Steady burn red led dash light

[Alex75050]

Greetings all. For years I used a steady burn red light to the front. Either a spotlight bulb or, a red sealed beam mounted to the headliner. I decided to jump into the Led world and picked up a Whelen Competitor single red led dash light a few years ago.


It works well, but, after about a minute on, it seems to dim quite a bit. No big deal, it was cheap and is still fairly effective.


I'm looking for a replacement. Windshield mount with hood. Single red led. Steady burn option. Plug in or hard wired. But, prefer plug in. But, I want the best "throw" I can get. I don't care about side warning at all. I want the "red laser beam hitting the rear view mirror" of cars in front of me. As close as I can get to the old sealed beam. (Realizing that's not very realistic, but as focused as possible).


Thanks for everyone's input and experience.

 

[bluestinger90]

You might want to consider "microman industries".

https://micromanindustries.com/store/non-flashing-bars-external-flasher/

The product itself is very basic but it does what you need.

Their led lights are steady burn, hard wired, and have little to no off axis light.

 

[acala91]

A Star/SVP DLX6 dashlight would be effective for that. The reflector design has little off axis spread so most of the light is focused forward. A Whelen Spitfire Ion would work well also. 

 

[bluestinger90]

The problem with those lights is that they have very small heatsinks.

I have a DLX3 and DLX4 and those lights dim down considerably when set to steady burn. The DLX6 has a larger heatsink, but I imagine it too would dim down.

It's the same issue with the spitfire. Whelen uses a steady burn mode that dims after a few seconds.

 

[dmathieu]

Can't beat a halogen for steady burn!

 

[crescentstar69]

Some old things just work better than trying to adapt new things. Why not stick with halogen?

 

[Kevin K.]

I'd refer to what the California Highway Patrol has used over the years for guidance. Two of the three LED modules they've used are still available today. For a number of years, CHP used the Cuda TriOptic vertical-oriented modules, which is no longer manufactured by Federal Signal.

They've also used LED X modules from Code 3, which are still in production. Currently, CHP is using Whelen LIN6 modules in custom Raider iterations (T1 and T2, respectively). CHP slicktops consist entirely of LIN6 modules, and their custom Liberty bars consist predominately of LIN6 modules.

For your purpose, I'm thinking a steady-burn version of the LED X module from Code 3 will work the best for your application.

 

[acala91]

The problem with those lights is that they have very small heatsinks.

I have a DLX3 and DLX4 and those lights dim down considerably when set to steady burn. The DLX6 has a larger heatsink, but I imagine it too would dim down.

It's the same issue with the spitfire. Whelen uses a steady burn mode that dims after a few seconds.

Thanks for adding this, I was not aware of that. 

 

[Alex75050]

I appreciate all the input. The reasons I was heading away from the halogen sealed beam were weight and power draw. With the halogen, I had to mount it to the headliner. I like the flexibility of the led unit with suction cups.


I will tinker with some of your suggestions. Thank you.

 

[dmathieu]

There are (were) plenty of lighter halogen lights out there. DashMaster, DashMiser, Code 3 DeckBlaster, and other versions etc. All of those did a nice job.

 

[rattler]

Alex,

I am running a Feniex Cobra 1X as a steady red and I have not noticed it dimming.

 

[Alex75050]

Fenix looks pretty nice, and has a decent rep. I'll look into it, thank you.

 

[Marc M]

Sorry I'm late to the party! For a LED Steady Red I would use a Tomar T LED. It is a bigger light but works very well in the bright sun light and you can get hard wire or plug in. I had one and love it.