I do a lot of work with my personal vehicle which requires me to stop along busy roads/interstates.

I already have a portable magnetic amber light bar which I use (and sometimes forget) however I would like to add some additional strobes to my truck. I would prefer to mount them either in the bumper or just below my existing taillights.

In my searching the net I have found this type of light which I like:http://www.florawrecker.com/cgi-bin/...TANGULARMARKER

My questions are:
How hard would it be to connect these up and make them strobe, what other equipment would I need?
Could I say tie the system into the existing hazard switch to turn on or would a separate switch to control them be better/easier/faster?

Any help or other insights would be great.

Thanks all

 

If you are going to use a normal LED, it would be best to hook it to a wig-wag, don't know if that is what you are after.

If you want high flash rate LEDs, look to something made for it, like the Whelen Lightheads or the Star lightheads.

http://www.sirennet.com/led_ext.html

These have settings inside the LED head that are selected to the flash rate and pattern that you want to use ( For the Whelen units at least, don't know if Star is selectable, or if you need that ).

On my '01 I had a set of the 60 series 6" oval S/T/T lamps in my cap door and the 44 series B/U LED lamp heads under the bumper, using the straight mount bracket.


You don't make note if you have a Cap or a headache rack to mount them to. Big thing is getting them up hig, so they are noticable.

You could wire these to the 4 way, but maybe a better use is a seperate switch for activating them.

As for mounting them through the bumper, good luck cutting the chrome finish on it, without tons of peeling going on. I have yet to see it done, without a re-chrome.

Got a pic of the truck, to use as a basis ?

 

Wig-Wags work best in daytime. Strobes don't work as good.

A wheelen strobe controller and a some clear strobes mounted in your headlights is the way to go!

It's illegal though unless you get a certification sticker.

 

I have installed numerous sets of strobes in vehicles (whelen sets) and they are very beneficial. You do not necessarily need a permit for them. You will most likely need a permit if you install them in your headlights. However, if you install them in a different light (mainly your turn signals or marker lights) you should be fine. Also, if you are not driving down the road with them on (using them as a means of an emergency vehicle) you should be ok. These strobes are the way that many tow truck companies and construction companies are going. They are not hard to install. A lot of companies have even gone to a new bulb that has a rubber stopper on them instead of using the rubber gasket.

 

Just a claification. Wig wag is a flash pattern, not a type of light. When you have a wig wag pattern, your lights flash alternately from side to side. You can get this pattern with LED's, stobes, even regular bulbs. Laws vary from state to state on what color and pattern you can use.

As for my 2 cents on what you might try, it depends on how much work you want to put into it. Portable light bars can be very effective - if mounted correctly. If they're not mounted level with the road - particularly front to back - you loose a ton of effectiveness. Bang for the buck wise, they're tough to beat.

A good strobe can be just as good as a good halogen rotator. Good LED's are about the best. Rotators are generally the least expensive, strobes go for a bit more, and good LED's are stupid expensive right now. By the way, LED Marker Lights (like the ones you showed) are not the same as LED's designed for warning lights. LED warning lights actually use a small lens on top of the LED's to magnify size, brightness and therefore effect.

If you want to see what I did (for similar reasons) on the roof of my truck, check out my gallery. It's mondo effective and relatively inexpensive.

 

2stroked,

You are not kidding. The Whelen 700 Series that I used to replace my Tail / Stop lamp on my bike was ~ 110.00 for a single unit. Nice part, I have it set to 4 quick flashes, then constant on, when I apply the breaks. Quite effective.

On:


Off :


Light pattern it thows on the wall ~ 5' behind the bike :


For my '06 SCrew I got the Whelen 600 Series for the brake lamps in the cap, rather then the 6" oval 60 series straight LED lamp heads. The 400 Series were ~ 70.00 each.

If you have ~ 500.00 in your light bar, that would only pay for ~ 4 of the Whelen LED light heads, and might not offer the same amount of coverage as you rlight bar.

 

SSCULLY,

Yup, as much as I love the look of LED's, they're just too expensive right now, but that will change. The other problem with LED"s up here in the great white north is their lack of heat generation. A halgen - and even a strobe - light bar will eventually melt snow and ice. With LED's that doesn't happen. For what I've got into my light bar, it's well worth it. By the way, adding an LED "stick" (row of eight amber LED blocks) to the lower level of my bar would have added over $800.00 to the price. No thanks.

 

sscully, chester8420, jhndere, 23stroked thanks all for your replies and input.

To answer some of your questions sscully my truck is pretty much a stock '02 F150 Crew Cab. I do have a fiberglass A.R.E. topper on it. I understand your point about mounting these lights high as possible to make them visible. I wouldn’t mind mounting them on my topper however there are times I take my topper off when of course I have to haul something large or just don’t want to have it on anymore. This is why I suggested the bumper and I do appreciate your comment about the possibility of the chrome chipping/flaking do to drilling for the lights. That really leaves me the tailgate or somewhere else around the taillights.

