Hey! NO! That's cheating!!!

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
These are always split flash fail... a mess of pink unless synched on the ambulance flasher.
 
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Sparky_911

Supporting Donor
May 15, 2013
2,648
Central Illinois
Eh...I agree with the pink blur comment made a few posts back....kind of reminiscent of the 80s cube rigs built on van and truck chassis though.
Screenshot_20221118_101704_Google.jpg
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Eh...I agree with the pink blur comment made a few posts back....kind of reminiscent of the 80s cube rigs built on van and truck chassis though.

This has been a thing in the ambulance market in Europe for years and it starts to catch on here then goes away.


Collins used to put Grote sealed beam rotators and Weldon sealed beam flashers in there and it looked bad. Then Crestline coach did the same with XL5000 rotators behind fluted 9x7 lenses. When Horton first made vans they had a rear "plexi" option to cover the rear flashers. It shrunk the flashers into much smaller lights but it was under a cool futuristic clear cover.

Of course you don't need a fancy plastic cover to add "all the surface mount LEDs" to the front of an ambulance.
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lighted.JPG
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
It looks like a Demers ambo. Demers is a Canadian company based in Quebec. They have been building ambos with streamlined light enclosures for years.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
It looks like a Demers ambo. Demers is a Canadian company based in Quebec. They have been building ambos with streamlined light enclosures for years.
Yeah this is most likely one of those. The practice is also be getting popular with United States builders now that Demers and Braun have teamed up. Whelen makes products for the transit van and sprinters which have replaced most e-series type II chassis. I've also seen some of the ambulances built by the REV group show up with similar light arrays.

If you're going to track this specific practice of a bunch of existing lights underneath a clear shell to a North American company, I would agree that demers is the company. If you want to try to pinpoint the practice, I would guess that Asia or Europe is going to be your ground zero for this practice. I know some Japanese ambulances had gigantic bubbles of light clusters and some of the Mercedes car based and van-based ambulances in Germany had similar pretty early on. I don't know if you compare that to Canadian trucks which will come first. Maybe it's pretty close. As far as North America, Canadian ambulances have certainly been using surface mount lights atypically in a wider market than the previous American niches.
 

bpollard

Member
Jun 13, 2010
422
USA, SC
American LaFrance did something vaguely similar there towards the end, creating custom molded light assemblies to blend in with the rooflines. I never cared for it cosmetically, can't speak to how well it worked. I can't imagine that it helped fuel efficiency on either Fire apparatus nor ambulance enough to make any difference at all.

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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
American LaFrance did something vaguely similar there towards the end, creating custom molded light assemblies to blend in with the rooflines. I never cared for it cosmetically, can't speak to how well it worked. I can't imagine that it helped fuel efficiency on either Fire apparatus nor ambulance enough to make any difference at all.

View attachment 240803
These were not as good as the sum of the components due to lack of sych, dome hazing and overall setups. I saw one with all 600 series LEDs synched and it was ok, but the stock setups suffered from the dome style.

 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Did anyone actually use the Whelen Fastrax (?) for Crown Vics back in the day?
Several larger agencies tried it, PA state police was one. There were other "testers" , but all had the same experiences. The feedback a was;

Problems
  • Inadequate front system (smaller number of smaller 500 series vs. a larger number of larger 400 series)
  • Alleys on the rear system were not sufficient (500 series halogen angled)
  • The requirement of multiple external power supplies
  • The font anecdotally leaked (may be installer error or tight tolerances not met)
  • The system was vehicle specific in an era where alternate vehicles were starting to show up again.
  • Front section discolored and had light washout from open "bubble design".
  • When setup poorly it was as bad as the lacking sum of its components.

Strengths
  • Rear system worked well as a traffic arrow and gave benefits of rear deck light with no flashback
  • Made for go "highway patrol" systems. Counted as a "roof light" for states that require marked units
  • Did provide the sleek aerodynamic look and performance it promised.
  • Was available with whatever 500 or 400 series lights you wanted (system was as good as the options)
  • Cost was not terrible vs. a complete "standard" slick top system and was less cumbersome and distracting than "slick top" equipment of the time
  • When installed and setup properly it was as good as the sum of its components.
All that said, the vehicle specific nature of the device and the advancement of LED slicktop interior devices were the demise of this system.

If anyone has one of these systems or even the rear I will buy it. I don't have one in my collection.
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
yeah I have a stack of them including complete front and rear systems with controllers, but not sure what I want to do with them
Well....if you ever want to sell one, I am always looking for a complete one.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
I know a guy who had one for sale few weeks ago was from somewhere in Pennsylvania. Standard police colors I think he wanted like 1200.00 i can ask if you want?
Yeah, I'd be interested. Thanks.
 

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