Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
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Drive Test The light of day LED headlamps aren't just brighter. They produce wider, more natural illumination. U .S. Highway 43 North out of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is a twisting, hilly bitch of a road with a sole redeeming quality: It's almost always devoid of traffic. And like most Southern backroads, it's also pitch black at night. In short, it's the perfect road for a late-night run in a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia to test out Truck Lite's new LED headlamps. Truck Lite is owned by Penske. So it was no surprise when I requested a demo truck to evaluate these new LED headlamps that my brand-new Cascadia By JACK ROBERTS was painted in that familiar Penske yellow. It also was no surprise that the truck was a Freightliner: Daimler Trucks North America announced in July that Truck Lite Custom LED headlamps would be standard on all Cascadia and Cascadia Evolution models. LED headlamps offer distinct advantages over conventional halogen designs, said Brad Van Riper, senior vice president and chief technical officer for Truck Lite: ENHANCED VISIBILITY. Thanks Jack Roberts Even on low beam, the lamps can light up a distant reflective sign and still provide good peripheral illumination. to finely tuned light-emitting chips with enhanced blue and white colors in the light spectrum, the lamps do an excellent job of lighting up the roadway. LONGER LIFE. Although Custom LED headlamps cost more than conventional lights, the return on investment is much greater due to longer lifespan, Van Riper notes. "We conducted extensive shock and vibration testing on this lamp design, and we have rated the lights at more than 30,000 hours of life – with no failures to vibration during those tests." LOW CURRENT DRAW. LEDs draw about 50 percent less energy than halogen headlights, Van Riper says. "That's more amperage available to recharge batteries or run auxiliary systems on the vehicle." SUSTAINED EFFECTIVENESS. The luminosity level of conventional headlamps fades with use, usually so slowly that drivers never notice until new lamps are installed. But LED lights remain almost as bright at the end of their service lives as they were at the beginning. My first impression was the color of the light emitted by the LED lamps. It's a natural white light, lacking the yellowish hues you see with conventional lamps. I was reminded of fluorescent lighting and found it easy on the eyes. Another trait was the wide coverage area. While a lot of headlights focus narrow beams of light that reveal little peripheral detail, these LED lamps give much wider illumination. For example, I could clearly see deer off to the side as opposed to seeing, at best, yellow eyes floating in the dark. Also striking is the greater range the Custom LEDs offer on the low-beam setting. Forward visibility is so enhanced 42 | Overdrive | November 2013 Test_Drive_1113.indd 42 10/29/13 11:36 PM