National Park Service 2016 Ford PIU

[TACKLEBERRY]

I posted this video of our newest cruiser several weeks ago in the Whelen Carbide thread, but had a few PMs asking that I post it here with an equipment list.

Still waiting on the vehicle graphics from Unicor (the one vendor Washington now requires us to go through for markings). Going on 6 months.

Whelen Products:
CenCom Carbide
WeCan Amplifier
WeCan 16 Expansion Module 2X
WeCan Liberty II blue/white front blue/red/amber rear
MirrorBeam blue
Ion Duo 6X blue/white 2X red/amber
Ion 6X blue
M2 2X blue
Avenger Trio 2X
Vertex 4X white 2X red
Howler

Troy Products:
Console
Trunk Vault

Setina Products:
Pushbars
Dual side-by-side rifle/shotgun mount

Misc:
Factory OEM Wig-Wag
Nova Strobe Emitter
Havis iPad dash mount w/iKey bluetooth keyboard

 

[coopers]

Do you do the install yourself or does Washington require you to go to a specific company?

 

[pdk9]

Tack, u seriously always impress me with some of the best upfits!!! No offense to the other members here, but nothing excites me more than Tackleberry, Andy L's, or Cajun's posts (unfortunately those 3 happen to be ppl that now post very sporadically)!

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Do you do the install yourself or does Washington require you to go to a specific company?

Yes, I do the installs myself. ...well, for those that I can. Couldn't do the CanTrol or bluePRINT ones. Another reason I like the Carbide; I can do the installs. I have a little bit of OCD and the installations done by the two local large "professional outfitters" is atrocious. Quality and cleanliness has gone down the drain as they've become all about the numbers. I also have a faster turn around time. This car took me 8 days to do. The last bluePRINT install took 4 weeks.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Tack, u seriously always impress me with some of the best upfits!!! No offense to the other members here, but nothing excites me more than Tackleberry, Andy L's, or Cajun's posts (unfortunately those 3 happen to be ppl that now post very sporadically)!

Thanks pdk9! That means a lot coming from you. You're probably one of the more critical critics here...but I agree with a lot of your suggestions.

Unfortunately we don't have a very large fleet and I'm a full time officer, so logistically it can be tough to take me off shift for 2 weeks and let me work in the garage putting together a vehicle.

 

[bmd224]

That's a lot of lighting for the NPS! I wonder why they don't just use a lightbar only? What large highways or boulevards are they patrolling?

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

That's a lot of lighting for the NPS! I wonder why they don't just use a lightbar only? What large highways or boulevards are they patrolling?

I work in Lowell MA, which is one of the most populated cities in the state. The park a majority of the downtown area. We do traffic enforcement on the main roads coming into and leaving the city, along with many others. Also Minute Man is right down the road and we work joint patrols there, which is Rt2A. A long stretch of road people use as a connector from 95 to Rt2.

 

[acala91]

This is a great install! Love all the features built into the Carbide, especially the night time steady flash. Only changes I would make are swapping the intersection M2 for an M4 and eliminating the rear spoiler mount Ions altogether. The integration with the carbide and duo colors are really cool but I feel they are unnecessary being that close to the lightbar. The Liberty, LP ions and the HAWs are the perfect amount of rear warning IMO.

 

[JazzDad]

I work in Lowell MA, which is one of the most populated cities in the state. The park a majority of the downtown area. We do traffic enforcement on the main roads coming into and leaving the city, along with many others. Also Minute Man is right down the road and we work joint patrols there, which is Rt2A. A long stretch of road people use as a connector from 95 to Rt2.

And we thought it was all moosejams and campsite litter.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

This is a great install! Love all the features built into the Carbide, especially the night time steady flash. Only changes I would make are swapping the intersection M2 for an M4 and eliminating the rear spoiler mount Ions altogether. The integration with the carbide and duo colors are really cool but I feel they are unnecessary being that close to the lightbar. The Liberty, LP ions and the HAWs are the perfect amount of rear warning IMO.

So I originally purchased Soundoff dual color flush mount Intersectors (blue/white) for the sides of the pushbars. They looked awesome. Unfortunately they wouldn't work the Carbide while set to steady burn or slave mode. They'd just flicker very faintly. So I had to go into the spare parts box and use what I had.

As for the rear spoiler mounted IONs; The vehicle was originally going to be a slicktop (no lightbar) but then our non-LE management decided to throw their $0.02 in and told us all LE vehicles should be fully marked and have lightbars. Most of the equipment was already purchased and in, so I used it. I like it, and it puts us more uniform with local LE agencies around us, who all run Code3 Citadels with their PIUs with lightbars.

 

[aggmeister2010]

This is a thing of beauty. I'm going to call you when I trade my Tahoe in.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Really wish the Flush Mount Intersectors would have worked. They did look good and were really effective from the front and side.

