Forward lighting that draws a fraction of the power of traditional lamps… fully lighted trailer billboards with their own power source… light-pulse communication between vehicles… programmable roadway lighting and lane markers…

Are you ready for the future of LED?

Light-emitting diodes have grown up a lot since they began to revolutionize the trailer marker industry just over a decade ago. Now LED manufacturers are exploring new potential applications for the technology — one that are almost unbounded. “When people think of LEDs, they think of trailer markers,” says Luigi Tavernese, general manager of Grote Electronics in Waterloo, Ont. “But LEDs are going to be used in applications people would never even think about. We’re just crawling still.”

Right now, the biggest strides are being made in the development of white LEDs, he says. It’s already available for interior lighting, effect lighting, and licence plates, but manufacturers have more ambitious applications in mind. “There’s no question it will eventually be used for forward lighting,” says Tavernese. “Light output has increased ten-fold in a matter of two years. In another few years, it’s possible you could see another ten-fold increase.”

The challenge engineers face as output increases is how to harness all that light and to direct it in a way that’s pleasing to the eye. LEDs emit a cone-shaped, sharply focused light. Manufacturers are working on ways to soften that light, allowing LEDs to illuminate a broader area, rather than just one very hot spot. It’s the exact opposite with incandescent lamps, where you have a wide-beamed light source that has to be focused. LEDs will require advancement in optics or reflectors to use the least number of diodes possible to light an entire area in a uniform way.

“For some automotive applications, carmakers actually want the spots of light. We marveled a little at that, but that’s what they want,” Tavernese explains. “The spots of light have been accepted more and more because the look has become associated with LED, which is considered to be new technology.”

Technology advances haven’t stopped since LEDs first appeared on heavy-duty equipment in the late 1980s. For one thing, the power draw of LEDs (already insanely low compared to incandescent bulbs) has steadily diminished. A fully suited trailer using modern LEDs will draw about one-tenth the electricity required to light an equivalent incandescent system.

And improved diode technology has resulted in more lumens per watt, so fewer diodes are required. A typical LED stop-tail-turn lamp from 1993 may have contained up to 70 diodes. Now that number is down to about six. Three for amber trailers markers. One for red trailer markers.

“That increased efficiency has led to two main benefits: lower prices, and greater reliability,” says Brad Van Riper, vice-president of research and development at Truck-Lite. “Many LED lamps are assembled in strings. That requires more solder joints, more components, more chances for failure to occur,” he explains. “There’s a reliability model that says if you have five components each with a reliability of 90%, and you put them together, you would multiply the 90% five times, and now the system reliability is only about 73% reliable. If you can use one component with a 90% reliability, you’re much better off.”

Reliability is a key issue, especially in high-vibration environments. The benefits of rugged, solid-state LEDs become all too clear when you’re changing light bulbs every shift.

Because LEDs are programmable, LED strobing lights are growing popular for construction and emergency vehicles. Because they’re so robust and require no remote power supply, they’re seen as an excellent alternative to the costly and fragile incandescent systems.

The industry is also starting to recognize the improved performance LEDs offer in inclement weather, especially fog. Furthermore, LED output changes with the temperature. In colder weather, they offer greater light output, so much so, in fact, that fleets that drive in Alaska have reported that the LEDs shine noticeably brighter in the cold.

Traditionally, the chink in LED’s armor has been the price. But with the latest technology, costs have come down dramatically, even in the past couple of years.

Wholesale retrofits of trailers were not particularly common in years past, says Mark Assenmacher, head of marketing for Peterson Manufacturing. But now that the price is coming down, that’s changing, and aftermarket sales are picking up steam. Companies that are hanging on to their existing fleets are improving them with LEDs. “In many cases, people started off with upper marker lights,” he says. “But then, as the cost came down on stop-tail-turn, they decided to use those, too.”

Assenmacher says reduced prices have also led to design changes because manufacturers haven’t had to worry about theft-prevention. “When LEDs initially came out, there was definitely a lot of theft going on,” he explains. “That’s why you saw the flange-mounted versions, where the lamp is actually welded to the flange which is then riveted right to the trailer body. That was meant to deter some of that.”

Greater acceptance and new technology has led to more and varied LED applications for truck lighting. But manufactures say it hasn’t yet begun to show its full potential.