My issued 2010 Ford Explorer

[PTRJason]

This is my issued unit. I added steady burns to the lightbar and put them on position two

Position 1: Rear corners of Liberty, traffic advisor, rear Whelen LEDs in back window, and Whelen HAW LEDs in reverse lamps

Position 2: same as one with steady burn red and blues to the front

Position 3: full bar with flashing TD and AL, HAW LEDs in headlights, HLF, Setina push bumper with Whelen LINZ6 built into front bar and also mounted on sides, and Whelen TIR3s mounted in the grill.

I also added a Motorola ML900 to it with a Gamber Johnson dock and floor kit for an Explorer. Added a Sirius XM radio and Dock. And added a shotgun rack to the top of the partition since none were ever put it and my shotty and long gun were in a case in the back of the SUV.

I just ordered an AR mount so I plan on trying to out that between the seats if I can without moving the video system DVR that is there.

All the lights and everything were already on it. I just added the steady burn to the bar and made it so they come on in position two.

It is a Code-3 Mastercom and they had it so that the built in park kill killed position 3 when in park. So it was hooked up so position two was everything except white light. Three was white light. When in three and you hit park, it reverts back to position two, which is all but no HLF, TD or AL.

I also added a SoundOff dome light.

 

[chief1562]

Looks nice.


Might I suggest something on the pushbar and maybe something in the back window.


If you have a mastercom you should have enough switchs for the add ons.


Just my .25 worth of suggestions.

 

[PTRJason]

There are already LINz6s on the push bumper two to the sides and two to the front. And two Whelen Dual Dominators with TIR3 mounted in the rear window .


And I am actually out of switches lol. There is one free but it can not be used unless another power wire is hooked up to it. And that would be too much work in the small area.


But it has LA, TD, RA, Pass Spotlight, free, and then brake light/ reverse light cut off.

 

[chief1562]

There are already LINz6s on the push bumper two to the sides and two to the front. And two Whelen Dual Dominators with TIR3 mounted in the rear window .

And I am actually out of switches lol. There is one free but it can not be used unless another power wire is hooked up to it. And that would be too much work in the small area.


But it has LA, TD, RA, Pass Spotlight, free, and then brake light/ reverse light cut off.

Oh I didn't see them? Kinda blended in. i just clicked on the picture of the frt of the truck and it's alot better pic of them.

 

[PTRJason]

I am trying to upload a crappy iPhone video of all the position if I can find an app that wants to work with me right now. Lol.

 

[RES347CUE]

Looks good

 

[acala91]

Looks good. :thumbsup:

 

[PTRJason]

 

[PTRJason]

I added a crappy night video, and also added the AR 15 mount between my seats now.


I added my Glock 27 in a Serpa holster under the steering wheel for easy access.

 

[firemedic10584]

It's actually a pretty good setup. The only thing I would do is the front LEDs should be on an alternating pattern. All blue then all red and back and forth in that manner. The LAWs in the headlights are great at night if you're not using the headlights but they're being wasted in there. If you're aloud to change lights around then I would pull those out and utilize them elsewhere where they will be better utilized.

 

[PTRJason]

Yeah I would move them too. The sister unit to mine has them mounted in the driving lights which look a lot better.


Reason I think that they put them there was that mine was done first, and the headlight housings are dual layers so they had to cut out a large hole. Then drill into the headlight. Then mount the LEDs and then seal up the larger hole. So I think after they did all that they mounted the HAWs in the driving lights on the other unit. So since they are already sealed and all that I will just leave them.


They still punch though at the right angle. And I am enought side warning with the push bumper that I am not too worried about it. And I don't have really any intersections to clear anyway, and the ones I do have, there are never cars for 20 miles.


And I do want to change the bumper lights. It was added after the install I guess and just hooked up, so I havnt had a chance, nor a large desire to track down the wiring to find the pattern wire. The LEDs in the grill were synced with the HAWs but the bumper wasn't on at the time.


I am going to try to install another speaker tomorrow on my day off so I may try to mess with the pattern for the PB

 

[PTRJason]

Changed the patterns on the push bumper. The sync is not hooked to the TIR3s in the grill so they flash different then the grille lights. But I don't care.


I made them flash a faster more urgent pattern then the Sig-Alert pattern ALL of the other lights are on.


I also changed the pattern on the side of the push bumper to a fast flash pattern to give more urgent warning to the side for clearing streets and highways.


I also found out where the speaker is mounted, under the drivers headlight, so one day I am going to try to move it to the push bumper along with my Dynamax that I have to put there. That way the sound is not blocked like it is now.


