Freezing Truck-Lites

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

One drawback of the Truck-Lites is they freeze over. The other is the hot spots and then beam separation at the edges.

No amount of RainX helps.

What are you guys doing to get around this?

This is a few mins after I got out to de ice:

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1392575032.937610.jpg

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1392575069.952416.jpg

bl17z90 · Feb 16, 2014

Is the lense tough enough to have an ice scrapper ran over it?

Sudz · Feb 16, 2014

Voodoo Actual said:
One drawback of the Truck-Lites is they freeze over. The other is the hot spots and then beam separation at the edges.

did you consider these an upgrade when you installed them? what's the advantage over stock? brighter light? if they don't generate heat, then this will be an ongoing problem.

can't offer any help, just curious why you chose them.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

Sudz said:
did you consider these an upgrade when you installed them? what's the advantage over stock? brighter light? if they don't generate heat, then this will be an ongoing problem.

can't offer any help, just curious why you chose them.

I am in the middle of no where a lot of the time for work and leisure.

The factory lights are terrible - just not much light and certainly not enough to see game in your peripherals.

I have IPF 968's which are a nice light for the money but those are auxiliary lights not headlights.

The TL's throw a lot of light but they are not very good in snowy and icy conditions.

I also wanted to try LED's. Can't say that I'm happy with their performance.

They are an upgrade over the factory headlights. As long as you aren't in the mountains....using you Jeep.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

bl17z90 said:
Is the lense tough enough to have an ice scrapper ran over it?

It's a polycarbonate lens. It's strong enough but you are probably going to scratch them up pretty good. Especially if you have snow and ice on your lights that was kicked up from other vehicles.

MTG · Feb 16, 2014

They are performing exactly how I would expect them to perform in those conditions. For me the difference between the factory lights and trucklites is night and day (see what I did there?) and it was worth the switch. If I had to deal with it daily for an extended period of time I might consider an alternative. I'm not sure if it was ever deterimined if they were available commercially for the JK, but there was a post in here not too long ago about trucklites with a heating element in them.

Moochie · Feb 16, 2014

I love my Trucklites! One of the better mods I have done. It's a known fact that they don't generate any heat which can be an issue with snow and ice.
I'm glad I live in San Diego!

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

Moochie said:
I love my Trucklites! One of the better mods I have done. It's a known fact that they don't generate any heat which can be an issue with snow and ice.
I'm glad I live in San Diego!

If only it were cool 78 plowing through the snow lol.

They are nice. I find the hot spots and scattered beam at your peripherals pretty annoying though.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

MTG said:
They are performing exactly how I would expect them to perform in those conditions. For me the difference between the factory lights and trucklites is night and day (see what I did there?) and it was worth the switch. If I had to deal with it daily for an extended period of time I might consider an alternative. I'm not sure if it was ever deterimined if they were available commercially for the JK, but there was a post in here not too long ago about trucklites with a heating element in them.

I've heard about the heating element - that would eliminate this issue.

What other alternative would you consider?

Do the JW's produce any heat?

SDG · Feb 16, 2014

How cold was it when you took those pics?

In my experience in the mountains my halogen headlights in my truck would get just as much snow/ice on them as that pictures, but were not nearly as bright as the TL's are.

If you dont like the performance I dont think you will like the performance of any LED headlight, as they will all have the same issue in freezing rain, or melted snow getting kicked up from the car in front of you. I am guessing thats why fancy cars like BMW have a headlight washing feature (or at least they used to).

Perhaps you can mod the front grill with and add a couple spray nozzles if its that big of an issue. Otherwise TL does have a defrosting feature but its not available to non military applications yet.
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...ruck-lite-LED-headlights&highlight=defrosting

MTG · Feb 16, 2014

Voodoo Actual said:
I've heard about the heating element - that would eliminate this issue.

What other alternative would you consider?

Do the JW's produce any heat?

I don't think any LED light will generate enough heat to melt the ice. :idontknow: If you saved your factory ones, maybe throw those back in for the snow using auxillary lights (so you can actually see) when you need them and aren't in traffic?

Meade93 · Feb 16, 2014

I had this problem the first weekend I had my trucklites so I started searching for a remedy aswell. I found that if you mix 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water in a squirt bottle and spray it on either the night before the ice/snow or right before you leave it works great. :thumb:

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

SDG said:
How cold was it when you took those pics?

In my experience in the mountains my halogen headlights in my truck would get just as much snow/ice on them as that pictures, but were not nearly as bright as the TL's are.

If you dont like the performance I dont think you will like the performance of any LED headlight, as they will all have the same issue in freezing rain, or melted snow getting kicked up from the car in front of you. I am guessing thats why fancy cars like BMW have a headlight washing feature (or at least they used to).

Perhaps you can mod the front grill with and add a couple spray nozzles if its that big of an issue. Otherwise TL does have a defrosting feature but its not available to non military applications yet.
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...ruck-lite-LED-headlights&highlight=defrosting

Wasn't too cold - I think it was 26 degrees out.

I am happy with their performance. With the exceptions of the hot spots and scattered beam. And of course when they are covered in ice.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

MTG said:
I don't think any LED light will generate enough heat to melt the ice. :idontknow: If you saved your factory ones, maybe throw those back in for the snow using auxillary lights (so you can actually see) when you need them and aren't in traffic?

I still have my factory lights with SilverStar Ultra bulbs. If I go back to a halogen I'll probably just get the IPF replacements. Those with the fatboy H4's push a lot of light.

If hate to spend this much money on these lights just to not use them after a week.

MTG · Feb 16, 2014

Meade93 said:
I had this problem the first weekend I had my trucklites so I started searching for a remedy aswell. I found that if you mix 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water in a squirt bottle and spray it on either the night before the ice/snow or right before you leave it works great. :thumb:

That's a good idea. I wonder if a saline solution would work as well to keep the ice from forming.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

Meade93 said:
I had this problem the first weekend I had my trucklites so I started searching for a remedy aswell. I found that if you mix 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water in a squirt bottle and spray it on either the night before the ice/snow or right before you leave it works great. :thumb:

I've been in snow everyday for the last week so this is worth a shot.

Still, it's a little silly that you have to do any of this.

Maybe I should consider the HID's all around?

Is there an HID fog?

I've used the IPF HID 901's. Those are pretty nice.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

..........

Meade93 · Feb 16, 2014

Well I've used that a lot so far this winter and it works great. It was on some Alaskan winter survival tips and tricks thing on pinterest. They used it on the windows.

Voodoo Actual · Feb 16, 2014

Meade93 said:
Well I've used that a lot so far this winter and it works great. It was on some Alaskan winter survival tips and tricks thing on pinterest. They used it on the windows.

I'll give it a try.

SDG · Feb 16, 2014

While looking into this I found a pretty cool article on coating polycarbonate with hydrophobic compounds to make a self cleaning surface, which would be perfect for a headlight application (while remaining transparent)

Pretty cool if anyone is interested in the science behind it.

Here is a link to the PDF of the article.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fpublication%2F228511347_Transparent_ultra-hydrophobic_surfaces%2Ffile%2Fd912f5092168be6805.pdf&ei=zBMBU_mhOJDaoAS8hoJw&usg=AFQjCNFdMtgMg_f4IHEDAqBc4f1ksnvFWg&sig2=4m4J-H3bcFb--aZKKrmH7Q&bvm=bv.61535280,d.cGU&cad=rja

Perhaps some of the companies that make these high end headlights have looked into this, or should...

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