PIAA: The light bars of the rally winners – now with EC road approval
From the “Baja 1000” to the “Dakar” – the LED auxiliary headlights from the lighting specialist PIAA Rallye Lights have earned a legendary reputation at various off-road races around the world. Now the southern German off-road vehicle specialist delta4x4 is offering the Japanese manufacturer’s high-end light bars with EU-wide road approval.
When used in motorsport, maximum light output with the lowest possible energy consumption is just as essential as robustness and maximum stability. In order to meet all of these criteria, the PIAA light bars have a light but robust aluminum housing that optimally dissipates the heat generated and prevents vibrations in the light cone: they are up to ten times the acceleration due to gravity (i.e. up to 10 G load) PIAA headlights tested and thus withstand the toughest off-road use in the long term.
The PIAA Light Bars differ not only in their legendary robustness from the large number of “cheap LED headlights” that are offered on the accessory market, but also in their luminosity. Because this also depends to a large extent on the quality of workmanship: An LED headlight consists of a large number of individual light-emitting diodes, and only their exact alignment with one another ensures high luminosity. If this bundling of the individual light sources is imprecise, on the other hand, up to 50 percent of the luminosity is lost – despite the same power specifications (watt number) in the technical data sheets.
With the Light Bars from PIAA, the light from the LEDs is bundled by computer-calculated reflectors, thus creating a clearly defined, uniform light cone and optimal illumination of the area. The PIAA innovation consists in the fact that the light-emitting diodes do not shine forwards but backwards. The light is strongly bundled by a reflector attached to the rear of the housing and optimally distributed in the light cone to the front.
All PIAA Light Bars have this elaborate technology, as well as the “E-mark” in the lamp glass, which allows them to be used as additional high-beam headlights in public traffic. The three models RF6, RF10 and RF18 differ, however, in the number of individual spotlights combined per housing – whereby all light bars can be combined with one another as required and thus meet the most diverse requirements. The PIAA Light Bars are also flexible when it comes to mounting options: They can be mounted in any position using a one-screw system – whether on a special lamp bracket, on the bullbar or the roll bar on the loading area of pickups. For off-road use, the PIAA Light Bars can also be used as work lights – with separate switching – independently of the vehicle lighting. This makes it possible to use more than the maximum of four spotlights permitted by law in off-road operation. The elaborate technology as well as the high material and production quality naturally have their price: delta4x4 offers the PIAA Light Bars from 299 euros for the Entry-level model RF6 with 16 watt power including cable, switch and mounting material.
