When perusing my local parts store I came accross an interesting item, a strobe kit.

I've always thought that police cars with strobes in the headlights (like unmarked cars) were really cool. I always said that i would have strobes in my headlights - a great by product would be improved visibility of my truck in a hazard situation.

This kit includes 2 strobe tubes/bulbs, wiring, and a variable speed controller. I think it is design to allow one to drill into back side of a modern HID assembly (comes with an o-ring).

Anybody seen or installed any of these?

 

Check on your local traffic laws. It is likely illegal to run those on the roads if you are not driving a bonafide emergency vehicle

 

I have a set I put in my driving lights. I just drilled thru the back like you said. Mine came with different color covers for the strobes so I used the blue ones. I wouldn't dare turn them on when I'm on the road but they're fun at the mudhole. The only downsides- theyre not as brite as the ones on police cars. You can barely see them in the day. Also the little black box with the speed control isnt water proof. I had to silicone mine.

 

There are lots of strobes on eBay. And I have catalogs that do list the police/fire type of strobes. They are not cheap. Not rocket science to install, but the good ones cost money. Back when I was desperately trying to upgrade emergency lighting on an old ambulance, I found the most bang for my buck was a cheap and simply headlight wigwag kit. You can make one yourself, if you want to. The #537 flasher is for alternating lights. Just wigwag the high beams and they'll see you. But don't do it on the highway.

Back when I thought my daughter was going to attend the U 0f W, and I was worried about urban unrest, I was planning to give her the 1967 Thunderbird (a nice looking tank, capable of triple digit speeds) and build in a siren. I've got one or two left over from my Vol. Fire Chief days. The kind of people who riot and drag innocent victims out of cars or overturn cars, do not associate good experiences with police sirens. I figured if she got into a riot scene, she could hit the siren and then use the right hand pedal. The people who get dragged out of cars and beaten to a pulp are all people who stopped.
Strobes are fun, but don't get yourself into legal trouble. I have a yellow strobe on one of my trucks, and I'm planning one on my tractor.

 

Thanks for the input guys! I have not bought the kit, yet. But i am interested in the most bang for the buck. Can you give me more detail on the "wig-wag" setup?

 

If you want a pair of lights to wig-wag, get a #537 flasher. It has three terminals. One is supply, and two are load, but they flash alternately.

I can probably dig up a wiring diagram somewhere, if needed, but the common setup is to wig-wag your high beam elements, and have it wired to switching to high beam overrides the wig-wag. So if you have your headlights off, or on low beam, the high beams alternate. If you click the dimmer to high, the high beams go on steady.

Another cute setup to make older cars (before four way flashers) safer when stopped along the road, has been marketed as "flash-back" and "traffic-backer." It's a #537 flasher and a switch, wired so that it alternately flashes brake lights and backup lights. Imagine the view from the rear, as the vehicle flashes red-white-red-white. I did it one a Scout that had tractor floods for backup lights. If we'd kept the '58 Cadillac, I'd have wired one up on that car.

That's enough to give you ideas. I'm sure you'll think of more...

 

just a thought to remember. in most states, any kind of flashing lights are illegal without a permit. using them can result in a charge of impersonating a police officer.

 

About the only thing most states will let you use is a flashing red to the rear of the vehicle and some will allow amber as well.

Anything flashing to the sides or front and you will likely get a ticket and maybe a court date. The other colors (blue, red, white, green) are reserved for official use or with a special use permit granted to Police, Fire, EMS, and Volunteer Fire/Rescue.

 

Good point I don't imagine the Left Coast states are much behind the Police State of New Jersey, when it comes to that. My curiosity lies in a area of possession. Obviously, I could fire up any sort of flashing lights when I'm at home on the ranch and don't leave my own property. But what if I'm on a public highway and they detect that I have a siren or a flasher of some kind?

Frankly, the wig-wag and the rid-white rear flasher are pretty easy to hide when you're not using them.

In most places, I don't think you'll get into trouble for showing amber lights, but I'd check it out.

BTW, another insight from my Vol. Fire Chief days: I went to a class on emergency lighting. We got to the problem of looky-loos and gawkers plugging up a scene. The Instructor said "Hey, we set up a carnival for them. Are you suprised they stopped to look?" Good point. Up until then, I just always figured more was better. I wanted my aid cars to look like the mother ship from Close Encounters. But he made me think a bit. The lights and othe warning devices need to be intelligently placed and used to communicate what we want.

Research done by placing various vehicles along the road with different flashers and such, showed that you get the best rests with amber beacons and reflective cones. People see a police flasher, and they only slow down for a moment. The figure "he's already nailed another victim," so they gas it. Most people are NOT as familiar with emergency scenes as rescue people, so they are as sure how to react to emergency vehicles. But EVERYONE has seen plenty of construction zones. They know yellow flashers and cones mean slow down because something is going one, maybe it's really rough, maybe you'll be detoured to another lane, but slow down.

In general, if you have an amber beacon handy, and you have some flares, you're pretty well prepared.
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I looked in to this too, just do a google search for wigwags. It will turn up all kinds of stuff. It is illeagal though so watch out for that!

jason
77 f100

 

VERY WELL SAID!!! the lights on both of my trucks are high. the top of the light bar on the 79 is 8.5 feet, and the top of the bar on the 88 is 9.5 ft. you can see the lights on both trucks from over 1 mile away in the day. these trucks get used for escorting oversized loads, and need to be seen.
the crown vic has strobes on the rear deck and reverse lights. and center grill and corner lights in front. this is not a far visability car, it is my personal vehicle, and the lights are for roadside warning.

 

check out http://www.galls.com They are a supplier of public service\emergency vehicle equipment. They will sell most things to anyone, but a few items are restricted.

 

I had that... sucked at day, awesome at night. Very illegal though.

..but I do wonder if white strobe lights are illegal.. you know how some vehicles have white flashers when there's fog?

 

Those vehicles are required to have a permit.
White strobes are not any more legal. If everybody was aloud to have them installed in their vehicle, it would make them less effective a a warning tool as they are used by permitted vehicles.

Quit frankly, if you don't need them for official purposes why would you want them on your vehicle. They will only confuse other driver's which can create a dangerous situation for you and other driver's if you use them even on your own property.

Anyone that has emergency lights on their vehicle knows that the lights ultimately can be a liability. There will always be looky loos that will take their eyes off the road to see what the excitement is about. Trust me... I've been running them on my personal vehicle since 1987.

 

ain't that the truth!!! a few years ago, we were moving a cat D8-K with a 14 ft blade. 2 trucks in the front, 2 trucks in the rear, oversize load signs all over the place, corners of the blade painted safety orange, and a looky loo in a van still hit the dozer blade. 2 months later i get a notice that he was going to sue for damages to his vehicle(it was totaled) and pain and suffering.the thing that saved my company was the 11 witnesses, the digital camera that took pictures of the fleet, and the 6 tickets the cop gave to the driver of the van. it still cost almost $7000 to defend myself though. i was going to go after him for defense costs till my lawyer found out he did not have a pot to pee in.