for once: A NON Split-Fail ?

[Storm4200]

i think this is a GOOD use of using split light heads. The colors are bold and leave a large footprint of one color at a time. The patterns aren't too fast, but fast enough to request the right of way. Ladies and gentleman, i present to you, the first ever, NON split-fail :


:thumbsup:

 

[EVT]

I wouldn't be so quick to label it non-split fail. The grille lights should be all red on one side and all blue on the other. Then flash against each other, same with inner edge. The running board lights are a waste because they have no off time. Changing colors like that is not nearly effective in getting people's attention as off/on style patterns. Overall I'd give it a B-.

 

[Storm4200]

I wouldn't be so quick to label it non-split fail. The grille lights should be all red on one side and all blue on the other. Then flash against each other, same with inner edge. The running board lights are a waste because they have no off time. Changing colors like that is not nearly effective in getting people's attention as off/on style patterns. Overall I'd give it a B-.

i disagree with what your saying about the grill. ALL red, and then ALL blue. Creates no purple, and paints a big, easy to understand picture. The running board lights on the other hand, i do agree. Solid on-off flash patterns are hands down the best. But if your gonna use two colors, and your gonna do split patterns, this is the way to properly utilize a split color light head. (there is never ANY excuse to use a split pattern on a solid color lighthead)

 

[Storm4200]

....i also don't mind what the inner edge is doing

 

[lafd55]

The car looks good. I would just make the grille blue on passengers side and red on drivers side and not mixed.

 

[arsenal10]

If there were s a good way to use split light heads this would be it. The side step lights don't bother me that much, in theory the "off" time is when blue is off and red is on, there is no steady on blue/red/purple.

 

[Klein]

It is an ILS not Inner Edge. IE will never be that bright and the IE does not have that pattern.


2010 Tahoe PPV - Installations

 

[Storm4200]

nice. i didnt even realize that was an ILS. deffffffinately a FS pattern that its on

 

[JohnMarcson]

I don't often like split lightheads.....


but when I do, they are synched, flashed slowly and grouped by color...


Stay blinky my friends.....

 

[ccsobaker]

The car looks good. I would just make the grille blue on passengers side and red on drivers side and not mixed.

I agree, cherries on one side and berries on the other; not mixed.

 

[Rusted413]

Isnt this less a split fail than a sync success?

 

[Core Public Safety]

I don't know why people have to hate so hard on split patterns. Yes, they get over used but just like anything else there is a time and a place for them. I'm not crazy about the particular flash on the grill lights but I like that they use split flash for alternating colors rather than just creating a giant purple blob.


We've used split flash on a couple of SUV installs we've done. The lights were mounted on a rear license plate bracket and were so bright that they completely drowned out all the other rear lighting. It basically created a glow at night and you couldn't see the vehicle behind the burst of light. Our feeling was it was an accident waiting to happen. Using a split flash allowed us to tame the brightness down while still being effective. I totally agree with John though, if you're going to split flash slow is the key.

 

[JohnMarcson]

I don't know why people have to hate so hard on split patterns. Yes, they get over used but just like anything else there is a time and a place for them. I'm not crazy about the particular flash on the grill lights but I like that they use split flash for alternating colors rather than just creating a giant purple blob.

We've used split flash on a couple of SUV installs we've done. The lights were mounted on a rear license plate bracket and were so bright that they completely drowned out all the other rear lighting. It basically created a glow at night and you couldn't see the vehicle behind the burst of light. Our feeling was it was an accident waiting to happen. Using a split flash allowed us to tame the brightness down while still being effective. I totally agree with John though, if you're going to split flash slow is the key.

We hate on split patterns because 90% of the time they are used to ruin a setup or lighthead.... what could be clear and effective like this example ofthen becomes a purple blurr when setup poorly.... we are more hating on the fail setups than the actual light...


If you fixed a "blurr problem" by splitting the heads something else changed too.... ie the pattern or speed..... or the lights were split color to begin with and being flashed together... there is a right and a wrong way to split lights... not doing it at all seems to work better than any split method I have seen.

 

[Sigma Safety]

The problem with splits isn't JUST the purple effect, it's that they have no dark time. Activity, not just colour, is extremely important for warning, especially at a distance (100'+). Activity = lights flashing (regardless of colour). To flash, a light has to turn on and then off. I know this sounds like a preschool-level statement but when we do splits like this, they don't really flash since there is no "off" time. So we've gone from Blue/Off/Blue/Off to Blue/Red/Blue/Red (no "off"). Since there is no off time, from a distance the lights just appear as a steady-burn.


Without high activity levels, flashing lights don't convey urgency to motorists. Rapidly flashing lights = percieved urgency to most motorists, slow flashing = less urgent. Colours are almost (not completely) useless in conveying this message. Consider the lowly headlight wigwag - still the most effective long-distance lighting to the front of a vehicle. Putting your truck on highbeam (no flasher) clearly wouldn't have nearly the same effectiveness.


If you just want the truck to look pretty, then this is a fantastic truck. If you want it to provide effective warning, especially at intersections, then it's totally sub-par. The ILS is great, the grille lights are maybe ok, and the running board lights are nearly useless.


Too bad, because it does look pretty. It's an awesome tradeshow truck.

 

[BigWil]

The problem with splits isn't JUST the purple effect, it's that they have no dark time. Activity, not just colour, is extremely important for warning, especially at a distance (100'+). Activity = lights flashing (regardless of colour). To flash, a light has to turn on and then off. I know this sounds like a preschool-level statement but when we do splits like this, they don't really flash since there is no "off" time. So we've gone from Blue/Off/Blue/Off to Blue/Red/Blue/Red (no "off"). Since there is no off time, from a distance the lights just appear as a steady-burn.

