as an hid and supposedly as bright...have a set on the bench waiting for installation.

 

[Northern Farmer]

A while back someone on here was talking about having installed the HID conversion kits for the row of lights in the front of the cab of a JD 9600 and had issues with the higher output watt version being hit and miss in "firing up" because of too much voltage drop with the massive amount of initial draw they take to get them going. Also possible circuit breaker tripping issues and again to get them up and running. That sort of cooled my enthusiasm a little over the idea of realizing the lights won't come on and certainly don't have time to mess around with issues like that when trying to get crop off in our narrow little window of opportunity. Of course that isn't to say it shouldn't be done but expect there are brands and wattages that would fit our JD's in this case better then going and overloading the system.

Farminflyboy, do you happen to have a link to these LED replacement bulbs for a halogen light housing ?

 

[farminflyboy]

Just google what ever bulb number you have and and led , they have them all over eBay and Amazon

 

[West Central]

A little off topic but switched a pole yard light and outside shop light to led and am very impressed. Have had both hid and led on equipment and the hid seems brighter. Mind you led has come along way recently.

 

[V876]

A little off topic but switched a pole yard light and outside shop light to led and am very impressed. Have had both hid and led on equipment and the hid seems brighter. Mind you led has come along way recently.

Was the pole light a retro fit or a new assembly.

 

[West Central]

Was the pole light a retro fit or a new assembly.

I replaced an existing yard light that had a high pressure Mercury bulb with a whole new assembly led.

 

[SWFarmService]

A while back someone on here was talking about having installed the HID conversion kits for the row of lights in the front of the cab of a JD 9600 and had issues with the higher output watt version being hit and miss in "firing up" because of too much voltage drop with the massive amount of initial draw they take to get them going. Also possible circuit breaker tripping issues and again to get them up and running. That sort of cooled my enthusiasm a little over the idea of realizing the lights won't come on and certainly don't have time to mess around with issues like that when trying to get crop off in our narrow little window of opportunity. Of course that isn't to say it shouldn't be done but expect there are brands and wattages that would fit our JD's in this case better then going and overloading the system. QUOTE]

yes they can be a bit finiky but I have found people that install them do half a$$ jobs of connecting wires, I soldier all the connections, and I have also found things that were a problem waiting to happen such as poor connections at starter, alternator, relays, on a 9600 the relay/fuse box is in the engine compartment witch is a long way to the cab through too small of wire to take the startup draw, they take an up to par wiring but the draw is not any higher of the halogen accept for startup. I have around 40-50 of them kits and 30-40 led light bars of various sizes and also have a few led replacement bulbs, the led bulbs work pretty good in the front of our 865B, not exceptional but a good improvement over halogen

 

[SouthernSK]

When looking at the specs of the HID lights there draw is low compared to a normal halogen that was put on tractors 10 years ago. We had added lots of aftermarket HID lights and love them. We have found they have low draw and 6-8 well placed HID lights can light your tractor up so it looks like a space ship 2 miles away because it is so bright.

 

[K-MAN]

I replaced an existing yard light that had a high pressure Mercury bulb with a whole new assembly led.

Where did you find that kit?

 

[chompy]

I just dont have a radio when I switch on the lights. How did you solve that problem?

Auxillary input and MP3 player . After listening to the same songs and news stories all day long, it's time to listen to some REAL entertainment once the sun goes down. Perhaps your radio stations don't suck as much as ours though .

I tried the ferrite rings, wrapping ballasts in alfoil, but couldn't detetct any difference. If listening to the radio is a huge priority for you, HID kit's are probably not the best option. Maybe not for all, but certainly with the ebay ones I've been buying.

Northernfarmer, HID kits not starting up first time in 9xx0 combines is not a big problem. Occasionaly, I might notice that one of the six hasn't started. Flick the lights off, flick them back on, and it fires straight up. No big deal. Have never tripped any breakers or fuses. There's nothing wrong with any connections - it's just a matter of voltage drop through the existing wiring when everything tries to start at once.

I recently fitted a set to a mate's 9600. Less than $100 Au to fit 6 lights, less than an hour to fit them all, and easily more then double the light. If you've been thinking about HID kits, you really should try it. You don't have a lot to lose. If you find that you can't possibly live without a radio at night, it's easy to swap back to the original bulbs - but I doubt you'd do that for long!