2011 Tahoe Upper Windshield Lighbar Recommendations?

[paladin]

Hey all, I just picked up a 2011 Tahoe SSV. I've planned out a build for it, but the one item I'm not sure of is which inner windshield lightbar to get.


I've seen pictures of the Soundoff Pinnacle, Whelen Inner Edge, Star SVP, the Axixtech, the FedSig ILS and the Code 3, but don't really know which is better. I'd love to hear your feedback and see pictures of your install! Ideally i'd like to find a bar that spans as much of the width as possible and uses 1W or greater LEDs (Gen3+). I'd especially love to hear from anyone that has been able to compare the various products against each other!


I even thought about jury rigging some deck bars up there. Our county shops put in Sho-me By the Inch up there, but they arent very bright at all (gen 1 leds?)


Here is my build as it stands (i've ordered or already have most of these parts).

2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Special Service Vehicle (SSV) 4X4, Black Ebony Interior.


Vehicle Options

• Front Bucket Seats w/ 6 way power adjust
  
• Locking Rear Differential
  
• 17" Off/On Road BW Tires and Steel Wheels
  
• Remote Start
  
• HD Vinyl Floor Covering
  
• HD Trailering Package
  
• HD Engine Oil Cooler
  
• HD Transmission Oil Cooler
  
• HD Offroad Suspension
  
• Dual 12V Batteries
  
• Wiring Provision: Grill Lights and Speakers
  
• Wiring Provision: Horn/Siren
  
• Front Headlight Flasher System
  
• Rear Headlight Flasher System
  
• Spotlamp Driver & Passenger (Unity)
  
• Automatic Headlamp Delete
  
• 2" Front End Torsion Lift
  
  
  Console and Laptop Dock
  (1) C-M-5 - Universal Mount Adapter for C Console
  
• (1) C-TMW-GMC-02 - 30" Track with Front and Rear Brackets for Tahoe/Yukon
  
• (1) C-3010 - Havis Shields Heavy Duty C Console - 30"
  
• (2) C-EB25-XTL-1P - 2.5" Equipment Mounting Bracket for XTL2500/5000 Radio with Remote Head
  
• (1) C-EB40-CCS-1p - 4" Equipment Mounting Bracket for Whelen Cencom Gold Control Head
  
• (1) C-ML-LP2 - Adjustable Map Light with (2) 12VDC Outlet Plugs
  
• (2) C-CUP2-I - 4" Cup Holders
  
• (2) C-ARM-102 - Arm Rest, External Mount, Height Adjustable
  
• (2) C-MC - Console Microphone Clip
  
• (1) C-AP - 3" Accessory Pocket
  
  
• (1) C-HDM-205 - Heavy Duty 14" Telescoping Pole with Adjustment
  
• (1) C-HDM-408 - Heavy Duty Gas-Shock Lift Assist for Heavy Duty Telescoping Pole
  
• (1) C-MD-102 - Heavy Duty Motion Adapter with Slideout/Tilt/Swivel
  
• (1) DS-DELL-101 - Heavy Duty Laptop Docking Station for E6400 XFR Rugged PC rated to MIL-STD-810F w/ WLAN, WWAN, GPS passthrough, (5) USB Ports, (1) Serial Port (1) Ethernet (1) VGA (2) DisplayPorts (1) eSATA, (1) Parallel, (1) Speaker, (1) Microphone,
  
• (1) Streamlight Vehicle Charger
  
• (1) Motorola RLN4884B Vehicular Battery Charger
  
• (1) 1500W Vehicle AC/DC Inverter (2x 110V Ports, 2x USB Charging Ports, LCD Voltage Display)
  
  
  Electronics and Communications
  
  Dell E6400 XFR Rugged Laptop rated to MIL-STD-810F (Intel Core 2 Duo P9700 2.8ghz, 14.1" WXGA LED TouchScreen Display with DirectVue, 4GB DDR2, 128GB SSD, Windows 7, Bluetooth, 8x DVD-RW)
  
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N (802.11a/b/g/n) + WiMAX (802.16e) 6250 Data Card
  
• Qualcomm Gobi2000 WWAN Mobile Data Card 3G GSM/GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA/EDGE/EVDO/UTMS/WCDMA for all Global Networks (Sprint, Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile) with Integrated GPS (7.2Mbps)
  