Without high activity levels, flashing lights don't convey urgency to motorists. Rapidly flashing lights = percieved urgency to most motorists, slow flashing = less urgent. Colours are almost (not completely) useless in conveying this message. Consider the lowly headlight wigwag - still the most effective long-distance lighting to the front of a vehicle. Putting your truck on highbeam (no flasher) clearly wouldn't have nearly the same effectiveness.


If you just want the truck to look pretty, then this is a fantastic truck. If you want it to provide effective warning, especially at intersections, then it's totally sub-par. The ILS is great, the grille lights are maybe ok, and the running board lights are nearly useless.


Too bad, because it does look pretty. It's an awesome tradeshow truck.

I don't agree with your assessment at all. There is no difference in flashing one lighthead red then blue than flashing a red lighthead, then having an adjacent blue lighthead flash immediately after. Also, at greater distances, because of the way light refracts, the dual colour lighthead is going to look like there is one mounted above the other. But then again, I'm no scientist.

 

[Klein]

To all the posters against the running boards you really should it in person. Jon (the owner of Lonestar who does the installs) does that type of install regularly. It is very popular because it is effective. I see it quite often around here. The entire install is pretty good. I am a fan of the everything on there except the silly pattern on the rear, being a small foot print. Other than that, the ILS, grille lights and running board light combo is effective down here. Not all emergeny vehicles need long distance lighting. Obviously high patrols and the like do but for urban areas like what we have, this setup is just plain effective. If it was a unit for high patrols or similar, I would say make the running board lights flash solid blue on the outer two and white in the middle without any splits or just one solid color for them all on, then off. The video does not do it justice.

 

[Sigma Safety]

I don't agree with your assessment at all. There is no difference in flashing one lighthead red then blue than flashing a red lighthead, then having an adjacent blue lighthead flash immediately after. Also, at greater distances, because of the way light refracts, the dual colour lighthead is going to look like there is one mounted above the other. But then again, I'm no scientist.

Yes, there is a difference. Our eyes are most sensitive to motion, not colour, especially in your peripheral vision (which is almost completely colour blind). Colour, for the most part, is just for identication and to communicate a message (Blue = I'm police, Amber = Hazard Ahead, etc), but colour in itself does not draw attention very well. If it did, we'd have steady-burn lights all over our vehicles.


Peripheral vision is much more sensitive to motion than central vision, too. Have a read; How Color Blindness Works . Military pilots and others are taught to scan, not focus on a single point. This is because your brain can "ignore" stationary objects even barely into your peripheral vision, nearly regardless of size and colour. It's actually quite surprising, and, as a motorcyclist, scares me a little if that's what other drivers are seeing when they look near my direction. Here's a really illustrative test (every professional driver should check this out); MSF .


All of that may seem like over-thinking this, but that's what is happening to motorists when you approach them in your emergency vehicle. It also illustrates why motion , not colour, is the most important factor. Colour contributes, but it's pretty minor overall. This assumes we're talking about traffic clearing, as colour plays into it more when in "blocking" mode).


Flashing needs on time then off time. I don't think dual colour lights are horrible - they have their places (sides of a pushbumper, for example, to show both red and blue to cross traffic), but they aren't as effective at a distance as a light setup that has more motion (pair of lights that wigwag, with a physical space between them). By "distance", I mean 100' and more, I'm not talking about 2 mile visibility.

 

[nerdly_dood]

Flashing needs on time then off time. I don't think dual colour lights are horrible - they have their places (sides of a pushbumper, for example, to show both red and blue to cross traffic), but they aren't as effective at a distance as a light setup that has more motion (pair of lights that wigwag, with a physical space between them). By "distance", I mean 100' and more, I'm not talking about 2 mile visibility.

Listen to the man. :yes:

 

[Ipuvaepe]

I actually wrote a big post on what split fail is (to me), but then chrome crashed and I lost it all.


To me, only the visor bar is split fail. It is effective because of the pseudostrobe patterns, but not nearly as it could and should be. All of a color should be on or none of the color should be on, the distance between heads simply isn't enough to justify the split pattern for each side.


It also needs intersection coverage.

 

[John Hearne]

There's a reason the big "E" at the top of the eye chart - bigger is easier to see. Any time you run split patterns, you reduce the footprint of the lighthead by half, making it less effective. If you want to see something impressive, flash the same side/same color of a light bar at the same time. You can't help but see it.

 

[irsa76]

There's a reason the big "E" at the top of the eye chart - bigger is easier to see. Any time you run split patterns, you reduce the footprint of the lighthead by half, making it less effective. If you want to see something impressive, flash the same side/same color of a light bar at the same time. You can't help but see it.

Yep, my local police flash their lightbars on the GENERAL patrol cars one side(colour) at a time in a rapid double flash. Only other warning they have is HLF. Simple and very effective. On the other hand the traffic squad use the same lightbars with a weird almost TA style pattern and even with more lights on the dash, mirrors, upper and lower grilles, yes even some splitfails, and you actually take a split second longer to figure out what's going in. Still better then the ambulance service who has a complete mess of lights with steady burns everywhere and a what looks to be a random flash pattern, on a low profile lightbar on the top of a Sprinter.

 

[theolog]

Isnt this less a split fail than a sync success?

You beat me to it. :thumbsup: