Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/119598
Maintenance matters air systems, truck lighting had changed little. Delivery schedules don't always fit conveniently between the hours of dawn and dusk, so lighting is as important as horsepower to the operation of a truck. Originally developed for turn, stop, tail and marker lamps, Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps are now being used throughout the truck. The LED technology uses far less power and greatly extends the lifespan over conventional incandescent lamps. Increased resistance to vibration is also a benefit. Because most LED lamp assemblies use several individual LEDs to generate light, a complete instantaneous failure is unlikely. While initial cost is higher than that of incandescent units, the total lifecycle cost, including replacement and labor cost, is competitive. One of the newer developments in LED lighting technology has been the addition of white LED lamps to the original red and amber offerings. This has allowed LEDs to move inside the truck or trailer for use in interior lighting fixtures. Compared to incandescent and fluorescent interior lighting, the LED lamps perform better in cold environments such as those found in refrigerated bodies/ trailers. More recently, LED technology has broken through the final frontier on trucks to become available for headlamp applications. With a projected life-span measured in decades rather than hours, the LED headlamps are said to provide daylight clarity in pre-dawn/afterdusk operations. Although LED lamps were quite expensive when they first debuted in stop/tail/turn applications – leading to a bit of a problem with theft of the lamps – mass production, wider acceptance, and economies of scale have driven down the purchase cost dramatically. When the LED's reduced maintenance costs are factored in, they are quickly eliminating any cost advantage once held by traditional incandescent lighting. OO / Owner operator/ April 2013 / / 52 OO 0413 edit.indd 52 3/19/13 2:20 PM