• OBDII Sensor with Bluetooth Connectivity
  
• Havis ChargeGuard
  
• Whelen Cantrol Siren and Switch Control Head
  
• Motorola XTL5000 700/800 Radio w/ O5 Remote Head
  
• Motorola XTL5000 VHF Radio w/ O5 Remote Head
  
• Wilson Dual Band (800/1900mhz) Mobile Wireless Repeater 45dB, 3000mw for CDMA/TDMA/GSM/3G
  
• Laird Technologies Low Profile Antennas for 700/800, VHF, GPS and Cellular
  
• Kustom Falcon HR Radar Gun
  

Emergency Lighting Equipment


[*](1) Sho-me Able 2 By the Inch Warning Strip (Red/Amber/Blue) [below Liftgate]


[*](1) SNM E66 Gen 3 LED Warning Bar with Traffic Advisor (Red/Blue) [Rear Upper Deck]


[*](4) SNM E44 Gen 3 LED Deck Bars (Red/Blue) [For grill and rear quarter panel windows]


[*](6) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Clear) [Front, Rear Tail light housings]


[*](1) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Red) [Rear Taillight housing - Reverse Area]


[*](1) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Blue) [Rear Taillight housing - Reverse Area]


[*](1) Whelen SA315P 100W Siren speakers


[*](1) Whelen Howler Low-Frequency Siren System


[*](2) Whelen Linear Fog Light LEDs


[*](4) Whelen LINZ6 [Mirrors and Front Bumper Corners]


Other:


Pro-gard Electronic Rifle Lock


Pro-gard Electronic Shotgun Lock


Custom K9 Kennel and Drawer Storage for Rear

 

[cajunblitz]

First choice....FedSig ILS. Second choice, SoundOff Pinnacle. Third Choice, Whelen Inner Edge.


FedSig ILS:








SoundOff Pinnacle:








Whelen Inner Edge:








Code 3 Supervisor TL:








SoundOff Ultralite WS Stick:





Tomar 200S Standard Power (2):

 

[911]

whatever cajun says to do, trust him, he is one of the best in the world !!!

 

[paladin]

What an awesome response


Thanks for the pictures.


Do you think the following configuration would turn out well?


BRBTRBTBRB?


Anyone here able to give good pricing?


*Edit: hes adding even more pictures awesome.

 

[cajunblitz]

What an awesome response

Thanks for the pictures.


Do you think the following configuration would turn out well?


BRBTRBTBRB?


Anyone here able to give good pricing?


*Edit: hes adding even more pictures awesome.

Not a fan of "candy caning" red and blue, because it limits your flash pattern choices and you will end up with purple when they are so close together like that.


I'd highly recommend keeping your colors grouped together. If you must twist a couple of colors, I'd go:


BBBTRBTRRR


ILS off axis is also most impressive:








Here's what the ILS looks like inside:





SoundOff Pinnacle off axis:

 

[paladin]

I can see what you mean by limiting the flash patterns. perhaps a BBRRTTRRBB would look better.


I notice that you dont really use takedowns in your bars, do you find they arent worth it?

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

I can see what you mean by limiting the flash patterns. perhaps a BBRRTTRRBB would look better.

I notice that you dont really use takedowns in your bars, do you find they arent worth it?

I think what he meant by limiting flash patterns is that you woul dbe limited by the R and B flashing together. You don't want R and B flashing together (at all really), especially right next to each other. Your best bet is to go all blue on one side and all red on the other with centered TDs.

 

[cajunblitz]

I can see what you mean by limiting the flash patterns. perhaps a BBRRTTRRBB would look better.

I notice that you dont really use takedowns in your bars, do you find they arent worth it?

You're still on the edge with that color mix limiting your patterns to where you're going to have some purple mix.....but you may find one suitable. I've never been impressed with any take downs from a windshield light bar, so I'm not a huge fan of them. I'd rather see a spotlight used for that, and save the space in the WS bar for colors. Popping white light through any kind of window, tinted or not, is going to cut its effectiveness down, especially if you're trying to get some focused output from it.


That being said, since FedSig switched its ILS builds from the SL series to the new, slimmer S2 series, as show in all those photos above, if you wanted a set of white TDs in the ILS, I think they'd be the most effective and impressive of anything out there.


If it were my own vehicle, I'm going all color.

 

[paladin]

Ah I see.


I attached a picture of my agency's expeditions so you can see how they're currently lit up. I apologize for the crap picture quality (its someone's camera phone picture).