Here is the new video I took today, the two on the front of the bar are steady burn, not flashing like the video shows. But it picked up the frequency they are flashing to make it steady burn.

.

Also ordered a Panasonic CF-19 MK5 laptop, and a dock to replace the Motorola ML900 I am using now. Should be a little lighter and a lot smaller so it won't take up as much room.

 

[acala91]

After watching that new video I have a couple suggestions. I would move the rear D2s to the upper part of the 3rd windows for side warning and replace them in the rear with a Strobes N More E66 light stick. The large blocks of red and blue would be a lot more effective. Secondly, I would rotate the LINZ6s on the sides of the push bar 90 degrees to take advantage of the off axis output. You can really see in the night video how much light is being wasted with them being mounted vertically.

 

[PTRJason]

I would move them and buy another bar but those are the lights that came with it and the sister unit has the same set up.


The lightbar is not blocked at all by the roof since it is a short vehicle and not like a Tahoe. So the rear of the bar is still easily seen.


As for the LINZ6. I have though about it. But the push bumper was made with the lights installed like that. I may move them one day, if I get a plug in drill that will let me drill trough the thick metal.


I only have a 18v cordless drill and the battery won't last lol.


I do wish they were horizontal though.

 

[acala91]

The steel on those pushbars isn't that thick, with a good bit you should have no problem drilling through it with a cordless.

 

[PTRJason]

Here is a video I took on an old mine road of what the unit looks like when rolling code.


I don't have a tripod so excuse the camera placement, just used a cheap Flip camera with a rock behind it to stand it up.


I did a shot driving away, and coming at it. Then I went back in front and turned across the road both ways so you can see the side view. Last shot was me pulling up and knocking it down to Position 2, just front steady burn red and blues.


I also got my new Toughbook CF-19 put in, and man it is a lot smaller. The whole thing with its dock is about as thick as just the dock for the ML900 so it sits A LOT lower in the vehicle, which is a plus because it is a console shifter, so I can not lower the mount much. I can actually see the passenger side A piller, which I couldn't before without lowering the ML900s screen. It is also a lot lighter, about 6 pounds total with the Gamber Johnson Dock. I think the ML900 was about 7 pounds for the dock and 7-8 pounds for the laptop alone, so I have a lot less shake and movement when on the dirt roads. I love it. Just have to get used to Windows 7. And try to get my Daily Log program working, it keeps giving me a .NET error.


Also I bought a cheap HD DVR dash cam, with a second on the way (won two cheap auctions) I already have one installed, and when the other one get here, depending on what one I like better, I will keep one up front and move one to the back seat area to have a Camera back there.


But I plan on posting some long code runs (30-60 min long runs) when I get some. So hopefully I can get some good ones.

I have not changed the LEDs on the side of the push bumper yet, just have not got around to it.

 

[rohmers]

that is the best way i have seen to demonstrate an install in a long time. its not at night, head on in to the camera. it shows all angles and distance appearance.


truck looks great and i have taken some ideas from it for my wifes truck.


keep safe brother.

 

[PTRJason]

Here is another video I took.

I took it with bright sunlight, and I tried to get all of the views in one shot.

Where we work, the highway is all daytime headlight sections, so it kind of sucks because headlights are on 24/7 so it drowns out the headlight flasher, but you can still see them.

If you also look towards the end, you can see the HAL in the headlights, you can see then punch through pretty well on the video, but still drowned out, but nothing I can do about it.

I should be getting my SS2000SM back from repair from Fed Sig so once I get that installed I am adding the HLF and the flashing TD and alleys to an output to be turned on with the slide switch, so I can turn them off while on scene or if rolling at night in snow or rain. At night the flashing takedowns drown out the rest of the bar so, I want an option to kill all the white light when rolling code at night so someone can see the colors first instead of just a bunch of white light which at a distance looks solid.

I am also going to mount two Dyna Max speakers to the push bumper when I can get some bolts to mount it.

 

[minig0d]

The front looks great. I agree (and if you look closely at this past video I think you'll notice too) that there is almost no side warning from the lightbar. I saw another comment about moving lights from the rear to the side windows and putting an e66 in the rear. That would definitely improve rear and side warning for a reasonable price. Another thing would be mounting some surface mount linz6 or feniex t6 or similar on the running boards since you do have the lightbar up high on the side. It would give you some good unobstructed by tint side warning for a good price.

