Michigan State Police Beacon FTW (Trump motorcade)
- Thread starter LineSpotter
- Start date
This really proves how effective the dwell and off or dark time is.
People keep mocking these retrofitted Unity/Whelen-LED hybrid beacons. But they are like "nuclear-fusion levels" of light production. Especially in person. They negate the need for every other light on the vehicle (rear-deck, side-view mirrors, push bumpers, side windows) in my opinion.
Having a 360-degree warning light is necessary, but it doesn't provide proper forward-mounted intersection coverage, and if the car gets stuck behind a tractor trailer in the left lane, there's no way to get the guy's attention because the light is blocked.
A few observations...
-Ive run C3 both with and without "proper forward-mounted intersection coverage" and have never noticed a difference in how folks react.
-As a POV driver, I've noticed cross traffic EV overheads long before I ever see anything mounted up front (the only exception are slick tops obviously)
-An EV driver shouldn't be pulling out until he/she has line of sight visuals on cross traffic, thus an overhead beacon would be visible to cross traffic.
-Having run EV's with single OH beacons, Ive never had a problem getting the attention of a large vehicle, and an A-pillar is far more effective at doing so than anything mounted up front, at least in my experience. In fact, the Whelen combo A-pillars that we have been running seem to get attention more than many overheads, so much so that I run one on my POV now. Back in the day we all rode the A-pillar pretty heavy
Last edited:
Who is doing the conversion?
Does there happen to be thread covering the details of these?
There is some small firm in the Detroit area (Brighton, Michigan) that is producing these. I cannot remember their name. But they are clearly getting new Unity domes and new Unity RV-26 bases in which to install Whelen LED models. Someone where should know more details. Here's an article from the MSP.
http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1574-228581--,00.html
http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1574-228581--,00.html
Per the article, the company is Whelen Engineering of Brighton, MI. They developed a prototype and MSP's Precision Driving Unit (the folks that bring you the annual police vehicle evaluations) refined the concept to what we see today.
IIRC, the "retrofit" program was created/managed by CS Trojan & Associates, the regional Whelen rep agency for Michigan.
They've had those LED ones for a while; I dunno if you've seen one up close before, but they're "YUUUUUGE." With that many Whelen LEDs crammed into a beacon, it'll def be bright ;-)