I really don’t need to modify my headlights (and cannot modify them) to flash (wig-wam). It is illegal in my state to modify the existing lights on my vehicle in that way. Whether I was moving or standing still. I could probably get away with turn front turn signals since they are amber, however my rear tail lights are all red and I cannot modify that (or the white backup lights).

I’m not sure about the permit process to allow me to do any modifications like that. My guess is that there would be a lot of red tape involved and probably some money to pay and I just don’t want to get into that. I’m not really considered an emergency vehicle such as a police car, ambulance or tow truck. Anything amber I do to my truck is ok.

I’m not really too worried about oncoming traffic anyways because they seem to see my portable amber light bar coming at me vs. vehicles coming from behind especially if I am parked on a facing downwards on a hill my topper tends to block my light bar from the rear.

From a link that sscully posted I think a few lights like this:http://www.sirennet.com/starledligld1.html would work perfectly for me.

My question would be when mounting do I run new power to these lights specifically with a switch to control them or can I splice them in to the wiring harness off my brake lights and switch them on or off that way?

 

This may sound blindingly simple, but what about mounting the light bar on the topper instead of the truck cab? That way you'd get 360 degree visibility. I've also seen one bar on the truck and one on the cap, but I think that's a bit of over kill.

 

Ash575,

Those are not bad at all to installed into sheet metal. Dad and I added a set of the red ones on his 38' Itasca RV up high on the outside edge, and hooked them to to the stock S/T/T lamps lower on the back. Added some nice bright lights up high.

The Star lamps seem to be fixed config at 72 Flashes / min, don't know if that is good enough for you ( that is why they are cheaper then the Whelen ones, at least one reason I should say ).

If you are good with drilling your tail gate, you can take the inside panel off, and locate the position you want, drill both outsides with a hole saw, and then use a metal cut off blade on a Dremel tool or RotoZip to connect the 2 outside holes, to make the oval. That is what Dad and I did, and it worked fine. Run the wiring on the inside of the tail gate, and then at the bottom in the corner, drill a hole, use a gromet, and run the wiring out the bottom, to use the truck.

With hooking them to the tail lamps, not a good idea. Any time you put on your brakes, these would also light up. If you want to hook them to a switch in the back, and run them to the trailer battery circuit, that would work. Use something like a Carling Tech water proof switch ( online or at boat shops under the Cole-Hersey name ). The other option is to follow the driver's side loom, and take the circuit up into the cab, and mount the switch up there, maybe on the Anti-Submarine panel ?? ( thread on where are you moutning your switches in the Electrical section ).

2stroked has a good idea, of mounting your light bar on the cap seems to make more sense.
If you have the Yakama ladder rack for it, you can use a Yakama adapter to mount it. Then a similar Yakama adapter can be used for the cab, if you have the topper off. You could even use the Yakama high tower mounts to get some height out of it, so it is visable front and rear. When youa re done with it ( weekends ) you can just take if off.

 

Just another thought. I'm not sure if you've got a hard tonneau (topper?) or a cap (small camper type shell that mounts to the bed). If you've got a hard tonneau, have you considered the setup the cops use when they open their trucks? It's generally a set of red and/or amber wig wags that swing down from the (open) trunk lid. This would avoid cutting tailgate sheet metal and all of the possible corrosion and water leak issues that will come with it.

Another really easy fix is a "Line of Fire" LED strip that mounts to the bottom of your tailgate. I installed one for a friend last winter on an F-350 plow truck and it was VERY effective - and inexpensive to boot!

 

Its a fiberglass topper. My light bar is magnetic so it wont really work well with out some slight modifications to the topper, like adding a piece of metal underneith it so the magnets could catch on something but there isnt really anything to mount it too. I guess I could get something that had suction cups on it. But I like the idea of mounting these additional lights as a good backup if I leave my light bar in the garage (which I do more often).

Thanks again everyone great ideas and input!

 

Ash575

Just a quick thought.... I did not see where or if you mentioned how many rotators your warning light has in it? My current light that I have a got from 2stroked, and when he says that his light is bright, he is not kidding

Anyways back on topic.... my light has two rotators and it has a diamond shaped mirror in the middle so I end up getting the same amount of flashes to the front and rear of my vehicle. So for each 360 degree rotation of the light, I get 4 flashes and with both rotators I get 8 flashes.

You may want to consider upgrading to a two rotator light or if you already have a two rotator light see if you could maybe add a mirror in it to increase your flash numbers.

 

Just for my 2 cents.... I work with a vol. fire dept, and have added strobes to my lightning. I checked with Gall's, and they have strobe kits for reasonable (?) prices. You can specify the color you need. You can also check on E-Bay, they always have led and strobe kits on there. If you are going to use Amber, they are very plentiful on E-Bay, and most are from repitable dealers that are selling overstock or slow movers from their stores.
Check Gall's, Southwest, StrobesforMore.com, ect.......

A stobe light below the bumper(back), or in the grill(front) work very well. White during the day will get more attention that amber....Whole lot more at night!!

Dale

 

Thanks Neil! Yes, If he had one of my modified light bars, being seen would not be a problem!