Grille Lights

May 25, 2010
275
Quincy, Illinois
My chief (at another agency) is getting ready to get a new Ford CVPI and wanted to know if we could just go with straight grille lights, hlf, and corner strobes to the front with no interior light. I told him it was possible and that there were some great LED options out there, but advised against it.


So I am thinking about a set of Whelen M6's in the grille and cannot seem to locate a pedestal mount for these, I know I have seen them, just can't find them now. Can anyone help me with this information or if they have a better idea for the grille let me know (lights must be behind the grille).
 

Fast LT1

Member
May 24, 2010
2,018
Sedgwick County, KS
BAD IDEA! Its really bad warning anyone in a truck or high suv can't see you when your near their butt!
 

Shawn L

Member
May 21, 2010
2,477
Corbett, Oregon
arround here lots of dept's are using a simple "L" bracket to mount the whelen 500 lin 6 heads behind the grille of a crown vic , I would assume that you could just use a pair of l brackets to put them behind the grille.
 

lotsofbars

Member
Jul 20, 2010
1,999
NYC, New York
DEPUTYSTEPHENSON said:
As I stated before I know it's a bad idea and he was warned and educated against it, but it's what the CHIEF wants.
I'm not even sure that's legal… with all the blind spots, I'm pretty sure it's against the law to NOT have anything on the upper parts of the car.
 

opskmallory

New Member
Jun 14, 2010
161
Utah
I put a set of 400 Series in my grille and Whelen has a flush mount flange for them, combined with some generic L brackets they work and look good.


But if I were you, I'd CYA and not tell him about anything else or involve yourself until he agrees to at least put something above the RVM, at least an Avenger or something. I smell wicked stinky lawsuit if he ever gets into a crash.
 
May 22, 2010
1,163
Central WV
I would consider a TIR style light for behind the grill mounting because the benefits of a linear light are going to be mostly lost behind a grill.


A HLF and corner strobes have a lot of warning power, especially with a nice set of grill lights, but I agree that not having a light on the dash/windhield/headliner is a bad idea. No one will see him very well if he is responding code (not sure how much he will be doing this as a Chief, but he still needs to be adequately lit in the event that he does). A nice dual dash light would be more than enough in this case and make his vehicle much more visible and if all else fails, try to get him to look at a single light at the bare minimum. Try to get him to look at a Predator II, UltraLite, Super Slimlighter, Avenger/Talon, Viper, or 200S and see if he like any of them so you can maybe try to get him to get one. Heck, a visor light like the Sound Off Gen III Visor Light would do the trick, but there may be a bit of flashback at night...even a Gen II or I visor light would be better than nothing at all.


Also, is he doing anything in the rear? Just corner strobes? What about doing a TLF or just a flasher to make the reverse light flash to give a little more warning to the rear encase he is somewhere he could get rear ended. A set of deck lights would be great, but if he's not going for a dash light, I doubt that he is going to go as far as deck lights.


Fully decked out police vehicles still have issues being seen by the aloof air headed public driving around. Ask him how he expects to be seen and able to respond safely if he is barely lit especially with how many problems other fully marked and lit vehicle have issues.


Keep us updated on what happens.
 

C17LVFD

Member
May 21, 2010
1,537
Harrisburg, PA
I've got M6's in my grill, and love them... Just standard L brackets make them work nicely! But.... I wouldn't be caught just running them. It's amazing the power of gentle persuasion if done right :D
 

nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
Just get what you listed, plus a simple dual light for the headliner. (Doesn't matter to me whether it's LED, halogen or strobe, they all work perfectly well)
 
May 25, 2010
275
Quincy, Illinois
lotsofbars said:
I'm not even sure that's legal… with all the blind spots, I'm pretty sure it's against the law to NOT have anything on the upper parts of the car.

Missouri only requires one lighted lamp exhibiting a red light visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle.
 

cory y

Member
May 21, 2010
1,614
nerdly_dood said:
Just get what you listed, plus a simple dual light for the headliner. (Doesn't matter to me whether it's LED, halogen or strobe, they all work perfectly well)

he dosent want one
 

MEVS06

New Member
May 23, 2010
3,485
San Antonio, TX
L brackets work wonders in CVPI grills no matter the size of light head you want to put, just need the appropriately sized L bracket to match the light head.


joe
 
May 25, 2010
275
Quincy, Illinois
To the few of you who actually posted something helpful (or defended the post), THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. To the others, well never mind because I have nothing nice to say so I won't say it at all.
 

TCO

Member
May 21, 2010
808
Malvern,Pa
basic set of l brackets will work and as far as the other lighting as long as you follow your state guidelines you should be fine. it could put the department under alot of liability as well as being a saftey issue ,but i am not the one that is going to be driving it . the chief gets what he wants
 

cory y

Member
May 21, 2010
1,614
Tomar (I think) made a replacement grille for crown victorias that housed 2 RECT-37's. Might wanna see if they are still made
 

Doug

Member
May 23, 2010
1,151
Maryland
cory y said:
Tomar (I think) made a replacement grille for crown victorias that housed 2 RECT-37's. Might wanna see if they are still made

I believe I've seen that in Adamson Industries' ads, but I can't seem to find the product on their site. As I recall, you can get strobe, LED or halogen; the lights are mounted into a cutout in the grille.
 
May 25, 2010
275
Quincy, Illinois
They are in my new Adamson Industries catalog and I would like one for myself and they only offer the LED version anymore. The problem is they are well over $400 and also the lights are visible (he wants them behind the grille).
 

RL1

Member
May 20, 2010
1,649
Ga
Some of the traffic and unmarked units in my home town have led PAR36's behind the grill. The pattern isn't the best, but the lights look pretty cool.
 

VolEms

Member
May 24, 2010
2,112
NY, USA
I think 2 or 4 Rect25 High power should do the job. My installer is putting in 4 Rect25's 2 White and 2 Blue in a Vol FF work truck with a HLF and corner LED's. I think you will be very visible with the Rect25. I have seen many NYPD uc units with no dash light. Look at the NYPD Taxi.
 
May 25, 2010
275
Quincy, Illinois
RL1 said:
Some of the traffic and unmarked units in my home town have led PAR36's behind the grill. The pattern isn't the best, but the lights look pretty cool.

I was just looking at the ones on Sirennet.com and may start putting those behind the grille. As of right now I usually mount lights to the outside of the grille and have been using the Code 3 XT6's.


ai299.photobucket.com_albums_mm291_deputystephenson_NCPD004.jpg
 

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