Deerfield EMS 2010 Lifeline Ambulance

[Zoe]

Hey everyone!


Here are pictures and a video of the 2010 Lifeline ambulance Deerfield EMS in Deerfield MA took delivery of in the first quater of this year.


I spec'd the lighting package and paint scheme.


It's Whelen stuff all around.


M7s, M9s mostly. Scene lights are 900 Series Super LED. Interior lighting is all 12 Diode Super LED lightheads (86CE1).


We re-purposed Motorcycle mounts which allowed us to put the 500 series R/C LEDs on the mirrors. This gave us that "3rd" level of warning half way up and provides for additional 45* warning.


The Mini Freedoms are custom built with a 6 head flasher replacing the standard NFPA one. The center modules are 1 each R/C and the corner modules are R/C over/under. All alternating. Again, mounted on the angle.


I felt that the growing trend of throwing a slew of large light heads across the front of the box severely limits off-axis (intersection) warning power. Between the angled mini-freedoms and mirror lights, I hoped it would result in a safer and more complete set-up.


On the rear the truck, the 4 outermost warning lights are tied into the brake light circuit. And of course the Red and Yellow-Lime reflective chevrons on the back. (The department services an interstate and sometimes is required to make the turn arounds. I wanted to make sure that there was no question that the vehicle was braking, and there was no excuse for not seeing the back of the thing.


The KKK lights are set for a slow 90fpm flash pattern. The secondary warning lights are all set for rapid patterns. (This allows the responder to turn off all lights except for KKK and produce a less dazzling light show.)


Here are pics of the truck, and a video quickly showcasing the lights.


Hope you enjoy it!

















And the video:

 

[SBFD-E-9]

DAMN! I like! And I really like the one blue lighthead on the rear.


Dan

 

[Brian H]

I bet your chassis is the chassis our salesman told us was sitting on the lot with our name on it.. Looks nice

 

[philyumpshus]

I love the motorcycle lights on the mirrors- good idea!

 

[Klein]

Awesome job with the flash pattern selection. All those lights arent pretty unless they are on an effective pattern. Saweeetness.

 

[nerdly_dood]

Not bad! I'm generally not fond of LEDs, but when done right I like them a lot and IMO that sure is done right. I also like a lot of red with a little dash of blue, just a personal preference.

 

[Zoe]

Thanks for all the kind words! I'd be lying if I said I was ridiculously proud of the way it turned out.





(Not to mention I tried real hard to be *smart* about the lighting setup and design.)


Brian H not sure what truck you thought was yours... Ours was ready to be delivered from the Mid-West in Jan / Feb but was delayed because the other truck that was being driven out with hadn't been paid for yet by the dept who ordered it.


Then when they finally did leave, they got stuck in a blizzard and it took an extra few days.


Our sale and final setup was all done by Specialty Vehicles Inc in Eastern MA. ( http://www.svine.com/ )


One other thing I did was went with a double-wide CPR seat. Not sure if it's because I'm left eye dominant, but I've always preferred to tech from that side. (Maybe it's because I'm right handed and it's easier to start IVs...)


Since I had some say, I got greedy and wanted more room on the street side, hence this:





(There is a slide out writing tray there as well just in case, and you can see the drawer with the garbage / sharps / suction in it. Nice to keep all that stuff out of the way until you need it. Plus it puts the suction right where you need it without soiling the countertop.)


I flippin love the extra room, and everyone else seems to be fond of it as well.


I would have loved a window there, but got the "no-go" from a state inspector. *Shrug.*


The only thing that it's missing is a Rumbler / Howler. We're waiting for an acceptable bracket set-up. A neighboring dept hodgepodged an install and had nothing but problems with the speaker wiggling itself loose.

 

[Brian H]

Haha I'm just giving you grief on the chassis. We're in the process of ordering 2 news ones. Had everything final on ours, told our chassis was on the lot with our name on it and expected delivery is 60 days. Sign the final blue prints and bam! Chassis hasn't been ordered yet.. I did do all lighting, all M series LED's and Pioneers on the side for scene lighting. Nothing fancy, kept it simple


Our other squad will probably be from someone else now.

 

[jonny521]

oh damn man very nice rescue. like the flash pattern selection and i think its different with the split bar on the top. ive mostly seen them on ladder trucks out here in the eastern part of mass.

 

[JohnMarcson]

I like! The scene lights being 900 and the warning being 9m looks funny... maybe hide the wiring for the mirror lights..... but it's a sweet squad to be sure....one of the nicer ones I've seen recently.

 

[Zoe]

I like! The scene lights being 900 and the warning being 9m looks funny... maybe hide the wiring for the mirror lights..... but it's a sweet squad to be sure....one of the nicer ones I've seen recently.

The scene lights are the way they are because they were gratis from Whelen/SVI. The whelen guy picked them because they were the brightest LED scene lights they had available. (plus the M series scene lights weren't available at that time.)


I would have liked to have the mirror light wires hidden but it wasn't an option. Orriginally we spec's surface mount lights on the mirrors but the Navistar people said it was a strict no-go to drill into the light housings in any manner.


Hence the use of the motorcycle mounts on the bars and the exposed wiring.

 

[JohnMarcson]

The scene lights are the way they are because they were gratis from Whelen/SVI. The whelen guy picked them because they were the brightest LED scene lights they had available. (plus the M series scene lights weren't available at that time.)


I would have liked to have the mirror light wires hidden but it wasn't an option. Orriginally we spec's surface mount lights on the mirrors but the Navistar people said it was a strict no-go to drill into the light housings in any manner.


Hence the use of the motorcycle mounts on the bars and the exposed wiring.

