Converting a flatlighter

03crownvic

Member
May 8, 2010
1,033
Louisiana
Our elightbars friend Darrell Wilson did one before he passed away a few years ago. As I recall, he mounted the LEDs over the strobes, so it had a total of 4 modules, and he said it was very effectve. I believe a couple of members have a picture or two saved back and may post it if they see this thread.
 

Pimp

Member
May 16, 2010
1,872
Louisiana
invisble ink said:
did the leds/housing need to be modified?

Definitely! 52 series ? 500 series.





I did one, and it is for sale.






As
03crownvic mentioned, Darrell Wilson (old board member who is now deceased) made the one pictured below. It wasn't a conversion, per say, but he did modify a FlatLighter.


ai93.photobucket.com_albums_l41_Pimpala03_dgkjdk.jpg
 

dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
The one that I saw on here, not too long ago, had TIR6 modules inserted in place of the strobes. The poster said that the modification was a pain, but worth it. Looked good to me.


Dan
 

ncfireman1918

Member
Jun 15, 2010
35
Mocksville, NC
dmathieu said:
The one that I saw on here, not too long ago, had TIR6 modules inserted in place of the strobes. The poster said that the modification was a pain, but worth it. Looked good to me.
Dan

That was probably mine. I'm not aware of anyone else who has hacked one up that badly. I gutted my Flatlighter, and put 500 series linear LEDs in it. It was a pain, but I'm happy with the end result. The reflector on the FlatLighter is fixed (molded as part of the housing), so that was the first thing to deal with. I thought about breaking out the Dremel, but I only had one housing to work with, so I took the LED heads apart instead. I epoxied the circuit boards from the 500s to the back side of the reflectors, with the LEDs lined up in the center of the slots. I then took the acrylic diffuser from the 500s and trimmed the little mounting legs down (if you have ever had one apart, that makes sense), then epoxied those to the front side of the reflector. Then I had to coax the 500 series lenses into 52 series openings (slightly larger than the 52 series, but it will work). Wire it up, and button everything up, and you have a linear LED FlatLighter. I finished it off with a couple black nylon dog collars from Wally World, because I never had the velcro straps that were original to the light. The collars have the little plastic buckles, and I like them better than the originals.


That light has been constantly installed in my 1998 Volvo S70 for 3 years straight, and has endured 103*+ temps in summer, and I think we got down to single digits a couple times. I have recently noticed that the flash patterns don't always sync properly anymore, but it still works like a champ. The only other thing I have noticed are a couple little stress cracks in the corners of the lenses, where the 500 series lens is slightly larger than the 52 series, so it has just a tiny bit of pressure on the lens at all times. All things considered, the mod has held up very well, and I'm really happy with it. I would say that it is not for the faint of heart, due to the disassembly of the 500 LEDs, and the immediate voided warranty. If anybody wants more info, shoot me a PM, or reply back here.


I wish I had taken pics as I did it, but I was making good progress, and forgot. I was also experimenting with making a housing out of a couple project boxes, epoxied together and, and sanded to smooth the seam, but for some forgotten reason, I decided to go this route. If you are concerned with warranty, I would recommend fabricating some sort of housing, and leaving the light heads intact.


Chris


Pic and vid


ai133.photobucket.com_albums_q45_firefighter1918_005.jpg


Embedded link code is not working for the video. Here is the direct link.


http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q45/ ... nt=007.mp4
 

ncfireman1918

Member
Jun 15, 2010
35
Mocksville, NC
Thanks. I like to tinker, and I like to do something a little different, just to see if I can make it work. It was more of a "I've got the parts, why not?" than anything. I think my next venture will be to fabricate a housing for 2 400 series linear LEDs, or some M4s for a different visor light. I've always thought those would make good candidates for the visor. I like to keep things low profile, since I drive a couple Volvos and often use them for business purposes.
 

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