 

[jswwjw]

John Forgerty; I thought he was dead??? lol


[Broken External Image]:http://static.tvgcdn.net/MediaBin/Galleries/Celebrities/J/Joe_John-G/John_Fogerty/john-fogerty.jpg​

 

[Eric1249]

If you are set on keeping the D2's in the back window what about moving the heads so one is solid red and the other blue. Personally I would put them in the side windows. What about a pair of Pioneers on the brush guard? We have 2 on one of our engines and it puts out a ton of light.


Where is the speaker mounted? Are you able to get two of them in there?

 

[PTRJason]

If you are set on keeping the D2's in the back window what about moving the heads so one is solid red and the other blue. Personally I would put them in the side windows. What about a pair of Pioneers on the brush guard? We have 2 on one of our engines and it puts out a ton of light.

Where is the speaker mounted? Are you able to get two of them in there?

I want to put something in the side windows, but the side warning is actually pretty good. The bar, push bumper and the LAW in the reverse lights cover it well believe it or not. But I do want to add something eventually.


For right now, I was able to get some TIR3s from Fever, and I was able to use the license plate bracket I had for the past year, that was missing a mount, I rigged one up and was able to mount the TIR3s to it.


Then today I mounted them on the back license plate to add some more mid level rear warning.


I did a nice slow alternating pattern.


One plus to having this Explorer is that it does have a short wheel base, so the light bar is only blocked for about 15-20 behind the car, anything after that it can be seen even if you are in a low rider...


I changed out the siren to the SS2000SM finally, and used one of the Key11 for the brake light cut out, and also put the flashing HLF, TD, and AL on a relay that turns on in position 3, so if I do not want flashing white, I can kill it at any time, useful for rain, dust, and snow.


As for the speaker it is mounted behind the drivers side headlight. I have a Dynamax speaker that I plan on hooking into the system, just need to buy some bolts to mount it to the push bumper.

 

[PTRJason]

And we got two 2014 PI Utilities. Too bad I don't get one, but I noticed no spots or push bumpers.

 

[Eric1249]

Do you know what kind of HLF they have in there? I want to put one in my truck but I heard it is not a good idea in Explorers.

 

[PTRJason]

On the old one any ground side should do. I am not sure that's in mine. The way they mounted it I can not see a name. Just just wrote HLF in blue paint pen on it.


But it should be Whelen. Or Code3. All the lighting is Whelen the siren was Code3.


The only issue it has is the computer thinks the bulbs are out so after it is first started and you hit the high beams, it says check left and right beams. I just hit the stem on the dash and it resets it until I start it again. I

 

[Carlos SpicyWeiner]

It looks great brother. Thanks for sending me the link to the video!

 

[acala91]

Looking good. Now that you have the TIR3s on the LP, you should move the D2s to the side windows. They would be more useful there than in their current location.

 

[PTRJason]

I won some four wire R/B split LIN6s on eBay today. So when they come in I will add them to the side windows. I am also bidding on a R/B Viper that I want to mount on the dash to give more mid level warning as apparently everything that is mounted to the front still makes me invisible. Had a 45 mile code run the other day and was following one car for about two miles without them even indicating that they saw me, and I couldn't pass them due to oncoming traffic, then when they finally yield, on coming traffic died down so I was able to pass anyway. So maybe a dash light will put lights right in the rear view mirror.


My unit is having a new camera installed since we are going from DVD to solid state cameras. So once I get it back Friday, I will have the LIN6s in the mail by then.

 

[FFParker]

Another idea is something on the mirrors, should grab the drivers attention?

 

[PTRJason]

Added the dual Viper S2 on the dash, hooked it to a plug until I can wire it to the siren.


Also just got done adding the LIN6s a few minutes ago to the rear side windows.


I will take a new video tomorrow during the day time.

Another idea is something on the mirrors, should grab the drivers attention?

I would like something on the mirrors but it wouldn't do much good for oncoming traffic. The area I am in is 90 miles of two lane highway with only two towns on the highway and really no side streets except in town. The rest is wide open desert where you can literally see for 30 miles. So the intersections I have to clear are in 25 mph zones, with no stop lights or signs. So the 1% of the time I have to clear intersections there is usually no traffic. The other times, I clear with caution anyway.


For code runs it's usually just vehicles directly in front.

 

[PTRJason]

http://youtu.be/7VP0Hd2wsms


It sucks. And you can not make out the LIN6s during the daytime that well through tint on the camera. But they show some through the tint. At night they are bright as heck. I left the small piece of film protective plastic on the lenses to keep them from getting scuffed when they are against the window. But it does not cut down on anything. If I could have gotten some TIR6s I would have used those. But there are stickers on the window so at least with the LIN6s it isn't blocked that much as there is a spread. With the TIR optics, one or more diodes would be right behind the lettering.


