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From the Desk of "The King of Chrome." |
“Chrome will get you home and LEDs will light the way” is something you can hear me say daily. In fact, I even have this phrase printed by my desk, and it could be part of the reason why I have been nicknamed the “King of Chrome” around my office. As Team Run Smart is all about ways to run your business smarter, I can’t recommend drivers spend the added expense for Chrome enhancements to your truck, but there is justification for the spend of LED lights. No, not adding chicken lights, but replacing the incandescent or standard lights on your truck and trailer with LED lights can benefit you for the long haul.
The most common objection for purchasing LED lights is the price. The price to replace an incandescent lamp is about $5, while LEDs run between $10-20. The price is an investment upfront that will save you money from all of these benefits:
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Life span. An incandescent lamp will typically burn out within 1 year. LED’s have an average life of 100,000 hours. Because LEDs use 1/10th the amperage of an incandescent lamp, the main reason you would have to replace an LED light is from external damage.
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No Inoperative Lamps. When LED lights do come to the end of their life, they become less bright and do not burn out suddenly like incandescent lights. This gives you time to notice the lights getting dimmer and replace the light before its burns out. LEDs prevent you from having an inoperative lamp, which will help you avoid being pulled over and getting a CSA violation.
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Warranty. Any internal failure, or if the light fails to meet its life expectancy, is covered with your warranty that comes standard with purchase. Manufacturers bank on the fact that most people throw away or loose their warranty paperwork. The key to taking advantage of the warranty is to keep your paperwork in your truck with you.
Safety. Another benefit of LED lamps is their significantly faster turn-on time than conventional incandescent lamps. This faster turn-on time provides a safety benefit to the vehicle following a truck using faster brake lights in situations requiring fast braking responses. Two UMTRI studies found that LED signals provide a braking response time advantage between 170 and 200 ms under favorable lighting conditions and up to 300 ms under adverse lighting conditions (e.g., viewing at a distance with high-intensity illumination on the lamp surface). Note that a 200 ms improvement in braking response time is equivalent to a 19.1 feet reduction in stopping distance at a speed of 65 MPH. Imagine how many accidents owner-operators could avoid if the vehicles behind them had an extra 19 feet of stopping distance?
Now if you are going to add chicken lights, and I’m not saying you should, even though they do look really cool, you want to make sure to use LED lamps and to do the wiring properly. If you are going to invest in LEDs, keep the wiring secured. If the wiring is not done properly, the LEDs will not be covered on your warranty. An easy and efficient way to do this is to purchase panel sets. These run about $150-$250 and include the panel, lights and wire harness. The panel will keep the wires neat and organized.
Have LEDs light your way and you will be driving smarter for the long haul.