I recently undertook the daunting task of seeking out a new lightbar for my 84 F-150(work truck-towing etc..). I honestly did not think it was going to be this hard or pricey. LOL

I've checked out Whelen, Code 3 and a bunch of other truck lighting sights and haven't found anything remotely affordable. I checked ebay out also and wasn't all that impressed.

I'm looking to buy something full sized, eye catching and affordable(used or new) between 100-200 bucks.

Anyone have any site recommendations? or a place I haven't looked yet?

thanks a bunch everyone

 

Ahh, a post where I get to use my expertise.

I can tell you right now that $200 is NOT going to get you a flashy cool brand new lightbar. You might get away with a 52" StreetHawk, or older Edge with J-tubes and a double-flash power supply. Since you're using it on an 80's F-150 with a long roofline (60" IIRC), you'll need a decent sized bar so as not to look goofy, or a couple of minibars on either end.

Go to http://www.lightbarsetc.com, http://www.lightbars.net, and most of all, http://www.elightbarsforum.org. Between the three you should be able to find what you need.

SnubNose

 

Hey there Translucent & SnubNose! Welcome to FTE!
A couple of good sites there! I'm always searching for good deals and sometimes willing to travel(50-60Mi) sometimes. I'll hit the swap meets and about 3 times a year, the D.O.T. purchases new vehicles and auctions off equipment and lighting. Just a couple more places to check out! Talk with you guys later....

 

Hey guys, thanks for the recommendations. After surfing a ton of sites I finally decided to give ebay another chance.

I found a Federal Signal Steethawk light bar with takedown lights, alley lights, amber rear flashers, intersection sweeps and a clear center fast revolver. Also included in the auction was an extra set of brand new mounts, 2 brand new amber domes and a set of blue and red lenses(which I'll probably sell at a later date).

I got all of this for $250 dollars. I think I made out pretty good?

Here's my question, although I know my way around my 84 F-150 pretty well, I'm not to experienced when it comes to automotive electrical work. Somebody had told me to buy a "switch box"?

Any resources on the web I could look at to install this excellent lightbar. I also just got my hands on a pair of KC lights from my brother which I'm going to install as well with the new light bar.

Thanks in advance!

 

Hey Translucent!
You got an excellent deal on that light bar! Thats $800.00 retail!
The switch box you can make yourself, or get a decent one from Ron Francis, Dakota Digital, Galls, there's some others.
But what you want is to have a switch and fuse for each light feature for your light bar. So far, I count 6 functions, so you would need 6 switch panel. I would imagine that you will want a clean installation, so I would go down to an electrical supply and pick up about 15' of 6, 7, or 8 conductor wire. Depending on the over-all diameter of the sheathing, I would try to stay around 1/2". As you have taken the light bar apart by now, you'll have noticed the terminal bar is where you'll hook uo all your wiring to.
If you decide to make your own switch panel, make sure you put the fuses where you can get to them fairly easily. No sense taking your light bar apart to change a fuse! I think the amp draw rating was 18.0 with just the rotators. With all the others, you may want to invest in a higher amp alternator if you don't already have one...
Good luck with it.... We'll talk with you later....

 

$250 is a pretty good deal for an all-light StreetHawk.

You don't necessarily need a switch box to control it all, a lot of people simply buy aftermarket switches from Radio Shack, install them wherever it's convenient, and wire the functions to that. If you desire a more professional looking setup, a switch box is a good idea.

What kind of box you want depends on how much control you want over the lightbar. The takedowns would be one circuit, rear flashers a second, and the alleys can each be a third and fourth, and the rotators would be five. My recommendation though is that with that many rotators and oscillators, you should use a slide switch box to increase the warning level in steps. Too much light can be a hazard to other drivers by blinding them unnecessarily, so being able to turn off the intersection lights and the center rotator could be an asset. One of the best switch boxes is the Federal Signal SW400SS:



The slide switch has four positions (position 1 being off), and will allow you to control the rotators according to the situation. Position 1 could activate the rotators, position 2 would activate the center rotator, and finally at position 3 the intersection sweeps come on. The four remaining red toggle switches can control the takedowns, rear flashers, left alley, and rear alley. All of the switches are fused and support up to 20 amps, so if you blow a fuse they're easy to replace. These boxes are usually available on eBay also, or at the links I posted above.

You may need another alternator with that many lights. At full tilt your bar could be pulling close to 50 amps, but it's doubtful you'll have every option lit at the same time. If you don't plan on running the takedowns simultaneously with the rotators and alleys you can probably get away with the factory alternator. Assuming all of the lamps in the rotators and the intersections are 55 watt H1, that's about 30 amps will all of them running. The takedowns and alleys will be the 50 watt S795, and the rear flashers (unless someone's changed them) should be the 35 watt S796.

When wiring the lightbar, make sure the ground has a good solid connection. Test each lead coming out of the lightbar harness and label it according to what it does, and connect it to the switch box accordingly. The biggest thing won't really be wiring it up; a lightbar like this is relatively simple if you have a modicum of knowledge on electrical systems. The biggest thing is making a CLEAN install, and routing the wiring properly and cleanly so that it doesn't look like a rat's nest. If that doesn't concern you though, have at it.

If you need specific help wiring the bar, post some pics or at least some specifics about the wiring and I'll do my best to help.

SnubNose

 

Hey guys, thanks for all of the advice, particularly snubnose. I'm probably going to get a friend of mine that knows automotive elctrical inside and out to install it for me. He said he could probably build a box for me or find a used one for somewhere.

Problem is, the guy didn't send me the "rainguard" mounts for the sides of the light. After looking around I could only find complete mount kits. I was given the bottom suspension mounts with rubber feelers on the bottom. But no hard mounting acessories.

Anybody know where I could find these missing mount pieces?

Thanks in advance,

 

Hey there Translucent! Thanks for getting back to us! I had a Sonic Light Bar with the same problem. I bought a roof mount luggage rack for $10.00 at K-Mart and used the brackets from it. It worked ok for me. I had the light bar on three separate vehicles and never had a problem. Good luck buddy and we'll talk with you later....