rear hide-aways on 2005 ford escape...

eboe · Post by **eboe** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:00 pm

'05 ford escape -- a supervisor wants a 6-head strobe kit strictly for the rear lights. he wants 4 of them to be red and two white. now my question is about the section of the tail-lights that are a red reflector looking area. i haven't pulled the housings out or drilled anything yet, but i want to know if you can mount a strobe head behind that red reflector area and if it'll show through.

that way i can put two reds in the traditional brake-light area, two in the reverse lights, and hopefully two in the reflector area. anybody know if that'll work?

thanks

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:45 pm

Dunno about an Escape, but I've done the exact same thing on my Expedition. You don't want red tubes... you lose lots of light output. Get white tubes, two in each brake light, one in each reverse light, and it just works.

*Don't skimp on the power pack*. You need all the power you can get. A 15-watt/outlet pack like a UPS690 is minimum, with something like an IPS188 at 22.5-watts/outlet preferable.

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:03 pm

i have the same thing on my explorer....i think tho that second set of reds might be a little overkill....2 reds & 2 whites is a lot, and that gives you an extra set for a deck pair if you want.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:30 am

thebigphish wrote:i have the same thing on my explorer....i think tho that second set of reds might be a little overkill....2 reds & 2 whites is a lot, and that gives you an extra set for a deck pair if you want.

LEDs in the rear deck... TIR3s or equivalent. IMHO.

eboe · Post by **eboe** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 4:25 pm

ok thanks guys, i'm gonna try it. and sorry for the confusion, i didn't mean that i was gonna put red tubes behind the red lens. i always put clear, no matter where i'm putting them. like you said, more light output.

so basically it'll be three white tubes in each housing. two of them behind a red lens, and one behind a clear lens. i'm planning on using a whelen #CSP690, 90-watt power supply which would give me 15watt/head. since strobes always seem dimmer behind a red lens and get washed out in bright sunlight, the plan is to have both reds flash at the same time and then alternate to the single white. hopefully the double-whammy on the red will make it more noticeable. we'll see...

tvsjr, i almost forgot... i'm putting a dual talon in the windshield and i would like to do some led's in the rear too, but he said he didn't want it. i'm betting he'll change his mind when he sees the talon.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 5:53 pm

Oh yeah, he'll want more blinkies.

For a 6-outlet pack, the best configuration is to fire an X pattern - left brake and right reverse, right brake and left reverse. That's how mine is set up, and it's pretty killer. I've also got a Code 3 LED ArrowStik in the window with 6 amber heads and end red flashers. It works pretty well...