Vehicle Lighting Systems

[ExKa|iBuR]

Hey guys.

I'm working on an install for an 2002 Impala Police Package for a volunteer FF friend of mine.

He tells me cost is no issue he said he wants the best for his $$ and wants the best visibility.
He also said he doesn't care if the thing looks like an x-mas tree....


Sooo.....


First of all, what's the best technology to go with..Strobe, Halogen or LED? I'd say a mix of Halogen and Strobe.

I was thinking of getting a Vector bar (I like the look of them), putting strobes in the tail lights/head-lights, and some deck lights.


Any thoughts?

Oh...also..he can only use amber and green.



Mike

[nmfire10]

Hey guys.
He tells me cost is no issue

Now that is dangerous. I don't know what color he is allowed to use, so I will make some general recomendations

I personally would never put a vector bar on anything, I think it would look wierd on a smaller car like the Impala. Here is what I would do. Assuming he wants something overhead...

Whelen LFL Liberty LED Bar Get the most LED's in the bar you can. If he wants Takedowns and alleys, get them too.

FRONT:
-Corner hideaways, preferably clear. Whelen HA239C or HA238*
-Grill strobes behind grill in whatever color.
-Whelen Mirror Beam Strobes in the side mirrors.


Rear:
-Hideaways in the reverse lights, clear if possible.
-2 Slimlighter TIR "M" Series on the back deck. put them on a good pattern then hook their power up to a wig-wag flasher to syncronize the 2 of them.

Does he want a traffic advisor? If so, you can specify the Liberty Bar to have a 5 segment LED traffic advisor on it. If he doesn't want the TA in lightbar, you can get a Whelen LED Traffic advisor and put it over or inbetween the slimlighters.

For a strobe Power supply, get the Whelen ISP188. Put the pattern on either action flash or Micro-Burst III.

You can syncronoze the Slimlighters in the back with a UHF2150A flasher.

That would be a KICK ASS bright as all hell setup. The LED's will ad very little load to the electrical system. The only real load would be the power supply for the strobes.

If he want s a strobe lightbar instead of the LED, get an LFL Patriot bar or one of the new Ultra Bars.

[ojs7216]

Mike, you better check the Highway Traffic Act, here is a URL

http://192.75.156.68/DBLaws/Statutes/En ... 0h08_e.htm

This is an excerpt from Section 62 of the act. Looks like your friend only gets one green light.

Vehicles of firefighters

(16) A firefighter, within the meaning of subsection 1 (1) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, may carry on or in his or her vehicle a lamp that produces intermittent flashes of green light and may operate the light if the motor vehicle is proceeding to a fire or other emergency. 1997, c. 4, s. 81.

[mavericknet]

I'd recommend the code 3 MX, LED arrowstick, with strobes on the lower deck front, rotators accross the top. I'd put led on the rear deck, a strobe on the dash, and hideways around the corners.

[Code3Response]

Not sure if/how/when/why/where your involved in Emergency Services, but that law is not correct. Sounds as if he can only run amber and green, he shouldnt be running lights at all. What state is he responding in? As for as the vehicle config, go completelty undercover. No bars, they look bad on impalas. Again, chance are if he can only run amber (dont run green, HORRIBLY expensive in LED) he cant run a siren, so I wont mention anything for that. Id say go hideaways all around - 1 in each headlight up front, and one in each reverse light. Also one clear in each turn signal if they are amber ( dont remember on the impalas, dontthink so). Go with 911ep LED stars in the grill, or Nova linear strobe microthins. Get a Sho Me Predator ( or 2 or 3 or 7 ) and put them on the insdes of the vehicle, both front and back. Or you can go with the 911EP LS15 (nice light) or Code 3 LED-X. Stay away from the older generation whelen slimlighter, etc. If hes got the money, go with the new Whelen TIR M SERIES (not the R series, the M has way more output). They currently make it in a slimlighter and dashmiser config, very nice. Take a look at http://www.elightbarsforum.org for some lighting ideas, stuff for sale,e tc. Also email Andrew G at wedge@trekmush.org - he just did his new impala. Tell him Matthew Frank sent you. Any other questions, or need anything, just let me know.

[Bugs Bunny]

Looks like Mike is in Canada. Laws are going to be different in a foreign country than in California.

Bugs

[Barry Dehatchit]

Considering North York is in Ontario (I'm assuming you and your friend are n Ontario), installing anything other then a green light will get the volunteer ff in serious trouble.

According to the Ontario HTA, volunteers may use a green light when responding to a call. Anything other then that ie headlight/taillight strobes could land your friend in serious trouble.

Do your friend a favour and keep it legal. The best thing a friend such as you could do in this case is to advise him of the law. If he still persists in adding the wannabe cop stuff then let him go elsewhere.

[ExKa|iBuR]

I checked with some police friends of mine.

(Yes, we're both in Ontario).

A volunteer FF can use as much Green as he/she wants.
Headlight/Taillight strobes are okay, as long as they are green

ANY person can use amber. Any citizen in Ontario can put amber on their car and use it. There's a section about Improper use of a light. If you were driving down the road with the thing on, yeah, you could probably get nailed with it. But, if you have a legit. use, no worries.

The way the law is written, once you arrive "on-scene", you must shut off your green light. This is where the Amber comes into play. I don't think he wants to get hit from behind.

Anyway...this is the setup I was thinking:

Green strobes in the front lights (hide-a-ways)
Amber strobes in the rear reverse lights
Having some lights mounted on the deck (amber and green)

He's allowed to have an Air-Horn in the car (anyone in Ontario is), but not a siren, Gall's sells a unit that will take care of that nicely.

[Code3Response]

You can get that unit made by whelen for the airhorn/PA only, which would run you around $130, or just snag any old siren, and only use the PA/Airhorn function. If your REALLY freaked out about it, unsolder/cut the wires going to the siren tones, so it couldnt work if you tried. A cheaper alternative to the PA thing, but then again, "money is no object"

[nmfire10]

OK then, I think my first plan will have to be modified then. Here is the Revised NMFIRE10 lighting plan...

Nix the lightbar.

Front:
Green Hideaways in the corner lights
Green/Green LED "M" Slimlighter on the dash or above mirrow

Rear:
2 green Dashking remote strobes on the deck
1 Amber/Amber Slimlighter "M" on the center of the back deck

[ptemplin]

You can get that unit made by whelen for the airhorn/PA only, which would run you around $130, or just snag any old siren, and only use the PA/Airhorn function. If your REALLY freaked out about it, unsolder/cut the wires going to the siren tones, so it couldnt work if you tried. A cheaper alternative to the PA thing, but then again, "money is no object"

Or be a crazy wacko like me (don't worry, this is only a dream so far), and install the new Federal Signal e-Q2B (you know, the Q with the 30 amp draw instead of the 100 amp draw, and complete with "real" air horn) into a POV. Since the eQ allows external switches to control it, wire it up so in "normal" mode, the siren is only connected to the speaker when the air horn is being activated, so no other siren sounds can be generated. In "full" mode, the whole thing works. Now all I need is the $1700 for the siren...

[nmfire10]

I've always thought the Whelen X-Ecutor was pretty neat.

Q-Siren sound w/ Brake
Wail
Yelp
Piercer
Grover Air Horn
And here's the kicker... Dinging Bell

[ptemplin]

The Whelen Xecutor may be cool, but that Q grill on the front of my Excursion should end up turning a bunch of heads.

[KitN1MCC]

nice antennas now those are real antennas