KC HiLiTES
KC HiLiTES, Inc is a manufacturer of off-road lighting based in Arizona. The company was founded in 1970 in Saugus, California by Peter Kim Brown and his wife Carol Brown and named using their initials KC. It relocated to Williams, Arizona in 1974. The company's best known product is the Daylighter®.
KC’s Daylighter® served as the backbone of KC's development for many years. KC designed the special patented isolated rubber mount for the Daylighter when they noticed too many failures due to the severe vibration within the metal housing during off-road use. Many hours were spent with GE engineers learning about the intricacies of lighting, sealed beams, filaments, the varied types of construction, wattage and candlepower in order to devised a way to completely encircle the bulb in rubber, helping isolate it.
The 1970s and 1980s brought more innovations in lighting, and KC was at the forefront. Many race teams used KC's lamps, included pioneers Walker Evans and Ivan Stewart. In the 1990s, KC developed the HID (High Intensity Discharge) lighting system, based on the same Metal Halide concept used to illuminate giant sports complexes. More recently, KC offers HIDs and LEDs for off-road use, and for commercial and industrial applications. Many ATVs and Rhinos are now running HIDs, LEDs and other KC lighting products.
KC was started in Saugus, California by Pete Brown. He started using landing lights from aircraft, adapting them to his truck, and then realised that the way they were mounted wouldn’t stand up to the rigors of use of the off-road community of race buggies and pickups. Available lighting at the time was limited to 55-watt halogen lamps that were in Brown's words, "really disappointing in the desert". He started business by making a few sets for friends. Working with neighbors out of his garage, he assembled the lights, built the wiring harnesses and sold the packages to off-roaders and local shops. Pete moved the company to Williams, Arizona and it is still in the same location today. In 2004, Pete's step-son Michael De Hass purchased the business.
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