Over time, condensation, small amounts of moisture behind the lens, is a natural occurrence with any auxiliary lighting, and it does not affect the performance of your LED, HID, or Halogen light. With over 35 years of experience designing and manufacturing performance lighting, KC HiLiTES stands behind every light we build, and we want customers to be able to tell the difference between normal condensation and true water ingress before reaching out to us.
Why Condensation Happens
During manufacturing, lights are sealed, and small amounts of air, occasionally carrying water in a gaseous form, can get trapped inside. Our lights are engineered to let this trapped moisture escape naturally as temperature and weather conditions change:
- Halogen lights run hot and use natural airflow, which speeds up evaporation.
- Sealed lights use a built-in breather membrane that lets air move in and out without letting water in.
- LED lights run cooler, so condensation may take longer to clear. This is expected, not a defect.
In most cases, condensation clears on its own and is not covered under warranty, since it isn't a product defect.
How to Check for Water Ingress
If you're seeing more than light condensation, here's how to confirm whether it's water ingress before contacting support:
- Run your light for 30 minutes, once a day, for 5 consecutive days.
- After each run, let the light cool and inspect the inside of the lens.
- Check for water droplets clinging to the lens or reflector, or visible pooling at the bottom of the housing.
If droplets or pooling are still present or re-forming after the full 5-day test, this points to water ingress rather than normal condensation, and our team can help from there.
If Water Ingress Is Confirmed
For Gravity Titan and Pro6 bars, this is typically resolved with a replacement insert rather than a full housing replacement, getting you back up and running faster.
When you Start a Warranty, please have ready:
- Your light model and bar size
- Confirmation that you completed the 5-day/30-minute test above
- Photos of the droplets or pooling if possible
This lets our team confirm the issue and get the correct replacement part moving right away.
Examples of condensation
Examples of water ingress
Comments
2 comments
Is it possible to add images to show what is acceptable condensation?
My Daylighters have been on the truck for a few months and are showing water vapor. Here in NY it has been tropical like with seemingly endless rainfall. Not overly concerned as I have read your explanations. Just wanted to make note of it. I love the lamps and have received many compliments. Thank you, Richard.
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