Keeping the lights functioning properly on today's commercial vehicles can eliminate a considerable amount of trouble for fleets and drivers alike. But there are a lot of lighting options out there to choose from.
FleetOwner has highlighted some of these manufacturers’ featured products and lighting advances for all applications. The companies featured in the accompanying photo gallery are detailed below.
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Betts Industries
Betts Industries manufactures safety lamps and lighting systems as well as accessories for commercial trucks and trailers. They feature the Betts Plug & Seal technology, and all lamps are equipped with PVC-jacketed cables and molded two- or four-conductor male plugs. Cable entry is in the rear of lamp bodies for easy plug-in to the lamp system.
Should the Plug & Seal Lighting System suffer damage from tire blowouts or accidents, the damaged pigtail can be replaced without jeopardizing the system’s integrity. Other systems require cutting into the harness to remove the damaged section and splicing on a new section, which later can result in lighting problems and shorts.
Some of Betts’ products include stop, turn, and tail lamps; backup lamps; beacons and strobes; cabinet, meter, and dome lamps; clearance and side marker lamps; license lamps; and sealed beam flood, spot, and work lamps. The company also manufactures a variety of harnesses and nose and junction boxes and accessories.
Grote Industries
Grote Industries’ 4SEE smart trailer system, a combination of hardware and software, can help reduce highway incidents and CSA violations and can enable fleets to collect much more data from their equipment on the road.
The technology works by connecting the wiring harness, nose box, and multiple sensors. The 4SEE’s notification system alerts drivers and maintenance techs to issues ranging from light-out detection to proximity reporting, wheel-end readings, and even cargo leaning against the rear door. The 4SEE’s smart rail lamps enable lighting readings direct from the lamp itself, with lamp health reports to monitor lighting. Alerts are sent immediately when any outage occurs.
Also, Grote’s auxiliary strobe and stop lamp brings greater visibility to trailers during braking. The auxiliary strobe and stop lamp is wired into an existing brake light circuit and emits a sequence of five amber flashes in four seconds followed by a solid red burn when the vehicle’s brakes are engaged.
Heavy Duty Lighting
Heavy Duty Lighting, which is focusing primarily on LED lighting, has several new products, including a 3.2-inch high-output cube flood light, a pedestal mini lollipop light, a 3.6-inch. high flux mini square flood light, a side turn marker for the Freightliner M2 medium-duty truck, a Freightliner M2 LED cab marker, and a 6.3-inch high-output dual series round flood/strobe light. It also has many OEM-focused products such as cab markers for Kenworths, oval amber and white side marker turn lights for Peterbilts, and cab marker lights and triangular LED fender marker lights for U.S. Paccar brands Kenworth and Peterbilt.
The company also sells a wide selection of light bars, including 11-inch and 21-inch slim high-output lightbars with refractive lens technology, high-output double row light beams, and a wide selection of LED work lights and safety warning and emergency lighting.
Maxxima
Maxxima, which has been making commercial truck and truck-related products for 30 years, has a variety of different products, including forward lighting, work lights, interior lighting, warning and safety lights, stop/turn/tail lights, and accessories to support all of them. A few new products include its 6-inch oval A-Series backup lighting with various connectors, PL-3 and DryFit, a bulk pack of 4-inch round A-Series backup light with DryFit connectors, the MHL-90MMHILO 90 millimeter LED head lamp with high and low beam, a 2.5-inch by 3-inch amber oval surface mount warning light, a rectangular 2,100-lumen work LED work light in white and amber, and the M42226 LED trailer light kit with wiring harness. A featured product is Maxxima’s hybrid all-in-one LED stop/turn/tail and backup light in various sizes for different commercial vehicles.
Optronics
Optronics’ new severe-duty, UCL45 LED utility, scene, and work light equips almost any vehicle to shine up to 9,000 lumens per lamp. These come with an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance and change the lumen-per-dollar equation in their lighting space. The 12-inch model UCL45CH12BB features a 4,500-lumen output, while the 24-inch model UCL45CH24BB features a 9,000-lumen output.
The company's new FusionX LED combination stop, tail, turn, backup, and warning lights are the first of their kind to enable their brake function to override their warning function while in use, according to the company. Until now, combination lamps with warning light features have not met FMVSS 108 standards, because their flashing warning lights continue to operate even when their brake lights illuminate, the company said.
Phillips
Phillips premium Permalite XT exterior lighting products offer Board-Free technology, a patented in-mold LED lighting solution that eliminates the need for a printed circuit board, creating an ultra-slim profile that offers optimal heat management for a longer life expectancy. The Permalite XT offers completely sealed housing with amp connections that withstand impact, corrosion, harsh chemicals, and UV exposure. Board-Free lighting is available for stop-tail-turn, side-turn, marker/clearance, reverse, and license lighting with a variety of mounting applications and accessories.
Peterson Manufacturing
The Peterson M177A-HD (amber) and M177R-HD (red) heavy-duty dot lights provide extreme weather protection with molding of the grommet to the light, molded sheathed wires, overmolding of the bottom bullets, and molded custom strain relief. The company’s 905-MV and 906-MV series LED work lights with pedestal mounts feature rugged textured polymer housings and lenses and lightweight low-profile designs with optimized bright light beam patterns. The 905/906 series also has high vibration resistance with low amp draw.
TecNiq
TecNiq’s T42 S|T|T|R provides work trucks, heavy-duty trailers, light-duty trailers, and more with a high-function lamp. The T42 combines stop, tail, turn, and reverse functions into one light. This provides a more efficient light, according to the company. The T42 features 12 red LEDs and four white LEDs, which meet all requirements for wide and narrow vehicles.
Another product, the company’s K10 Beacon, is an LED lamp for work trucks, boom lifts, heavy-duty trucks and trailers, waste and dump trucks, or any other situation where high visibility and safety are concerns. The K10 features 24 high-powered LEDs and provides ample visible caution lighting to be seen by oncoming traffic.
Truck-Lite
Truck-Lite’s Super 44 and Super 60 heated warning lights come in red and amber and are available in two standard 4-in.ch and 6-inch oval sizes. Both flash in dual and quad patterns. An upgrade from the previous Super 40 series, the Super 44 and 60 warning lights feature 76% fewer diodes, resulting in a focused brightness that elevates the lights to meet SAE J595 standards, the highest available performance class, according to the company.
Truck-Lite’s LED Projector Headlights feature a new beam pattern with a wider beam spread that maximizes light output and increases foreground illumination, especially for vehicles operating in more congested environments like trucks used in final-mile delivery, utility, construction, municipal, and waste markets. LED Projector Headlights are offered in three sizes—5-inch by 7-inch, 4-inch by 6-inch, and 7-inch round—and are designed to be modular.
United Pacific Industries
United Pacific Industries specializes in commercial truck headlights, including a 4-inch-by-6-inch heated LED headlight. Designed for cold and snowy environments, this replacement headlight features a heating system that automatically de-ices the headlight according to the ambient temperature.
The heated headlight is constructed of a heavy-duty aluminum housing and features a durable glass lens. Approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the heated LED headlight is available in high beam and low beam, with a choice of either a chrome or black inner liner. The 12-24 VDC light has 1,000 lumens with the 20-watt low beam and 1,200 lumens with the 24-watt high beam. The part numbers are 34131 (chrome low beam), 34132 (chrome high beam), 34133 (black low beam), and 34134 (black high beam).
