N.A.S.A. Security Police (pic heavy)

[mdlighting]

I recently upfitted 8 of our patrol vehicles with new lightbars (well new to us). We bought them used for $120 from a guy in VA but they came out really good. These replaced 5 code 3 lp 6000s and 3 code 3 excalibers. as you can see the old ones were mounted to the roof rack and wasnt very secure you could move them up and down pretty easy also when you got to about 60 mph the light bar would start to shake on the roof and make a slapping sound but now all that is solved no more problems. I hope you guys like it.

 

[jrfive0]

hey buddy your pic posting skills need some work

 

[Hoser]

Your pics lead to a dead link. Go to manage attachments after you hit edit post and you should be able to upload your photo"s.

 

[mdlighting]

sorry about the pictures its my first install post and they are not in order i will figure this out adventually

 

[FreshDave04]

NASA, of all places, had to purchase used Vistas for their patrol vehicles? Where the heck are my tax dollars going?!? lol

 

[Zoe]

NASA, of all places, had to purchase used Vistas for their patrol vehicles? Where the heck are my tax dollars going?!? lol

 

[mdlighting]

sorry i didnt say earlier we are contractors my company paid for these light bars we lease our vehicles from enterprise N.A.S.A. has no part in the purchase of the vehicle or equipment my company didnt want to replace the old bars so i convenced them to buy used but better lights.

 

[badge22]

sorry i didnt say earlier we are contractors my company paid for these light bars we lease our vehicles from enterprise N.A.S.A. has no part in the purchase of the vehicle or equipment my company didnt want to replace the old bars so i convenced them to buy used but better lights.

FAIL. The Federal Vista Strobe is absolute garbage. You were better off with the halogen lights.


Just sayin...


They do look good though...too bad their output sucks...

 

[Amanda]

Half a penny? I'd rather put my SS tax money into NASA seeing as I won't see a dime from SS.


Nice install.

 

[Fluffy126577]

I wouldn't go as far as saying FAIL. I commend you going the extra step in your job and being productive. Though the one part I will agree with is the Vista strobe models are really bad. Seeing them on the Ohio State Highway Patrol vehicles for so long is a prudent fact in this. Maybe soon you can update them to something with more light output.


Also you did get a really good deal if you bought all of them for $120.00. I would be hard pressed to pass that up too.

 

[kadetklapp]

At first I was like "WTF" at the thought of the .gov not even springing for some decent four or six head LED bars, but now I see you are a contractor.


I like how they turned out. Major improvement. I had a Vista strobe on a patrol vehicle. Output sucked but I still liked the bar. Maybe someday you can turn those into "Arjents" using some LED modules and flat top domes.

 

[Ipuvaepe]

Wait wait wait, who did the install? I see multiple fails here, no offense.


1: Replaced a fully functional Excalibur with a vista... ew.


2: Drilled a hole into the top of a leased vehicle


3: Drilled a hole into the top of a vehicle without using a grommet.


4: A lot of these lightbars are angled downward.

 

[WPD8908]

Gonna sell the Blue LP6000 pm me and let me know

 

[Doug]

Looks like N.A.S.A. Goddard in Greenbelt, co 848's first due.

 

[Jman423]

Wait wait wait, who did the install? I see multiple fails here, no offense.
1: Replaced a fully functional Excalibur with a vista... ew.


2: Drilled a hole into the top of a leased vehicle


3: Drilled a hole into the top of a vehicle without using a grommet.


4: A lot of these lightbars are angled downward.

1. There is nothing wrong with the Vista bar, however, the halogen version greatly out performs the strobe version.
   
2. Many places drill into lease vehicles. My whole fleet is all lease vehicles with holes in the roof.
   
3. I think the hole you are seeing is what was already there, after the old bar was removed.
   
4. I do agree that I would have moved them back a little more... for both looks and functionality.
   

Everyone is a critic, but it looks nice :thumbsup:

 

[Hoff]

You know all this talk of gov money.... where the hell is it? I can't get a $30 targeting sleeve for my dogs because we are "out of money". Good thing our Excaliburs are still working.

