Off-Road IR light bar

[Riclyo]

So out of the 5 Tendelux BI8’s I’ve purchased in 20’-21’ none are left standing. I have 1 BI18 (22’) & 2 DI20B’s (23’) still in operation.

I started looking for more of a long lasting solution even though I’m finding more and more places I’m able to use the full color cams. That’s when I came across THIS to give a try.

If it works out I’m wondering if the company would be open to doing different optics to give it more of a hybrid throw/flood mix. They do sell a 4 LED pod that you can get a spot or floor pattern in so I might just give those a go to see what kind of pattern they produce.

 

[bigredfish]

I'm on my 2nd one of these at one location since 2018?2019?

Amazon.com

But for $44 I'm good with 3-4 years service

 

[Riclyo]

I'm on my 2nd one of these at one location since 2018?2019?

Amazon.com

But for $44 I'm good with 3-4 years service

It just sucks cause since I had 4 but am up to 5 IR units I feel like I’m always replacing 1 every year now. I’m not doing that with cameras (at least not due to failure) so it be nice if the illuminators lasted as long as them even at a higher cost.

 

[tigerwillow1]

Was moisture intrusion the cause of your failures? I bought a few Tendelux illuminators and all had moisture intrusion after a couple of years,. My theory is that the sealing gaskets shrank. They were all repairable, only one time because I think they'll have to be destroyed to open them up again because of all the RTV I used. My Cmvision illuminators have gone failure free much longer but I've had a couple of problems after 6 to 7 years. With these it was the photocell that went. I was able to scavenge replacements from other brand illuminators that lasted a year at best. (The only Cmvision model I use is their round 4-watter, and my experience is only for that model. I had a bad experience with a different model from them.)

 

[Revo2Maxx]

I have some very costly IR and White light for CCTV and people say they cost to much. But a lot of mine are as old as 2015 and some others that I bought not because I had to replace but I needed more in 2018 and 19. For the cost people could by lower priced ones and replace them a few times. But if they are high up or in area you don't go to much then quality that won't break down is important.. But not many people want to pay 300 to 800 for a IR or White Light Blaster lol..

 

[CCTVCam]

Unless it's sensor controlled, I think 1/2 the issue is the sheer number of hours you're putting on these. If you say an average of 10hrs a night year round (less in summer more in winter), then you're looking at @ 3,650 hrs a year. For your ones bought in 2020/21, that's around 3.5 yrs or nearly 13,000 hrs. That's probably the lifespan of the LED's. So the loss of those lights is probably just natural attrition.

As for the light bar, the only issue I can see is cooling. It probably isn't designed for night long use, night after night. However, you won't know unless you try. I'd be suprised to see much difference in lifespan though given the above.

 

[Riclyo]

Was moisture intrusion the cause of your failures? I bought a few Tendelux illuminators and all had moisture intrusion after a couple of years,. My theory is that the sealing gaskets shrank. They were all repairable, only one time because I think they'll have to be destroyed to open them up again because of all the RTV I used. My Cmvision illuminators have gone failure free much longer but I've had a couple of problems after 6 to 7 years. With these it was the photocell that went. I was able to scavenge replacements from other brand illuminators that lasted a year at best. (The only Cmvision model I use is their round 4-watter, and my experience is only for that model. I had a bad experience with a different model from them.)

So initially it was a unit would die from water intrusion and another would smoke a power supply so I’d just switch them. The one that died from water intrusion I opened up but it seemed to have a black almost silicone potting around the emitter so I figure there wasn’t much in the form of repair. It was fun to take apart though. Then on out I’d check power supplies and just chuck lights that themselves failed.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm using 11 of the round cmvision 4 watters, and I keep a spare for fast swapping. I lose one of the eleven about once a year and have a pretty high repair success rate. With these, and I assume most or all others, replacing an actual IR emitter isn't feasible because of the way they're attached to a metal plate for drawing away the heat. This model costs around $20 so even if I had to buy a new one every year that's not too bad. The big hassle is dealing with the weatherproofed connections, often while on a ladder. I started with 4 or 5 brands of emitters, and only the IR-40 has lasted over the years. The big thing I miss about Tendelux is the dark face, which I wish all of them used. It's kind of an elephant-in-the-room good feature.

