Halogen or LED beacons?

[UTV Products]

In the past, we've had many customers say that LED beacons aren't as bright as halogen bulbs in the day. And a year ago, we'd agree with you. However, we have put a lot into our development over the last 12 months and the results are LED beacons brighter than any halogen out there. We've also spent resources on creating beacons compatible with CAN bus-monitored machines, meaning the likes of John Deere and Fendt owners can also benefit from an LED upgrade without worrying about error codes.

See below some of our new range that outshines the old halogen:
UTV615 - Ultra High-Intensity Amber Beacon
UTV614 - https://utvproducts.co.uk/product/pole-mounted-beacon-high-output/
UTV613 - https://utvproducts.co.uk/product/pole-mounted-beacon-amber-canbus-error-free-jd-r-series-fendt/ (our CAN bus-monitored beacon)

If you want to see these beacons in action drop the team a message ([email protected]) and we'll be more than happy to share some pictures/videos sent in by customers who have made the bright choice moving to LED beacons.

 

[ACEngineering]

In the past, we've had many customers say that LED beacons aren't as bright as halogen bulbs in the day. And a year ago, we'd agree with you. However, we have put a lot into our development over the last 12 months and the results are LED beacons brighter than any halogen out there. We've also spent resources on creating beacons compatible with CAN bus-monitored machines, meaning the likes of John Deere and Fendt owners can also benefit from an LED upgrade without worrying about error codes.

See below some of our new range that outshines the old halogen:
UTV615 - Ultra High-Intensity Amber Beacon
UTV614 - https://utvproducts.co.uk/product/pole-mounted-beacon-high-output/
UTV613 - https://utvproducts.co.uk/product/pole-mounted-beacon-amber-canbus-error-free-jd-r-series-fendt/ (our CAN bus-monitored beacon)

If you want to see these beacons in action drop the team a message ([email protected]) and we'll be more than happy to share some pictures/videos sent in by customers who have made the bright choice moving to LED beacons.

Whats the expected battery run time for UTV620 beacon??

 

[UTV Products]

Whats the expected battery run time for UTV620 beacon??

The run time is about 8 hours, then you can recharge with the cable it is supplied with

 

[Muck Spreader]

Bought an LED beacon about a year ago only to find that is doesn't seem to work on either of my JD's or NH but is OK on the Case. I assume that not all socket posts are the same?

 

[daveydiesel1]

Do they interfere with the radio

 

[ACEngineering]

Bought an LED beacon about a year ago only to find that is doesn't seem to work on either of my JD's or NH but is OK on the Case. I assume that not all socket posts are the same?

Sockets on beacons all tend to vary in quality tbh, some are total trash! dont seem to matter if its fag lighter or pin or pole mounted had duff ones of all of them and the sockets.

BUT now it seams on newer stuff you cant just put a normal beacon on it has to be suited to CAN bus aswell

 

[David1985]

Sockets on beacons all tend to vary in quality tbh, some are total trash! dont seem to matter if its fag lighter or pin or pole mounted had duff ones of all of them and the sockets.

BUT now it seams on newer stuff you cant just put a normal beacon on it has to be suited to CAN bus aswell

They call this progress

 

[Kidds]

Are these new led beacons going to be insanely bright and cause epilepsy, migraine and blindness to other road users?

 

[Timbo]

Sockets on beacons all tend to vary in quality tbh, some are total trash! dont seem to matter if its fag lighter or pin or pole mounted had duff ones of all of them and the sockets.

BUT now it seams on newer stuff you cant just put a normal beacon on it has to be suited to CAN bus aswell

It's not "can bus compatible" there is no such thing. The Canbus is used to communicate between modules, not end users / loads like beacons.

What it actually means is the LED beacon presents a similar load to the controller as would a filament beacon - alot of loads are now switched by a solid state power distribution unit - not directly via a switch / relay - this gives the ability for the controller to monitor each circuit for a short to ground, over or under current, or an open circuit - and switch off that circuit if something outside its parameters is present on the circuit..

A regular beacon has a 55w bulb + motor, so around 2.5ohms resistive load. If you plonk an LED beacon on there, it may be 10w - the controller will see this as an open circuit and in any case outside of its programmed parameters, and wont switch it on. They do this by sending a bias voltage down the wire to monitor the circuit, typically a current limited 2.5v. A DVM will show this bias voltage, since it has a very high internal resistance. If you attempt to put any load on the circuit eg a test lamp, the bias voltage will drop to 0. The controller will be set up to be happy with typically a load of 40 - 70watts for a beacon circuit.