 

[mdlighting]

We are contractors no government money was spent I didn't do the original install so things were done not the right way but hey not everyone knows about this stuff the vistas work great for us they have 8are strobes 10 flashers 4 takedowns and 2 alleys on each side the output is much greater than the old bars. And yes we are at Goddard Space Flight Center in greenbelt but we would like to consider us 818 or 835s first due lol 848 doesn't get out much if anyone is interested in the old bars I will speak to my project manager so PM me thanks

 

[Ipuvaepe]

Yeah, I just like the excalibur a lot more than the vista. As for the holes, well yes I was actually meaning whoever put the hole there but I suppose since I didn't say that it's an understandable misunderstanding. Still, a grommet should have been used >.<


Holes in the roof, well yeah I suppose thats not really a "fail", nothing wrong with it. IMO it's better to route it with the fingers and put a hole where it wont be seen, but to each his own.

 

[RJ*]

When you have the opportunity, do an upgrade with some LED modules in the lower sections, and you should do fine with the Vistas.

 

[mdlighting]

When you have the opportunity, do an upgrade with some LED modules in the lower sections, and you should do fine with the Vistas.

I would love to but they wont put out the money

 

[fire1]

1. There is nothing wrong with the Vista bar, however, the halogen version greatly out performs the strobe version.
   
2. Many places drill into lease vehicles. My whole fleet is all lease vehicles with holes in the roof.
   
3. I think the hole you are seeing is what was already there, after the old bar was removed.
   
4. I do agree that I would have moved them back a little more... for both looks and functionality.
   

Everyone is a critic, but it looks nice :thumbsup:

I do agree that many places drill into lease vehicles, but the first install was botched. Who would put a hole right on the rib, & looks like he used a hammer & punch. If I was the leasing company, you would be getting a repair bill for the roof. For what you paid for them good buy & looks like you did a nice job on reconditioning & installing them. I do agree that I would have moved them back a little more, It does look like they are tilted down, due to the sloop on the roof.

 

[NHFD104]

"We are contractors no government money was spent"


Actually, it was all government money. The contractor bills the government for its services. Without checks from the government there would be no need for the vehicles which means no need for the lightbars.

 

[mdlighting]

"We are contractors no government money was spent"


Actually, it was all government money. The contractor bills the government for its services. Without checks from the government there would be no need for the vehicles which means no need for the lightbars.

Like I said earlier the company can not charge the government for these they were allowed a certain amount to purchase lights and equipment which is what they used to get the old bars the replacements were strictly on the company's bill so as stated before no government money was spent on this purchase and install

 

[TheGatekeeper]

Nice units. The downward angle is annoying though, and probably defeats the purpose. That's too bad.

 

[mdlighting]

Ok so I was finally able to level the rest of the bars

 

[lafd55]

Very very clever with using the screws for the luggage rack. No extra holes!

 

[mdlighting]

Very very clever with using the screws for the luggage rack. No extra holes!

Yeah I just took the rubber things off of our old bars and as for the luggage rack bolts I was worried about the strength but they didn't even budge when I tightened the bar down and we have had no issues with them so far mounting wise.

 

[JohnMarcson]

The project looks fine, and I am all good with the government scraping more life out of used bars. I just don't see this as an upgrade.... the strobe vista is nothing compared to an LP6000, excalibur or any rotator bar really. The install looks fine, but I'm just not sure what the upgrade was.


No drop in current draw to speak of, no lowering of bar profile, and a decrease in output.

 

[mdlighting]

Well the LP 6000's we had used the plastic preform rotators and they were so burnt some had holes in them and they only had 3 rotators. All of us have noticed a difference in how people react to our lights before they would not move over for us but now we have no issues getting through traffic and with the one that has the microman bars in it we ran a odor of electrical in one of the buildings and I had people pulling over a quarter mile in front of me it was pretty nice

 

[Hoser]

Install's look good, to bad that you couldnt have gotten some of the used OSP bars. The market was flooded with them for a while. Seen them go for $100. The best part of them was the lower level LEDs made them brighter where the strobes lacked.

 

[mdlighting]

We only paid $120.00 a bar so it wasn't that bad and the strobes aren't that bad we have received many compliments from the employees that they look way better and can be seen way sooner than the old ones. Ours came from Arlington VA pd I believe

 

[JohnMarcson]

First of all I keep re-reading and editing this post cause I fell like such a jerk for criticizing your hard work. I think you did a nice job, and they look more uniform for sure. I hate to fault you for finding a low cost way to attempt to upgrade warning equipment.


