Emergency Vehicle Equipment

360 Visual Warning: Light bars are generally attached to the top of most emergency vehicles. They come in multiple sizes and have different light patterns, but they all serve the same purpose. The lights in a light bar can be red, blue, white, amber and even in some cases, green. They can be configured with various lighting technologies such as halogen and incandescent lights, LED's and strobe lights. The brand, size and features are all aspects which each agency has to consider when outfitting a fleet of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and even tow trucks. Lightbars are not inexpensive and therefore a great deal of consideration has to be given to what the actual purpose of the lightbar will serve. These features come at a price and many departments have to balance a lightbar’s design with it’s cost and that’s where Public Safety Shopper comes into play. Public Safety Shopper lets the buyer focus on features instead of price.

"Undercover" Visual Warning: Lightbars can also be mounted inside of an emergency vehicle with today’s LED technology. These lights are mounted along the top of the windshield and either along the top or the bottom of the rear window. LED's have taken the lead in undercover warning lights due to their small size and very low power requirements. Undercover warning also includes dash and deck lights which are still made up of halogen and strobe offerings, but the LED emergency vehicle lighting is becoming the most popular solution. Another popular undercover lighting setup is having strobe lights installed in the vehicle's headlights, turn signals, brake lights and even the backup lights. When installed well, these can be very effective. But when installed far from the focal point of the light's reflector, the results are dismal at best.

Beacons: These simple warning lights are most often found on back of fire trucks, ambulances and most commonly on utility and construction vehicles. Today's beacons are a far cry from the Federal Signal model 14 "bubblegum machine" rotating beacons of yesteryear. While the Model 14 is still available, beacons nowadays vary from small 360° LED lights to warning lights that resemble a 'mini lightbar'. In fact, the line between the 'mini bar' and the beacon are blurred. But the litmus test is whether or not the warning light is a single, standalone unit, manufactured solely as a beacon or whether it is manufactured from the same components of it's full size lightbar brethren. 

There are all types of emergency vehicle lighting equipment in the marketplace and with the advances in technology, new prototypes are being developed every day. Who knows what the future holds, but it is obvious that emergency vehicle warning equipment will always be improving.