BACKGROUND

Since the initial development of light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”), their use as illumination devices has become increasingly popular over more traditional illumination devices such incandescent or fluorescent lights. Many applications exist for LEDs, including residential, commercial, and automotive lighting.

Specific to automotive lighting, most vehicles such as cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, and the like are manufactured with a variety of lighting elements including headlights, turn signal lights, taillights, and marker lights. However, in recent years, efforts have been made to customize the aesthetics and performance of automotive lighting systems. These efforts may include replacing the factory lighting elements (headlights, turn signal lights, taillights, marker lights, etc.)—which utilize incandescent lighting—with LEDs. Other efforts may include adding additional lighting elements to the vehicle such as flood lights, rock lights, puddle lights, and accent lights.

Many devices and methods have been developed for attaching additional lighting elements to a vehicle. The simplest involves using an adhesive such as glue or tape to secure the new lighting element to the vehicle through an adhesive bond. However, these adhesives may result in less-than desirable aesthetics, and often lose their adhesive bond over time causing the lighting element to come partially or fully unattached from the vehicle.

Other devices and methods for attaching additional lighting elements to a vehicle include the use of fasteners such as screws or bolts which pass through the lighting element and secure into a location on the vehicle or vice versa. In practice, securing lighting elements to a vehicle in this manner takes time to ensure proper alignment. This also requires the user to make one or more holes in the vehicle, which may not be desirable particularly when the lighting element is to be secured to critical structural elements such as the chassis or subframe.

Some have proposed the use of magnets for securing additional lighting elements to a ferrous surface of a vehicle. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,145,552 B2 which discloses “the magnets may be glued, soldered, or otherwise affixed to the LEDs.” (internal citations omitted). In practice, such devices in which the magnets are affixed onto the LED itself may not have sufficient durability—particularly in applications such as vehicle undercarriages and when used in off-road vehicles. Additionally, affixing the magnet directly to the LED itself limits the ability to change the shape and structure of the lighting fixture to accommodate its use on different areas having different surface features.

The need exists, therefore, for an improved device for attaching a lighting element to a surface, particularly a surface of a vehicle.

SUMMARY

A lighting fixture is disclosed. The lighting fixture may comprise a base, a lighting element, and an attachment mechanism. The base may comprise a base length dimension and a base width dimension defining a base perimeter having a base perimeter shape. The base may further comprise a base top surface and a base bottom surface opposite the base top surface. The base may further comprise at least one magnet. The lighting element may comprise a printed circuit board and a plurality of light emitting diodes each mounted on the printed circuit board. The printed circuit board may be electrically connected to a power source. The attachment mechanism may connect the base to the lighting element.

In some embodiments, the base consists of a magnet. In other embodiments the base bottom surface may have at least one magnet hole. In such embodiments, the number of magnet holes may be equal to a number of magnets of the at least one magnet. In such embodiments, each magnet may be connected to the base within one of the magnet holes.

In certain embodiments, the base top surface may have at least one base recess. In some such embodiments, at least one of the at least one base recess may extend from the base top surface through the base bottom surface.

In some embodiments, the plurality of light emitting diodes may comprise at least one white LED. In certain embodiments, the plurality of light emitting diodes may comprise at least one color changing LED.

In certain embodiments, the lighting element may comprise a housing. The housing may at least partially surround the printed circuit board. When used, the housing may comprise a housing length dimension and a housing width dimension which define a housing perimeter having a housing perimeter shape. In some embodiments, the light element may further comprise a lens.

In some embodiments, the attachment mechanism may be selected from the group consisting of at least one screw, at least one screw with a nut, at least one bolt, at least one bolt with a nut, at least one snap in attachment mechanism, an adhesive, at least one rivet, at least one clip, and combinations thereof.

In certain embodiments, the base may comprise at least one base attachment hole passing from the base top surface through the base bottom surface, the lighting element may comprise at least one lighting element attachment hole aligned with the at least one base attachment hole, the attachment mechanism may pass through the at least one base attachment hole and the at least one lighting element attachment hole, and the attachment mechanism may be a threaded fastener with or without a nut. In some such embodiments, the threaded fastener may comprise a tapered head, and the at least one base attachment hole may be countersunk at the base bottom surface.

In some embodiments, the at least one magnet may comprise one or more magnets selected from the group consisting of rare-earth magnets, ferrite magnets, ceramic magnets, electromagnets, and combinations thereof. In certain embodiments, the at least one magnet may comprise a plurality of magnets, and the plurality of magnets may have a total pull force. In some such embodiments, the total pull force may be equal to or greater than a weight of the lighting fixture. In certain such embodiments, the total pull force may be in a range selected from the group consisting of between 5 N and 2,000 N, between 5 N and 1,000 N, between 5 N and 500 N, between 5 N and 250 N, between 5 N and 100 N, and between 5 N and 50 N.

In certain embodiments, the lighting fixture may further comprise a spacer. The spacer, when present, may comprise a spacer length dimension and a spacer width dimension which define a spacer perimeter having a spacer perimeter shape. The spacer may also comprise a spacer top surface having at least one spacer recess, and a spacer bottom surface opposite the spacer top surface. When used, the spacer may be between the base and the lighting element with the spacer bottom surface in contact with the base top surface. In embodiments comprising a spacer, the attachment mechanism may connect the base, the spacer and the lighting element.

In some embodiments comprising a spacer, at least one of the at least one spacer recess may extend from the spacer top surface through the spacer bottom surface. In certain such embodiments, the base may further comprise at least one base recess extending from the base top surface through the base bottom surface.

In certain embodiments comprising a spacer, the base may comprise at least one base attachment hole passing from the base top surface through the base bottom surface. In such embodiments, the spacer may comprise at least one spacer attachment hole passing from the spacer top surface through the spacer bottom surface aligned with the at least one base attachment hole. In such embodiments, the lighting element may comprise at least one lighting element attachment hole aligned with the at least one base attachment hole and the at least one spacer attachment hole. In such embodiments, the attachment mechanism may pass through the at least one base attachment hole, the at least one spacer attachment hole, and the at least one lighting element attachment hole. In some such embodiments, the attachment mechanism may be a threaded fastener with or without a nut.

In some embodiments comprising a spacer, the spacer may further comprise a lip. The lip, when present, may extend from the spacer top surface along at least a portion of the spacer perimeter.

A lighting fixture kit is also disclosed. The lighting fixture kit may comprise a base comprising at least one magnet, a lighting element, and at least one attachment mechanism. In some embodiments, the lighting fixture kit may further comprise a spacer.