 

[cajunblitz]

Ah I see.

I attached a picture of my agency's expeditions so you can see how they're currently lit up. I apologize for the crap picture quality (its someone's camera phone picture).


View attachment 6436

Not a bad setup, but I'm personally not a big fan of mixing the colors like that when they're in quantity right nest to each other, like in a light bar. I'm OK with mixing the colors when using split fixtures that are separated, like those on the front of that unit, or even separate split color heads, as long as they aren't popping both colors at the same time.


Don't let my opinion sway your decision in any way, because if you like that look then by all means go for it! My vote, no matter how you configure it, is the FedSig ILS.

 

[paladin]

Yeah I can see the point. And in actuality, the photos came out like that, but usually its a rapid flash/alternating between the two, so they're not simultaneously on

 

[STT Installer]

Yeah I can see the point. And in actuality, the photos came out like that, but usually its a rapid flash/alternating between the two, so they're not simultaneously on

Rapid (anything more than about 120 fpm) alternating flash of Red & Blue = PURPLE... It may "look cool" but it's practically useless to the motoring public and provides more confusion than instruction when requesting or blocking the right of way.


It's not at all uncommon for builds to be centered around color configurations and flash patterns that "look cool" but really do little to provide effective warning.


With that being said, the Fed Sig ILS is probably close to the most expensive of the options out there, however, it is and for the most part has been the benchmark used for intense wide angle lighting. Avoid the candycane color configs UNLESS you're on a slow alternating color to color pattern.


A search for the Lightheads ruined by Split Color Patterns (or something along those lines) thread will give you a bit of insight as to why many of the responses you may get will steer you away from mixing colors in close segments...


One last word - please stay away from the Code 3 product with their unsynchronized light heads... It's not a matter of not looking cool (which clearly they are very much so uncool), the amount of cyclic dark time (where all of the randomly flashing heads are actually all off at the same time) is dangerous.


The Pinnacle from SOS is awesome but still isn't insane at off axis angles... Tomars products rock (being in Arizona you're probably quite familiar with them), however, the cost is a major buzz kill.


Can't go wrong with Whelen, especially the LINZ6 version of the Inner Edge, however, still is bested by the Fed Sig ILS.


Able2/ShoMe LED by the inch is soooo 2002... Please stop trying to use sign grade LEDs as warning lights. It's cute. In a 4 year old girl with a pink bicycle with tassels kind of cute.


Axixtech was all the rage for a while but the lack of decent brackets (everything is considered "universal bracket compatible" meaning you had best enjoy metal fabrication) and the marginal off axis coverage is kinda out.


For a top shelf vehicle with the build out you're planning, I wouldn't dare put an inch (bad pun) of Gen 1 garbage on it...

 

[paladin]

I was planning on putting the Able 2 Sho-Me under the liftgate as some secondary lighting. They look quite good under the liftgate of the tahoe. I've seen em on the Phoenix PD Tahoes... Wish i had a picture, but i think someone here posted a video recently...


Is there an alternate product with newer generation leds that are just as thin?

 

[STT Installer]

I was planning on putting the Able 2 Sho-Me under the liftgate as some secondary lighting. They look quite good under the liftgate of the tahoe. I've seen em on the Phoenix PD Tahoes... Wish i had a picture, but i think someone here posted a video recently...

Is there an alternate product with newer generation leds that are just as thin?

What is the clearance between the bumper and the lift gate?


Last time I spec'd one of those out (30" LED By the Inch R/A/B) in 2006 I believe it was around $225... For that price you can go with a pair of insanely bright surface mount lights (such as the Ghost/Ghost External, Tomar RECT 13/RECT14) or upgrade to one of the more blinding bars like the SOS Ultralight or Tomar R13/R14 L-Sticks...

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

SHO-ME LED By the Inch Lights


The Sound Off UltraLites, 911EP TDWLs, and the Tomar RECT-13/14 sticks look to be close according to their websites. The 911EP TDWL 24 and 36 appear to be the closest in size.


SoundOff Signal - UltraLITE Exterior Directional/Warning Bars


911EP | TD/WL Series


TOMAR | R13 & R14 L-Sticks


There may be others out there from the other big brands (Code 3, FedSig, and Whelen) that are close.


PM me if you are interested in any of the above or even a Sho-me stick.


Hope that helps.