 

[coopers]

That's a lot of lighting for the NPS! I wonder why they don't just use a lightbar only? What large highways or boulevards are they patrolling?

Out here some places patrolled by NPS are major roadways etc. Only people you'll find in some places are NPS, USFS and WDFW.

 

[coopers]

Tack, u seriously always impress me with some of the best upfits!!! No offense to the other members here, but nothing excites me more than Tackleberry, Andy L's, or Cajun's posts (unfortunately those 3 happen to be ppl that now post very sporadically)!

I agree with PDK9; I also like that you used all Whelen on that install . I'm very OCD when it comes to our fleet and my department thinks I'm mental. I also pull my hair out every year when we get new vehicles and it takes our guy 5 WEEKS!!! to finish one vehicle. My department is finally sending a vehicle to a place south of us that can do an install in about a week. Hopefully we'll switch to them.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

 

[pdk9]

Really wish the Flush Mount Intersectors would have worked. They did look good and were really effective from the front and side.

It's a shame b/c they do look great there. Have you thought about selling them and going with ion duos? I like the nforce reflector & the look of the nforce better, but the ion duo will obviously work better with the carbide ;-)

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

...and she's all striped and road worthy. I HATE the silver non-reflective stripe under the green stripe. It's not even noticeable at most angles. Wish it was made of V82 Reflexite like the front and rear pin stripes on the bumpers and behind the door text (which I had added).

 

[coopers]

hmm, I honestly like the new graphics. Is this your rig?

 

[jph2]

Glad to see it finally got marked. I agree with you on the silver stripe. Looks like the green lettering is reflective; is the green stripe?

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Glad to see it finally got marked. I agree with you on the silver stripe. Looks like the green lettering is reflective; is the green stripe?

Yes, green is the only thing reflective in this package from the government supplier (UNICOR). The Arrowhead, badge, Law Enforcement, and silver stripe aren't reflective. That's why I added the Reflexite front and rear bumper stripe and rear chevrons.

 

[acs680]

Are the factory brake lights flashing with the brake alert or is it just deceiving?

 

[13TTPP]

Considering the attention to detail on your work, I bet you set a dimmer switch on the carbide backlighting. I guess whelen made the buttons illuminate blue to match the most prolific PP vehicle dash, on the one car we have so equipped the installer just left the dimming option untouched. Working dog watch, I am always mindful of how much light and what colors are coming at me from inside the car. Science says red is easier to recover your night vision from, blue - not so much. Really great looking install, I think it's amazing your agency lets you do that stuff as well as regular uniformed patrol, mine won't even let me replace a Unity bulb (cause ignorant).

 

[5309]

Does the agency as a whole have a budget per vehicle or is it set by the individual unit your assigned to? I have seen My county S.O. installs the lights and radios for the parks dept.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Are the factory brake lights flashing with the brake alert or is it just deceiving?

Yes, the brake lights are flashing Brake Alert. They are integrated into the Carbide.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Does the agency as a whole have a budget per vehicle or is it set by the individual unit your assigned to? I have seen My county S.O. installs the lights and radios for the parks dept.

It's the individual parks...Which can be good or bad. I've seen Park Superintendents who won't give a penny to their LE Divisions. Then other Superintendents, who may dislike LE, but know the vehicles are constantly in the public view and represent their parks so they want them to look as nice as possible. ...And sometimes it's up to the individual officer and he/she just doesn't know any better. They get issued a new vehicle and get told to outfit it within a certain budget and they're clueless. Then try to score "brownie points" with management by not spending it all and giving money back.

I've seen NPS vehicles still running Whelen all strobe Edge lightbars with the scoop siren speaker on top. That's it. Not even a wig-wag unit. I've also seen vehicle outfitted entirely of STL lights and sirens.

 

[JazzDad]

...
I've seen NPS vehicles still running Whelen all strobe Edge lightbars with the scoop siren speaker on top. That's it. Not even a wig-wag unit. ...

As the old Bud Light commercials said, "True, true".

 

[RL1]

IThey get issued a new vehicle and get told to outfit it ...

That would be so awesome

 

[John Hearne]

That would be so awesome

We used to do that. Then a guy who had a really nice setup got a decent amount of money to setup his new car. 100% of his old lights transferred and added several thousands of dollars more.

For instance, for rear facing, he had a Tomar lightbar up top, a Whelen Inner Edge on the rear deck, blue leds around the license plates and at least four hideaways in the rear. The front had the full Tomar lightbar, mirrorbeams, an 8 head Dominator Plus, HLF, and LED hideaways. Of course everything was set on the most obnoxious rapid rate and no dimming or reduction in light for stationary was done. It was bad in the day and a nightmare once the sun set.

And this is how we got (mostly) standardized vehicles.

 

[JazzDad]

 

[acs680]

Yes, the brake lights are flashing Brake Alert. They are integrated into the Carbide.

Do you cut the brake light wires and route them through the Carbide? I'm curious to see how you've done this.

