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We all know how critical it is to get your reversing lights positioned correctly for maximum performance, but when you add a trailer into the mix, it becomes even more important. In fact it is so important to get your lights positioned correctly that if you don't, you'll be creating worse conditions than without the lights.
To demonstrate this, we are going to take a Rigid Industries SR-M Diffusion pattern LED light and mount it in the four most popular positions on the back of the 4WD to show you what happens when you get it wrong... and most importantly when you get it right!
The first position is the most common (but very wrong) position down low on the bumper near the tow bar. This is by far the worst place you can mount your reverse lights, especially when using a trailer. Sure, the front of the trailer is illuminated slightly, but how is that helping you if you are trying to reverse? All it is doing is creating very dark shadows in exactly the place you don't want them, in view of your rear view mirrors.
The next most common mounting reverse mount position is in the centre of a roof rack. While there is certainly more light on display, it is being reflected directly back at you while producing shadows. This is a better place to mount your lights, but still far from ideal. Even without the trailer, you're not seeing the light to the sides of your vehicle.
After conducting these simple experiments, its easy to see that mounting a light in the centre of a vehicle isn't ideal. After moving the light on the top of the bumper, straight away we can see that this is a massive improvement. There is plenty of light out to the sides of the trailer, with fewer shadows. Even though this is a good result, there are improvements to be had!
Lets see what happens when we take the light and mount it in the same corner, but up high on the roof rack. As you can see, everything is now lit-up! There are no shadows or harsh fall away on the sides of the trailer, and the trailer itself is clearly illuminated from top to bottom. We can still see clearly where we are going when you look beyond the trailer too.
SR-M Diffusion Specifications:
- Watts: 11.25
- Amp Draw: 0.82
- LED's: 3
- Raw Lumens: 1125
- Lux @ 10m: 13.9
- Beam Distance: 74.4 m
- Peak Beam Intensity: 1,385 cd
So there you have it, proof that installing your lights in the right position makes an enormous difference. Not only to what you can see, but but to increase the overall safety of your vehicle when you get it right.
To see all LED Lighting options available for your vehicle click on this link If you need help with a custom application email – sales@snakeracing.com.au
Posted by EVAN SPENCE on Jun 23rd 2014