JPolston said:
So, my fire dept. has some extra money, and it's a couple years before we finish paying off our tanker and can get a new engine. I'm contemplating talking to our Chief about outfitting our current engine with LEDs, then we could transfer the LEDs off her to the new engine, or our tanker, whenever the new engine may decide to park itself in our station.
We have a 1990 GMC TopKick/91 S&S, and its due for some sort of upgrade. We just re-outfitted our rescue to all LED, and we're wanting to convert all apparatus to LED at some point along the line. Any idea on what would work, look good, be efficient for this old main that's still working? Our dept. ONLY buys Whelen. Our Chief is pretty adamant on that here recently.
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I agree on holding out for the new rig, so that one can spec-ed without cutting any corners.
What does the rear look like...all diamond plate? I would say at the minimum add reflective chevrons to the rear and front bumper...relatively inexpensive and the neon yellow/bright red really are eye catching (if it's diamond plate to the rear, u can use scene dots; otherwise use the same 3M strips of tape that you would use with the front).
However, if you do want to upgrade lighting, I'd do something along the lines of the following
--Lightbar: if the halogen XL is still working fine, I'd consider leaving it. Otherwise, I'd go with a basic
NFPA freedom. (You can use a
NFPA liberty or justice, but I think they'll look small up there)
--Front: 900 series grill lights
--Side: 700 series at top of front wheel well, ions by rear wheel well (I would prefer something larger, but there isn't much space by the wheel well, nor is there a rail along the bottom of the compartments that is suitable for mounting either)
--Rear: I'd have to see it first, but I'd ideally say 4 900 series (2 red 2 amber) and 2 whelen L31's (amber on driver side and red on passenger side) to replace the existing beacons. The L31's are a little pricey but they serve 2 purposes (upper rear zone warning & upper side zone warning) and they are very bright; our fairly new Impel quint has them and those suckers are bright...they blow the FedSig highlighters and halogen beacons (the former choice of lighting for that area on all other other rigs) out of the water; I'm not a fan of L32's used in this area because I think they're too small here. Traffic advisor is always an option, but I'd focus on other lighting first).
I'd go with all colored lenses for the perimeter lighting...I think the 700's and 900's fit in better with the look of the truck than the M series and the colored lenses will make them blend in even more IMHO.