On many later JD's for instance, the owner can change the parameters in the controller themselves to either 1 beacon (60w) 2 beacons (120w) or no current monitoring to suit the beacon(s) they may wish to use.

Long post but hope this helps ppl understand what's going on.

 

[ACEngineering]

It's not "can bus compatible" there is no such thing. The Canbus is used to communicate between modules, not end users / loads like beacons.

What it actually means is the LED beacon presents a similar load to the controller as would a filament beacon - alot of loads are now switched by a solid state power distribution unit - not directly via a switch / relay - this gives the ability for the controller to monitor each circuit for a short to ground, over or under current, or an open circuit - and switch off that circuit if something outside its parameters is present on the circuit..

A regular beacon has a 55w bulb + motor, so around 2.5ohms resistive load. If you plonk an LED beacon on there, it may be 10w - the controller will see this as an open circuit and in any case outside of its programmed parameters, and wont switch it on. They do this by sending a bias voltage down the wire to monitor the circuit, typically a current limited 2.5v. A DVM will show this bias voltage, since it has a very high internal resistance. If you attempt to put any load on the circuit eg a test lamp, the bias voltage will drop to 0. The controller will be set up to be happy with typically a load of 40 - 70watts for a beacon circuit.

On many later JD's for instance, the owner can change the parameters in the controller themselves to either 1 beacon (60w) 2 beacons (120w) or no current monitoring to suit the beacon(s) they may wish to use.

Long post but hope this helps ppl understand what's going on.

Well yes thats what I meant that you can't just plonk a beacon on anymore. Although I wasn't aware some maybe able to select and alter the type used in a menu.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Think I might just stick to bulbs and motors.

 

[UTV Products]

Are these new led beacons going to be insanely bright and cause epilepsy, migraine and blindness to other road users?

No, they are all fully compliant and UK/Ireland road legal and hold an R65 certificate for each flash pattern

 

[UTV Products]

It's not "can bus compatible" there is no such thing. The Canbus is used to communicate between modules, not end users / loads like beacons.

What it actually means is the LED beacon presents a similar load to the controller as would a filament beacon - alot of loads are now switched by a solid state power distribution unit - not directly via a switch / relay - this gives the ability for the controller to monitor each circuit for a short to ground, over or under current, or an open circuit - and switch off that circuit if something outside its parameters is present on the circuit..

A regular beacon has a 55w bulb + motor, so around 2.5ohms resistive load. If you plonk an LED beacon on there, it may be 10w - the controller will see this as an open circuit and in any case outside of its programmed parameters, and wont switch it on. They do this by sending a bias voltage down the wire to monitor the circuit, typically a current limited 2.5v. A DVM will show this bias voltage, since it has a very high internal resistance. If you attempt to put any load on the circuit eg a test lamp, the bias voltage will drop to 0. The controller will be set up to be happy with typically a load of 40 - 70watts for a beacon circuit.

On many later JD's for instance, the owner can change the parameters in the controller themselves to either 1 beacon (60w) 2 beacons (120w) or no current monitoring to suit the beacon(s) they may wish to use.

Long post but hope this helps ppl understand what's going

Yes exactly. On some machines this is the case, some machines send a digital packet of data so they know exactly which circuit is faulty.

 

[UTV Products]

Think I might just stick to bulbs and motors.

never

 

[James]

I haven't seen a led beacon yet that I preferred over the halogen version.

 

[UTV Products]

I haven't seen a led beacon yet that I preferred over the halogen version.

You are right and it's something that we have been keeping in mind.

We wanted a beacon that can better a halogen's performance in daylight. As typically LED beacons have used high quantities of low power LED chips which in turn means they achieve no distance in daylight.

The 16 x 5W high output LED chips in the UTV615 achieves this quite nicely.

 

[daveydiesel1]

You are right and it's something that we have been keeping in mind.

We wanted a beacon that can better a halogen's performance in daylight. As typically LED beacons have used high quantities of low power LED chips which in turn means they achieve no distance in daylight.

The 16 x 5W high output LED chips in the UTV615 achieves this quite nicely.

Still doesnt look right, imo to look right it needs to have a rotating mirror going round the led in the middle