 

[philter74]

Emergency Lighting Equipment


(6) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Clear) [Front, Rear Tail light housings]


(1) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Red) [Rear Taillight housing - Reverse Area]


(1) Whelen Vertex Hide-A-Way LEDs (Blue) [Rear Taillight housing - Reverse Area]

I know your post was in regards to the interior bar, but if you were intending to install clear Vertexes behind the red lensed sections of the tail lights, I would recommend that you change those to red. Then put other colors (amber/blue/clear) in the reverse area.

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

I know your post was in regards to the interior bar, but if you were intending to install clear Vertexes behind the red lensed sections of the tail lights, I would recommend that you change those to red. Then put other colors (amber/blue/clear) in the reverse area.

Agreed. I didn't even catch that. For LEDs, you ALWAYS put the same color LED behind a colored lens. So, behind a red lens, put red, behind an amber lens, put amber. Behind clear you can do colored LEDs, but you still get the best pop from clear/white.

 

[chono]

ILS Hands down.


Pinnacle if you cannot afford the ILS. I would say dont waste your time with the others.

 

[paladin]

I know your post was in regards to the interior bar, but if you were intending to install clear Vertexes behind the red lensed sections of the tail lights, I would recommend that you change those to red. Then put other colors (amber/blue/clear) in the reverse area.

That's interesting - I had heard that it was acceptable to do either (clear or red) behind a red lens, considering that for example the regular bulbs behind them are clear... and that the advantage was that later on if you decided to change something or move them, clear is more versatile.


I think i remember hearing strobesnmore say the same thing in one of their videos, and so far Ive only seen clear HAWS used in our county vehicles.


Are we talking a significant reduction in light output when using clear behind a red lens? Are there any videos out there that show both in a housing and comparing the two?

 

[aberfitchguy2472]

That's interesting - I had heard that it was acceptable to do either (clear or red) behind a red lens, considering that for example the regular bulbs behind them are clear... and that the advantage was that later on if you decided to change something or move them, clear is more versatile.

I think i remember hearing strobesnmore say the same thing in one of their videos, and so far Ive only seen clear HAWS used in our county vehicles.


Are we talking a significant reduction in light output when using clear behind a red lens? Are there any videos out there that show both in a housing and comparing the two?

Halogen is different that LED when it comes to this kind of stuff. LEDs emit a precise wavelength of light and when it has to pass through a wavelength that is not the same the brightness decreases. You will see a marked decrease in performance if you put white LED behind a red lens. I believe that strobes n' more has a video on their website with their new SNM LAWs that explains this and shows the difference in light output in a light housing.


Here is the video I think:


Strobes N' More

 

[Rusted413]

I'll throw in my 2 cents with another vote for the Fed Sig ILS. Closest I've seen a visor bar look like a full sized light bar from a distance.

 

[Federal_Agent]

Anyone take a look at the Feniex Pegasus? It was born when a couple of engineers from Sound Off (makers of the Pinnacle) left and started their own company. Looks very similar to the Pinnacle.

 

[ryanm]

I dearly love the ILS setup in my crown vic (replaced a StealthVisor).


There is absolutely no comparison in those 2 products.

 

[shues]

That's interesting - I had heard that it was acceptable to do either (clear or red) behind a red lens

There is some good information about why white LEDs behind colored lenses have severely diminished light output here: http://www.elightbars.org/forums/f13/x-1163/

 

[paladin]

Turns out the strip of leds under the tailgate are


Sho-me Able 2 Model 11.8200


15/16" H x 1-5/16" D


Thats a pretty small light, but i'll go take measurements of the truck in a bit here... hard to imagine any gen3 leds and a housing under 1"

 

[cory y]

Also.. I wouldnt waste my time with Vertexes... there are much better LAW's out there that Vertexes... they just dont stick into the housing enough to get decent light..


Try the FedSig/Axixtech/sho-me brand or the Soundoff, or my personal preference the Feniex

 

[FDNY 10-75]

Fed Sig ILS or two FS Vipers with headliner brackets.

 

[Fast LT1]

I'd go with the fed sig interior bar, then put ELS take downs on the bottom side of the bar, either screwed through it or 3M double sided tape! They are perfect for interior bars, i'd recommended 6 on each side, if aimed properly they really kick ass!

 

[Fast LT1]

Try the FedSig/Axixtech/sho-me brand or the Soundoff, or my personal preference the Feniex

I vote axixtech tri's or Feniex fairy's, see my comparison in the review section! Those are the two brightest laws i've found on the market.