 

[SafetyLighting]

Considering the attention to detail on your work, I bet you set a dimmer switch on the carbide backlighting. I guess whelen made the buttons illuminate blue to match the most prolific PP vehicle dash, on the one car we have so equipped the installer just left the dimming option untouched. Working dog watch, I am always mindful of how much light and what colors are coming at me from inside the car. Science says red is easier to recover your night vision from, blue - not so much. Really great looking install, I think it's amazing your agency lets you do that stuff as well as regular uniformed patrol, mine won't even let me replace a Unity bulb (cause ignorant).

I tried to set up a button for the dimmer option in a couple vehicles, but it doesn't work as you'd think it would. When a button is programmed for backlighting, that button has to be on for the backlighting to be on, and when that button is on the red indicator light is on.

 

[coopers]

Any other projects you're working on that you can share?

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Any other projects you're working on that you can share?

Currently in the quotes and purchases stage for equipment for a 2016 Tahoe. Hopefully will start the install in September.

Won't be much different from this PIU. It's going to be unmarked, so no pushbars or Liberty II. The four (4) blue/white IONs will be in the grill on either side of the Chevy "bow tie", M4s with the fog light bezel, and a Inner-Edge DUO WeCan up front. Thinking about using a Code3 Citadel with "dumb" dual color Micro-Thins to work with the Carbide. It just has a more "finished" look then the ION spoiler bracket.

Should be a nice setup. ...then I can hand this PIU off and take the Tahoe.

 

[coopers]

Cool. Looking forward to it. Your PIU is pretty neat btw. I know you wanted a slick top but it still rocks. Like Tahoes with PBs. You don't want one?

 

[Sean Patrick Foley]

I posted this video of our newest cruiser several weeks ago in the Whelen Carbide thread, but had a few PMs asking that I post it here with an equipment list.

Still waiting on the vehicle graphics from Unicor (the one vendor Washington now requires us to go through for markings). Going on 6 months.

Whelen Products:
CenCom Carbide
WeCan Amplifier
WeCan 16 Expansion Module 2X
WeCan Liberty II blue/white front blue/red/amber rear
MirrorBeam blue
Ion Duo 6X blue/white 2X red/amber
Ion 6X blue
M2 2X blue
Avenger Trio 2X
Vertex 4X white 2X red
Howler

Troy Products:
Console
Trunk Vault

Setina Products:
Pushbars
Dual side-by-side rifle/shotgun mount

Misc:
Factory OEM Wig-Wag
Nova Strobe Emitter
Havis iPad dash mount w/iKey bluetooth keyboard

What does PUI stand for?

If I could restart my career I would have become a NPS LE Ranger. Nothing beats the great outdoors.

 

[firebuff17]

Ford PIU=
Police Interceptor Utility

 

[Station 3]

Thats alot of stuff for a cop to understand... i bet that about %98 of the officers out there dont give a shit and just want the woowoos and blinkies to turn on with one button and thats it LOL just like every other cop i have met out here. Im the only nerd in the area that cares about flash patterns and features.

 

[TACKLEBERRY]

Thats alot of stuff for a cop to understand... i bet that about %98 of the officers out there dont give a shit and just want the woowoos and blinkies to turn on with one button and thats it LOL just like every other cop i have met out here. Im the only nerd in the area that cares about flash patterns and features.

There's nothing to understand. The Carbide/CanTrol/bluPRINT does it all for you. All the officer needs to do is slide the slide switch to 1, 2, or 3. (1-rear only, 2-front rear, 3-front rear wig-wag and emitter). When the officer puts the car in park, the Cabide changes the pattern to the park day/night pattern. If the officer presses steering wheel horn while in position 2/3, the front flood overrides and flashes.

If you really wanted to get crazy, you have the Traffic Advisor options. But even that will only come on when the vehicle is in park and will shut off when shifted back in drive.

 

[acs680]

Right... All of these features and options were basically useless until Cantrol/Blueprint came along letting the smart vehicle do the work while the dumb cop just does what he's always done. Our department uses Federal and I can't do half of this stuff.

 

[kitn1mcc]

nice looking rig

 

[John Hearne]

Right... All of these features and options were basically useless until Cantrol/Blueprint came along letting the smart vehicle do the work while the dumb cop just does what he's always done. Our department unfortunately uses Federal and I can't do half of this stuff.

You can accomplish a lot of the basic functionality with just a Cencom Gold and some thoughtful programming. We've run essentially the same install since 2012 which features auto switching between in-motion and stationary modes. This accomplishes most of what you need to maximize safety. For instance: http://elightbars.org/forums/threads/2012-nps-dodge-charger.39038/#post-345777

We have three Blueprint systems in service and are pretty happy with them. The big advantage with these systems is the ease of install. We are no longer running wires all over the vehicle. We aren't relying on relays and introducing points of failure. It makes life a lot easier once you get get the first one built and the initial program written.