Someone explain D-Tech rotators for me
- Thread starter shott8283
- Start date
early on in the start they were 2 pieces of plastic with a special coating on them, one side red or blue, the other amber or blue. when they were off they were clearish, when on they reflected the light thru the coating. now they use colored glass to to reflect the light.
The old plastic D-Tech rotators did not hold up very well. The coating flakes off and your lightbar becomes filled with glitter while the emitted light becomes less red or blue and more white. However, the new glass D-Tech rotators are a marvel. The work wonderfully.
Also, fast rotators are fine for standard halogen bulbs with colored filters, but D-Techs are only useful on slow rotators.
Also, fast rotators are fine for standard halogen bulbs with colored filters, but D-Techs are only useful on slow rotators.
Theyre simply a 2 way mirror. its 2 glass rotator reflectors together joined face to face, you can see through the rear of them, but the inside is a mirror.
one side is colored red, the other blue. as the red reflector faces you, the inside of the blue is a mirror, and when it rotates to blue facing you, the inside of the red is a reflector.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQAqx_Q ... re=related
one side is colored red, the other blue. as the red reflector faces you, the inside of the blue is a mirror, and when it rotates to blue facing you, the inside of the red is a reflector.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQAqx_Q ... re=related
Never ever use D-tech rotators with a fast motor - if you do then it'll be producing 350 FPM from a single light, which is just too much for a rotator to be effective. When using it with a slow motor, it produces 190 FPM which is slightly more than a standard rotator with a fast motor, which produces 175 FPM. Don't bother using D-tech rotators with a clear lens under colored domes, you would produce a very similar flash effect with normal rotators with a fast motor. The purpose of a D-tech rotator is to produce two different colors of light from the same bulb.
A Whelen RB6 dual-beam version uses a similar method with one 65w bulb and a dual-sided reflector to produce 50,000 candlepower at 130 FPM.
A Whelen RB6 dual-beam version uses a similar method with one 65w bulb and a dual-sided reflector to produce 50,000 candlepower at 130 FPM.
stay away from the plastic, they get brittle and flake really bad.... trust me Portland police used d-tech's for years, glass is the only way to go
nerdly_dood said:
I thought Code 3's standard speed rotators were 100 RPM, and their fast were 200 RPM. Federal's rotators are 95 RPM for the standard, 120 RPM for the medium and 175 RPM for the fast.
I agree about using the D-Tech only on the standard/slow rotators; otherwise, they appear only as a blur.
I don't know what the speed is for sure, they only say "standard" or "fast" - I'm just taking FedSig's example.Doug said:
I always thought the blue/amber was pointless.... who runs amber blue 360? I'm sure someone does.... I just hate amber to the front on emergency vehicles.
any of the D techs come with blue blue? or are they usually split two different colors
thanks for all the info guys!
thanks for all the info guys!
they are only split color, because each color reflects for the other color, but if it is solid then it blurs when lit.
A blue/blue D-Tech, or any D-Tech in only one color, would accomplish nothing. For that application, a normal rotator with a colored filter would be indicated.
A D-Tech works by letting one color of light through one side of the filter, while reflecting all the rest of the colors of light back at the other side of the filter. I imagine a blue/blue D-Tech would emit very little light, would have a diminished or dull flash, and that the light would not fill the D-Tech in the same way it fills a normal D-Tech.
A D-Tech works by letting one color of light through one side of the filter, while reflecting all the rest of the colors of light back at the other side of the filter. I imagine a blue/blue D-Tech would emit very little light, would have a diminished or dull flash, and that the light would not fill the D-Tech in the same way it fills a normal D-Tech.
This is a custom clear/clear D-tech which is a great example of what the result of a single color D-tech would be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD3m0VA0HOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD3m0VA0HOw
You must run the RED/BLUE config. I tried to split them up and make a blue/blue - red/red set up....it didn't work...the colors were REALLY washed out and the glass looked like the old plastic lenses.....i switched them back.
I put two fast rotators on the outboard sections on my D-Tech bar....and they get a lot of attention....but any faster and you'd loose color shift.
I put two fast rotators on the outboard sections on my D-Tech bar....and they get a lot of attention....but any faster and you'd loose color shift.
Doesn't ADOT (Alaska Dept of Transportation) use amber and blue for their road vehicles and plow trucks?
There was an epsiode of Dangerous Drives on Speed channel that showed plow trucks with amber and blue strobes and pick up trucks with amber and blue LED's.
Red/red or Blue/blue D-Tech's are pointless, you'd be better off with a color dome.
And you loose the POP of the reflector.
Auburn Hills, MI used 360's with D-Techs in place of the intersection sweeps.
The upper lights were much brighter over the lower D-techs
In certain uses I could see using a D-tech, but an fully loaded bar with only D-Techs is not an effective use of a lightbar.
There was an epsiode of Dangerous Drives on Speed channel that showed plow trucks with amber and blue strobes and pick up trucks with amber and blue LED's.
Red/red or Blue/blue D-Tech's are pointless, you'd be better off with a color dome.
And you loose the POP of the reflector.
Auburn Hills, MI used 360's with D-Techs in place of the intersection sweeps.
The upper lights were much brighter over the lower D-techs
In certain uses I could see using a D-tech, but an fully loaded bar with only D-Techs is not an effective use of a lightbar.
EL1998P71 said:
I ended up with most of those bars & they had the plastic / flaky D-Techs. I think they would've been better off with an MX-style single sweep.
IIRC, the D-Tech choices were either red/blue or blue/amber.
The theory behind it is kind of like a filter that does not absorb the non-selected color rather it reflects it at the other colored element. Because of this, a red/amber version would be a poor performer due to yellow being a composite color of red.
Havent seen them by me in quite a few years, wasn't impressed with them as the colors blurred and were washed out.
Technically they are illegal in WI.
The theory behind it is kind of like a filter that does not absorb the non-selected color rather it reflects it at the other colored element. Because of this, a red/amber version would be a poor performer due to yellow being a composite color of red.
Havent seen them by me in quite a few years, wasn't impressed with them as the colors blurred and were washed out.
Technically they are illegal in WI.
Shawn L said:
They still do in fact. Tho the majority of their fleet sports the C3 2100 or the Liberty now, I still occasionally see one with the d-tech's cruising the streets. Before they migrated to the glass d-tech's I was able to get my hands on one of the old plastic versions that was being retired. As you can see just not as bold of colors due to wear. In fact the one on the very left end is supposed to be R/B but it looks more W/A now due to fading. And for whatever reason Portland did S F F F S for rotator speeds, fast d-techs are definitely pointless as posted above.