I would have posted earlier but I can't figure out how to paste a link with the new forums. At least on tapatalk I can.


And for right now the Viper is hooked to a lighter plug with an on off switch so I can turn it on and off when I want. It's kinda nice when I want to slow a speeder down with out lighting them up and turning the camera trip wire on or letting people behind me know who I am. And even during the day just the Viper with nothing else on will get people to start to pull to the right a half mile away. That sucker is bright.

 

[PTRJason]

Just an update:

Viper, SmartSiren, rear license plate TIR3s and the LIN6s I put in the side windows have all been taken out. 

They switched the video system to a ProVision system, and before they did I changed everything out before I got in trouble for putting it in there lol.  This was almost a year ago now.

Since then I have added the Super Takedowns to the bar, the CF19 mount and changed my seat bag and rear cargo area.

Good news is that my sergeant will be ordering two 2016 Ford PI Utility units in a few weeks.

I gave them a list of equipment that I would like on the new one, in terms of stuff we need.  Like a siren controller that can turn on outputs with the slide switch or by pressing the button itself.  Our new video systems are turned on by our lights in a slide switch position. Its all or nothing, we can not manually start recording unless we find the TV like remote and climb in the back seat and hit the sensor on the system.

I want them to go with a Code-3 Z3 (not my first choice, but upfitter always installs Code-3 in our cars so I think they get a deal on it) or a SmartSiren Platinum SSP3000B.

The lightbar they have on our 2014 and 2015 PI Utility units are the Code-3 21TR Plus bars.  And they installed a RLS siren, so the ArrowStick control can not be used, and the left and right take up two buttons on the top row.

With the Z3 it can control a regular TA or two wire TA without taking up addition outputs, and pressing the left or right will activate the function. 

I gave them a sheet with three options:

1 - Z3 with 21TR-Plus bar

2 - SSP3000B with 21IF or similar bar with a full wire harness

3 - CenCom with 21IF or similar bar with full wire harness.

I will be getting a 2016 and my Sergeant will be giving his 2014 to another deputy and taking the other 2016.

So hopefully in a few months ill be updating this with a new unit.

 

[acala91]

My local PD has a few Impalas with the 2100TR bars on them set to the half and half pattern flashing red against blue. While they aren't my favorite lightbars that pattern is very effective. 

 

[nerdly_dood]

You said you don't see a need for mirror mounted lights but I think they're great. Not just for intersections - they do help there but they're not the best intersection lighting. Where they really shine is putting light out in front at the widest part of the vehicle. That way you can be behind a big truck and if your car is just slightly to the left, cars that you can't even see still have at least that one single light that they might not see even with a full size lightbar on top. But be sure to get use a set with wide-angle optics or else you'll just be putting out a narrow beam off at an angle where it's not as useful as straight-ahead warning. Another option would be to use one of those Whelen pillar-mounted warning and spotlight combos.

 

[PTRJason]

You said you don't see a need for mirror mounted lights but I think they're great. Not just for intersections - they do help there but they're not the best intersection lighting. Where they really shine is putting light out in front at the widest part of the vehicle. That way you can be behind a big truck and if your car is just slightly to the left, cars that you can't even see still have at least that one single light that they might not see even with a full size lightbar on top. But be sure to get use a set with wide-angle optics or else you'll just be putting out a narrow beam off at an angle where it's not as useful as straight-ahead warning. Another option would be to use one of those Whelen pillar-mounted warning and spotlight combos.

Good point, but to retro fit the current set-up would require authorization from the Sheriff, any electronics added require permission now .

I spec'd the two new units with the Ford mirror LEDs with the IONs.  I am hoping they order it with it.  I don't have any power with the ordering but I made an order sheet for the two cars with everything I would want on a car, which is more then they order, and it came out cheaper than the other three cars they bought before.  Not sure how since they ordered on the state bid before, but I hope they go with what I suggested.

Same as the emergency equipment, so I have my fingers crossed.

 

[TheCrownie]

Can you tell me what exactly you put on that list?

ION Mirror beams sounding good but I'd go with intersectors or the whelen copy of them. 

I hope they take a look at your list. I find the 2100 to be a very good lightbar, one of my favourites. 

Thanks

 

[PTRJason]

I just saw this.
I added standard items like the Dark Car, Mirror Beams (from Ford so upfit labor cost would not be more time to take off doors and all that, rear warming package, a Gamber Johnson Console, etc.

I just got my 2016 Utility last week. Will make another post and add it in a few.