Batboard

My company delivered a 2011 Chevy Tahoe for my Fire Department this week. This was our first "REAL" install (we re-did the current chiefs vehicles for my department and we have done multiple POV's).

We did a few custom things:
The brackets on the Pinnacle
When in park, the white lighting (except for the flashing TD's on the Pinnacle) turns off
The way the primary radio speaker is mounted
The activation of the rear accessories when the hatch is opened.

Front:
Interior Pinnacle (split model)
Four 6LED Arklamiss/SNM Lightheads behind the grille
Axixtech PAR36 LED Fog Light Inserts
Arklamiss/SNM White Hide-a-Way LED''s
Soundoff Plug & Play HLF
Two Carson MFG CSP-100B Siren Speakers
Rumbler Speakers

Sides:
Soundoff Signal Intersectors (Mirror Lights)
Three 3LED Arklamiss/SNM Lightheads (Running Boards)
12" Microman Industries G3 Bars (Rear Side Windows)

Rear:
Arklamiss/SNM TWB66 Lightbar (this thing is awesome!)
Three Pairs of Arklamiss/SNM LED Hide-a-Way's in tail lights

Interior:
30" Havis console
Whelen Cencom Gold
Motorola CDM1250
Motorola Astro Spectra
Radioshack PRO-2096
Motorola XTS Impres Charger
Custom Mounted Radio Speaker (in the headliner... thanks to 10-75 for the idea!)
Soundoff Signal Dome Light
Custom Built Cabinet (pictures to come... waiting on another XTS charger from Motorola)
Knox Box
CDM1250
XTS Impres Charger (waiting on this)
Michiana ELS MULE Lights (activate when rear hatch opens for rear cargo area lighting while the Cheif is in Command)
Tomar RECT13's (activate when rear hatch opens)

Pictures & Videos can be found on my website WNYEVS.com

Looks like a nice clean install. Few questions though: With all of the lights why not go with a simple lightbar? This would allow to eliminate a few of the lights and make a focal point for the lighting system. It is clearly a fire vehicle so why go to the extent of hiding all of the lighting? (Especially when it comes to drilling into headlights/taillights). Secondly in regards to the interior rear lightbar through tint - unless it is for undercover work or very low profile work, my opinion this significantly reduces the warning aspect of a lightbar. Rear warning's only purpose is warning, so it needs to be visible. Also, do the white lights meet NFPA standards and turn off while in park?

Also as a personal opinion (and law in some provinces that I am aware of - also probably some states), what is the rationale for white rear facing lights. I believe them to be more dangerous than good if a vehicle were to approach from the rear suddenly (say over a hill or around a corner) they could easily be misled into thinking there was an oncoming vehicle and make attempts to avoid. Here, we only use red/amber on the rear of emergency vehicles, white is reserved only for the front facing for traffic clearing purposes, not warning.

I'm not a expert, and not a professional installer! Please don't take any of this as critical, more of a general question and personal opinion.

What do you use for your decaling? 3M? Reflexite?

Overall though this looks very clean and must have taken you quite some time! Look forward to your reply, sorry for digging up a old post!

I think the white lights in the tailight cluster are the back up lights

Yep! A closer look reveals they are blue hide-a-way lights inside the taillights. Thanks for that.

Thank you for the reply.

We based this installation on what the customer wanted. The Chief stated he wanted a "Slick Top" setup NOT "Undercover". I feel that we provided sufficient lighting.

I agree with you on the fact that a Lightbar would cut costs and change the "focal point" for the warning system but it all comes down to what the customer wants.

As for the lights that are mounted behind the windshield and tinted window. The optics the LEDs really help "punch" the light through the glass. Yes there is a difference but the lights still provide plenty of powerful warning.

As for the white lighting turning off when the vehicle is in park, Yes it does. We utilized the Whelen Cencom's "Park Kill" feature to cancel all white warning when the vehicle is in park.

The tail lights have LED Hide-a-Ways installed. Red in the top section, Blue in the middle clear section and Red in the lower section. The Red on both sides flash simultaneously against the Blue.