I also agree the plastic rotators aren't great and go dull fast. I just really hate strobe vistas as they have tried to kill me on several nonconsecutive occasions (exaggerated sarcastic humor since you can't hear me say this). Strobe vistas were often the primary warning on a scene's "block vehicle" for me up until just recently and I have grown to rate them based only on what they have on the lower deck. I fell like a total dork, but it just bugs me to see LPs and Excaliburs or a rotator bar of any type removed in favor of a strobe vista. Federal Signal makes a lot of things as well or better than anyone..... rotators for example, sirens of some types.... strobes is not one of those things. I think the strobe vista is basically an arjent with 12 amps and a few inches of wasted space added to the top, and those code 3 bars at worst need they rotators replaced and could be easily loaded bars with just a few lower deck LEDs added. You can pop almost anything into the Excalibur or LP and make a great bar.


Sorry to pile on the parade pissing.

 

[mdlighting]

Well in the next few months all of those vehicles will be replaces with new cars with Whelen justice light bars. I had replaced some of the old plastic rotators with the metal ones I found in some force 4 beacons in a closet at work but the lenses were all faded and some had a few small cracks plus we really needed the alleys and takedowns on evening and midnight shift its kinda hard to check a fence line with no alleys and no spot light. They work for us and do much better than the old bars we had. Check out some of my other posts and you will see I love older code 3 rotator bars I personally own around 10. 5 LP6000s 2 Excalibur's and 3 MX7000s

 

[JohnMarcson]

Well in the next few months all of those vehicles will be replaces with new cars with Whelen justice light bars. I had replaced some of the old plastic rotators with the metal ones I found in some force 4 beacons in a closet at work but the lenses were all faded and some had a few small cracks plus we really needed the alleys and takedowns on evening and midnight shift its kinda hard to check a fence line with no alleys and no spot light. They work for us and do much better than the old bars we had. Check out some of my other posts and you will see I love older code 3 rotator bars I personally own around 10. 5 LP6000s 2 Excalibur's and 3 MX7000s

If they fit your needs better it makes sense, I just hate strobe vistas to the point of nerdy I guess. I see the point of the install I guess now, you know your needs better than I do.

 

[Radarcop290]

Hey bud, great use of recycled lightbars. NASA is lucky to have you in my opinion. Most facilities wouldn't have really given a crap and just kept using the junk that was old. That's pretty innovative that you were able to get those light bars for a fraction of the cost of a brand new one, and for what you guys use your vehicles for, it worked out perfect. And really, with that drill and buffer head and some plastic polish, it really did wonders on those bars. They look pretty new actually. What baffles me is that the vehicles themselves look pretty new, yet they wouldn't spend an additional $500 per vehicle for a new lower end light bar. I think you could have gotten a really decent Whelen "Justice" no frills bar for a fairly good price buying 8 of them and they would have easily lasted the life of several vehicles beyond these. But, what you have done is fantastic.

 

[mdlighting]

Thank you sir. The new contract is about to begin with a new company and with it comes new vehicles. From what I was told we are ordering the new ford NGPIs sedans and utility's being up fitted by the factory so no fun for me. At least we are getting good vehicles for once.

 

[CPDG23]

Nice job on the install. I am another Vista strobe hater but they are far and away better than the last install. Much cleaner and professional looking.


I am a bit confused by your thread title though... Are you guys police or security? Do you have some sworn officers and some not? How's that work?

 

[mdlighting]

We are sworn security police officers we have full federal arrest authority on NASA property but once we are off duty and leave the property than we are just normal civilians. We go thru a fully accredited academy NASA protective services training academy or NPSTA for short. We pull traffic on center and write tickets respond to alarms and medical calls and then go lock buildings for the evening or check badges as employes come through the gate heck we even do animal control. We have K9 officers that inspect any commercial vehicles that wish to come on center and even an ATV for fence line checks. It's really not a bad gig it pays pretty nice too $25 an hour for EMTs I am on patrol all but one day of my work week most officers get 2 patrol days and 3 gate days.

 

[mdlighting]

So just to update we got the vehicles in yesterday an the got us civilian impala's a few of them actually have a spoiler on the trunk. I haven't seen them in person yet but I was told they were done just as bad as the traverses. Also they won't allow any pictures of the vehicles sorry fellas its out of my hands right now

 

[unlisted]

How can anyone deny photos of a vehicle used in public? Just stand outside a fence line with a telephoto lens..