Auxiliary Lights: Light Works
be aimed to match your pickup headlight’s highbeam and centered down the middle of the road
for maximum efficiency.
BUILD QUALITY
You purchase quality work tools that last and
you’ve spent a good bit of money on the pickup
you’re driving. Do the same when you buy lights.
Leave the cheap plastic and pot-metal models to
those who don’t depend on their pickups as part
of their daily work needs.
Strong housings that will not rust or come
apart under tough conditions are a must. So are
lights with wiring kits made from heavy-duty
components. Check out the light’s warranty, too:
The longer the warranty, the better the product.
Now that we’ve shed a little light on the topic
of auxiliary lighting, we’ve included an assortment of the newest products to consider adding
to your pickup – or fleet of pickups. Mix, match
and enjoy the new view. (You can also get more
lighting information by going to
propickupmag.com.)
WATTS BETTER
Some manufacturers lead buyers
to believe there’re only two terms
that matters when it comes to the
comes to the
t lights: watts
ts
quality of aftermarket lights: watts
th are very
very
and candlepower. Both are very
misleading.
sureWatts is only a measure(Volts
Vo
ment of current draw (Volts
he
he
x Amps= Watts); it’s the
nt of
automotive equivalent of
how many gallons of fuelfuelses
e
per-hour an engine uses
allon
l
– not the miles-per-gallon
kup dep
the engine in the pickup dehe road.
ad
livers driving down the road.
-watt HI d i
tt HID drivFor example, a 100-watt HID drivffective lighting
g
ing light is far more effective lighting
l 100
tt
up the road than a single 100-watt
light bulb sitting on the bumper. The
difference is in how the bulb’s light
output is focused, which brings up
another misleading marketing term:
candlepower or candela.
Candlepower (aka candela) is an
antiquated measure
qa
antiquated measurement of light
output at the source (radiance) and
put the
output at th source
h not i to
has nothing to do with how that
has nothing
ligh illum
light illuminates an object.
light il
Lu
Lume on the other
Lumens,
ha
hand, is a true measurehand, i
ment of a light’s effiment
ciency at lighting up an
ciency
objec at a specified disje
object
ta
tance and is fast becomtance
in the
ing the world standard
ing
fo light
for light comparisons. The
for
higher the
higher the lumens, the more
higher
useabl light being produced.
useable light b
useable ht
So when you find
So when you find auxiliary lights to
he
fit
fit your needs th t consume the same
d that
or less power, exhibit similar design
qualities, and deliver a higher lumen
output than a comparable model, you
know which to buy. –BWS
?
propickupmag.com PROPICKUP 17