 

[Riclyo]

Unless it's sensor controlled, I think 1/2 the issue is the sheer number of hours you're putting on these. If you say an average of 10hrs a night year round (less in summer more in winter), then you're looking at @ 3,650 hrs a year. For your ones bought in 2020/21, that's around 3.5 yrs or nearly 13,000 hrs. That's probably the lifespan of the LED's. So the loss of those lights is probably just natural attrition.

As for the light bar, the only issue I can see is cooling. It probably isn't designed for night long use, night after night. However, you won't know unless you try. I'd be suprised to see much difference in lifespan though given the above.

So these lights have built in photocells and the outlets I plug them into are smart controlled so they’ll be on 12/day max.

The off-road light bar I linked has a nice aluminum finned housing for heat dissipation.
Also its power requirements are
Listed as 12v @ 1.3A and 24v @ 670ma which doesn’t seem like a huge draw if I can keep the voltage at 24-36v which it’s rated for. I also keep this on a smart plug with a dusk to dawn schedule. I’ll give it check one morning and see how hot it’s really getting.

 

[CCTVCam]

My guestimate number of hours used was based on 10hrs a day average, so less than your target. As I said above, having led's running continuously for this long probably equals their realistic lifespan. Any differences in claimed lifespan maybe attribituted to lab vs real world conditions ie humidity, condensation, extreme heat, extreme cold, constant heating then cooling cycles of night vs day, mains fluctuations etc. Maybe the light bars will be different. But for your previous flood lights, I don't think the time they lasted was unreasonable given they were on permanently all night. If I got 3-4yrs out of a flood light on permanently for 10+ hrs every night, I'd consider it a fair lifespan. Maybe it's just me. I wish you luck with the light bars & hope they do last longer but I can't really see any issue with the original lights lifespans given the task assigned to them.

 

[Revo2Maxx]

Well I will admit that the ones I use isn't only day/night controlled, You can get a Remote and change the output %. Turn it on or off, Make it controlled by switch and has very nice heat sink..

Most of the lower cost IR or White LED lights miss something that the ones I have has in them and that is a Air Vent. This lets the pressure out when the light heat builds up and after the light is off and cooling off the vent slowly lets fresh air back into the LED. This keeps out water and dust and is built by design to keep the LED light safe from expansion issues that can happen with sealed LEDS. If there is no good way in or out it can build up heat and damage electronics, seals and or even the cover..

But again with higher quality IR or White LED will come with higher cost for the lights. They have some with 1 year, 3 year and 5 year warranty.

To be fair they are kind of pricy. Just like a nice Fog light or Off road light if you want quality you will pay more for it..

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=Iluminar&sts=ma

 

[Riclyo]

My guestimate number of hours used was based on 10hrs a day average, so less than your target. As I said above, having led's running continuously for this long probably equals their realistic lifespan. Any differences in claimed lifespan maybe attribituted to lab vs real world conditions ie humidity, condensation, extreme heat, extreme cold, constant heating then cooling cycles of night vs day, mains fluctuations etc. Maybe the light bars will be different. But for your previous flood lights, I don't think the time they lasted was unreasonable given they were on permanently all night. If I got 3-4yrs out of a flood light on permanently for 10+ hrs every night, I'd consider it a fair lifespan. Maybe it's just me. I wish you luck with the light bars & hope they do last longer but I can't really see any issue with the original lights lifespans given the task assigned to them.

I install lights for a living and if people were only getting the 3 years I’ve been getting from these they’d be looking for alternatives as well.

I realize for the cost 3 years doesn’t seem bad but if you take into account I’ve had led screw in bulbs in my exterior fixtures running the same schedule and haven’t needed to replace them.

I also have rab led puck floodlights that are dusk to dawn and haven’t been needed to replace them. (1 set from 2019 and the other 2020)

Side note I checked the heat output on the off-road light bar this morning and it was barely warm to the touch after being on for 9 hours.