When shopping for vehicle lighting, you may come across quad spotlights. They offer a brighter, more focused beam of light than traditional fixtures. As a result, they can greatly improve visibility in otherwise dark environments.
What Are Quad Spotlights?
Quad spotlights are mountable light fixtures with four individual light sources. While available in different sizes and specifications, they all feature four light sources in a single housing unit.
Some quad spotlights combine spot and flood optics. In other words, they feature both spotlights and flood lights. Spotlights create a narrow and focused beam of light, whereas flood lights create a wider beam of light.
Common Applications for Quad Spotlights
Quad spotlights are commonly used on off-road vehicles. They provide long-distance illumination to help drivers see hazards like trees, wildlife, trail edges, etc.
Emergency vehicles may use quad spotlights. Ambulances, for instance, may feature quad spotlights. When venturing into rural areas, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) may use them to illuminate roads and paths.
Construction companies often use quad spotlights as well. Rather than packing up and going home once the sun goes down, construction companies may continue to work on projects using quad spotlights. These powerful lights can illuminate job sites so that work can continue long into the night. Of course, there are many other uses for quad spotlights. Quad spotlights offer a versatile, reliable lighting solution for a wide range of commercial and recreational applications.
What Lighting Technology Do Quad Spotlights Use?
Most quad spotlights use light-emitting diode (LED) technology. Not to be confused with incandescent lights, LED lights work by leveraging a semiconductor material. All LED lights are made of a semiconductor material, such as gallium arsenide or gallium nitride. When an electrical current flows through this material, photons will jump while simultaneously releasing photons in the form of visible light.
LED-based quad spotlights are very energy efficient. They use about 80% to 90% less power than incandescent lights of the same power. As a result, they last longer and are typically more cost-effective than their incandescent counterparts.
LED-based quad spotlights also produce very little heat. Incandescent lights work by heating up a filament, such as wire. As the filament heats up, it will release photons. But not only is this process inefficient; it can pose a safety hazard. Incandescent lights can ignite nearby objects and materials. LED-based quad spotlights use an entirely different process involving a semiconductor material, so they don’t produce the same heat.