Grote’s 18 Diode LED Lamp Brightest On Market

New Technology Makes Grote LED Practical Solution For Trailer Interior LightingOEMs, Fleets Switching Fast To LED

          MADISON, Ind. (September 19, 2006) – Grote Industries today officially unveiled a new line of bright, white LED lamps that not only have original equipment manufacturers and fleets talking, but buying in a big way.

            The result of new technology and Grote engineering, the new lamps leave behind the typical dim, bluish cast of other makers’ LEDs. In fact, nothing beats Grote’s 18-diode LED lamp for clean, bright, white light. Fully twice as bright as anything else on the market, the 18-diode model stands alone, according to the results of competitive testing.

            Grote’s LED lamps also cast the familiar, broad light pattern of fluorescent lamps, making their light distribution the best on the market for interior dome lamps.

While Grote’s new LED dome lamps made their official debut only today, they have been a hot item with fleet owners and original equipment manufacturers since their quiet introduction to select customers in July, 2005. “To date, sales of our new LED lamps already have surpassed $1 million,” said Mike Grote, business development manager, interior lighting, who spoke from the firm’s Madison, Ind., headquarters.

            “The reason is pretty clear,” he continued. “This is the solution the transportation industry, particularly refrigerated and insulated trailer haulers, have been waiting for. Our LED lamps check off all of the boxes on their list of requirements.” Grote said.

            OEMs and Fleets need interior lamps that:

• Demand less power

• Install easier

• Last significantly longer than incandescent and fluorescent lamps

• Save literally thousands of dollars over the life of a fleet

• Snap instantly to life in frigid temperatures

• Keep lighted spaces cooler than any other previous generation lamp.

Grote’s LED lamps demand less power than other types of interior lighting. The LEDs draw only 2.1 amps for startup, compared to the 2.7 amps needed to start up a fluorescent lamp. Plus, the power demand to keep on an LED lamp remains low, making them the perfect solution in “no-idle” areas where engines must be switched off.

Unlike fluorescents, which take time to brighten in cold temperatures, Grote’s LED lamps snap instantly to life. They even work better in the cold. At -40 degrees Fahrenheit, they are still instant-on and instant-bright.

Grote engineers discovered a way to better dissipate heat where the LED is joined to the printed circuit board. The result is a double benefit: cooler operation and the ability to demand more from the LED chip.

Grote’s LED lamps are easier to install because the wiring set up is more forgiving, Grote noted. What’s more, Grote’s self-contained LED units are far more tamper resistant than incandescent set-ups, which can tempt drivers to swap in bulbs that are over-rated for the fixture, causing a potential fire hazard.

LED lamps last – in many cases, for as long as the trailer lasts. “For the most part, a fleet owner may never have to touch those lights again,” said Grote.

 “Our LED lamps last up to five times longer than fluorescent lamps. Specifically, that’s a difference of 50,000 hours for our LED, compared to 10,000 hours for a fluorescent lamp,” he continued.

Long lamp life means lower maintenance costs and significant savings, over the long haul, Grote went on. “Take the costs of interior lighting for just one trailer, for example. By the time a fleet owner replaces a fluorescent tube twice, he could have covered the cost of an LED lamp that he probably will never have to replace.”

Figured another way, a fleet of 10 trailers with four LED lamps each would save more than $19,000 in just five years versus over the cost of using fluorescent lamps.

“Larger fleets would quickly see savings in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that’s only versus the cost of fluorescent tube replacement. There are other cost savings LEDs offer, as well,” said Grote.

With Grote LED lamps, truckers get the bright light they need to avoid delivery mixups. “In the food business, one mistake could cost you the entire day’s profits,” said Grote.

The cost-benefit analysis was an easy one for Utility Trailer Manufacturing, the largest manufacturer of refrigerated trailers in North America. The firm chose Grote as its sole lamp supplier.

Grote finally solved the interior lighting dilemma for refrigerated trailers, explained Stephen Bennett, Utility Trailer Manufacturing’s vice president of the company’s purchasing group and of its after-market group. Fluorescent lights gave the amount of light truckers needed, but they simply couldn’t handle the demands of everything from a cool to a deep freeze environment. 

“But the Grote LEDs are a phenomenal product. They really thought the whole thing through. These lamps can handle every need,” said Bennett.

The 10-diode lamps give out just the right amount of light for compartments and, because they draw less power than fluorescents. As many as 10 LED lamps can be used throughout the trailer – all for one to two hours without draining battery reserves, according to Bennett.

“The 18-diode lamps are just as bright as fluorescent lamps, and they are perfect for food cargo,” Bennett noted. Unlike mercury-containing fluorescent tubes, which break more easily, LED lamps are a safer choice around edibles.

            “Grote has been our lighting partner for 40 years,” Bennett continued. “We’ve worked closely with them in their research and development location and their severe test facility. The company is very state-of-the-art. They’re definitely on top of their game.”

            Utility Trailer Manufacturing, like Grote Industries, is a family-owned company, Bennett noted. As such, both firms pay close attention to detail and the demands of their customers. Accountability begins and ends with family members, who take both pride in and responsibility for their companies.

Like all of the other products that earn the Grote name, the LED lamps were forced to pass a series of punishing tests that went beyond mimicking regular use. “Now,” said Grote, “they’re passing the most important test, that administrated by discriminating, demanding customers who need products that work as hard as they do.”

The designer and manufacturer of the first LED lamps in the industry, Grote is committed to becoming the leader in LED lighting for all types of vehicles. Like Grote’s other products, its LED lights are engineered, built and tested to the highest quality standards.

A world leader in vehicle safety systems, Grote provides a wide range of components for original equipment manufacturers and the vehicle after-market. Products include emergency lighting, flashers, forward lighting, wiring harnesses, coil cords, turn signal switches, reflectors and conspicuity tape, back-up alarms, mirrors and mirror bracketry.

An international company headquartered in Madison, Ind., Grote has additional facilities in Toronto, Canada; Waterloo, Canada; and Monterrey, Mexico, which employ more than 1,000 people. Grote products are manufactured in TS16949 and ISO 9001 facilities.

For more information about Grote and its vehicle lighting and safety products, visit www.grote.com, or contact Chris Cammack at 1+ (800) 628-0809 or at safety.grote@grote.com.

Return to press release list