Frankly the rig looks great.... I'd be proud to run out of it.

 

[jonny521]

Frankly the rig looks great.... I'd be proud to run out of it.

better to run out of it than be strapped in it :lol:

 

[pdk9]

That is a SICK rig! nice job; i love the m-series and i love the 500's on the mirror with the motorcycle bracket (what a great idea)

 

[jonny521]

That is a SICK rig! nice job; i love the m-series and i love the 500's on the mirror with the motorcycle bracket (what a great idea)

+1. now lets see how many builders go to copy that idea with the motorcycle lights on the mirrors.

 

[Boss429]

Nice I like the mirror Brackets for the LIN6. I'm not a fan of two lightbars on the roof, looks a little funky IMO. I would have just mounted a Fullsize Freedom on top.

 

[mjohnston]

I'll admit if I help on any kind of build with a commercial chassis, I will copy the motorcycle bracket idea.

 

[medicandy]

That is a great looking unit.

 

[Zoe]

I'll admit if I help on any kind of build with a commercial chassis, I will copy the motorcycle bracket idea.

Go for it!


There is no reason why you or anyone else shouldn't benefit from my genius!

 

[VolEms]

I like! The scene lights being 900 and the warning being 9m looks funny... maybe hide the wiring for the mirror lights..... but it's a sweet squad to be sure....one of the nicer ones I've seen recently.

The 900 LED scene lights have more LED's then the M9 scene light.

 

[VolEms]

Love the truck. I like the way you set up the flash patterns. Do you think you could have fit 3 MIni Freedoms on the roof. I still like the way you put the 3 M9's to fill in the gaps of the lightbars.

 

[Zoe]

Love the truck. I like the way you set up the flash patterns. Do you think you could have fit 3 MIni Freedoms on the roof. I still like the way you put the 3 M9's to fill in the gaps of the lightbars.

Definitely not enough room up there for a 3rd bar.


And the video is so washed out from the sun, but I assure you that when the truck is coming at you, it appears there is a full size lightbar (freedom) across the front.

 

[MATT3045]

I think it is sharp looking, I just personally do not like all the split flash patterns. On the Freedoms I would have just done red/red/white/red. Again that is just me though, too busy. Like I said the look of the truck is good. I do like how you seperated the flash patterns though, some faster some slower

 

[Luismariadarlene]

Nice rig looks great

 

[crescentstar69]

Sweet ride! Beats the old van I ran out of back in the day (but we had cool dual Mars 888 lights) Yawn, off to take my Geritol

 

[VolEms]

I always tell ppl intersection warning is the most important. Most MVA's involving emergency vehicles are T Boned going through an intersection. I always try to put intersection even on POV's where its most overlooked. If you look at some of the old FDNY rigs they had 2 Mini Lightbars facing sideways.

 

[RoaddoggAK]

Beautiful looking rig! That's one of the first one's I've seen with the M series lighting and I'm really impressed. I do have one question though. On the hood, why are the light heads angled down in the front? It just looks out of place. I know that it's following the contour of the hood, but wouldn't it look better mounted horizontally?

 

[Zoe]

Beautiful looking rig! That's one of the first one's I've seen with the M series lighting and I'm really impressed. I do have one question though. On the hood, why are the light heads angled down in the front? It just looks out of place. I know that it's following the contour of the hood, but wouldn't it look better mounted horizontally?

The M series is farking fantastic. As noted previously in the thread, the scene lights on there are brighter than the M series version... which is why they were chosen.


To answer your question about the grill lights:


Because of the contour of the grill, the two on the bottom are perpendicular with the ground. The ones at the top were originally angled upwards and lost a lot of their warning power. To remedy this we took some brake line hose and shimmed them perpendicular with the ground as well.


::EDIT::


Oh, are you referring to the ones on the side of the hood? That is where they are placed by the manufacturer... I didn't have any say in it. I actually don't think that it effects their warning power at all, and if anything, probably looks better following the paint and hood lines.

 

[RoaddoggAK]

My mistake, I was attempting to ask about the warning lights above the front wheel wells, not the grill. I guess that's what I get for trying to think near the end of a 16 hour day......

 

[Zoe]

My mistake, I was attempting to ask about the warning lights above the front wheel wells, not the grill. I guess that's what I get for trying to think near the end of a 16 hour day......

Looks like we posted at the same time.


As I said, Lifeline calls for the lights to be mounted there... and I never thought to question it.


If you ask me, I feel that the angle mount looks much sharper than it would otherwise, as it follows the seam and pain lines.


Here are some detail pics for you:

 

[RoaddoggAK]

Then let's agree to disagree. I guess it's just my yearning for right angles. You're right though, the M series is bad ass....

 

[JohnMarcson]

Looks like we posted at the same time.


As I said, Lifeline calls for the lights to be mounted there... and I never thought to question it.


If you ask me, I feel that the angle mount looks much sharper than it would otherwise, as it follows the seam and pain lines.


Here are some detail pics for you:

I prefer them mounted as shown here


download/file.php?id=598&mode=view

 

[Zoe]

I prefer them mounted as shown here


download/file.php?id=598&mode=view

Haha.


Oh god.


I HATE them there!


(of course, in the interest of full disclosure I also hate Hortons, so....)


To each their own I suppose!

 

[JohnMarcson]

The lower wheel well where I like them seems to hit drivers right in the eye at intersections where as higher on the hood ends up pointing up..

 

[Lightbarnut]

Lets compromise and have both! More blinky!!

 

[JohnMarcson]

Lets compromise and have both! More blinky!!

That would be great

 

[EmerVehSolutions]

Looks great!!! I'll see this one around my area for sure