I was wondering if anybody in the LEO, snowplowing, firefighter, EMS or construction crowd on the board have seen or heard of a LED kit that you install in the headlights/taillights like you do the hideaway strobe kits. Everyone seems to be touting how much better the LEDs are over strobes and how strobes are "on the way out". But I can seem to find any hideaway LED kits....so it would seem to me that for this type of application the strobes are your only option.

Are you refering to the wig-wag system that you see on Emergency vehicles like cops and such?

There is one kit in Galls, but it says that it is only for Crown Victoria's. I have looked but have not seen anything else. I am in the process of outfitting my truck for volunteer firefighting, so I would be interested to know if you find anything else. Just a note: I just tried to pull them up at galls.com and it wouldn't recognize the item number. They are in the magazine.

To my knowledge there are not hidaway LED's. Go with some small ones in the grill or the top of your window near the tint brow. I have them on mine and noone even knows thwy are there till they lite up

Buyer beware. LED's generate a lot of heat and will tend to melt plastic lenses with use. And I dont mean hours either. I've seen it in as little as 15 minutes. That is their main drawback.

Buyer beware. LED's generate a lot of heat and will tend to melt plastic lenses with use. And I dont mean hours either. I've seen it in as little as 15 minutes. That is their main drawback.


Really? I thought one of the main advantages of the LEDs were the low power draw and low heat. I read somewhere that one of the "complaints" about the LED light bars were that in snowy climates that the didn't even make enough heat to melt the snow around them and that you had to brush the snow/ice away to keep them visible.

Havent seen that yet. But they do generate a lot of heat..

Havent seen that yet. But they do generate a lot of heat..


Yeah, I am not doubting you. I bet that they just generate it "differently" (aka instead of the bulb generating the heat another part of it does) than conventional bulbs, and that is why they have that snow buildup problem.

But in an enclosed space (aka a headlight assembly) heat is heat, no matter where it is generated. I wonder if THAT is why you don't see any LED hideaway kits?? :confused: I just assumed it was because it was such a new technology and nobody had manufactured a kit yet....

I don't know that you are going to find what you are looking for,

With a strobe system you have a remote power supply, and the strobes hook to that

With a LED system, you need the circuit board to power them, so unless they start making remote circuit boards I really don't see that as being an option.

Not to mention that most LED lighting you see, are made up of multiple LED's on the circuit board to get peoples attention, the circuit board also acts as a stabilizer too, the LEDS are usually epoxyed or connected in some other fashion, to keep the vibration down, which would kill LED's faster, almost as fast as water would kill the circuit board......:eek:

There definantly is a hide-a-way kit that uses LED's. It's just not available for very many vehichles yet. The product is manufactured by Code 3. Go to www.lshlights.com (http://www.lshlights.com) and click on the LED lights link on the left side. The kit should be the first item at the top of the page. Heat?

If you go LED's I would recommend the Next Gen (?) LED's. They are 3 HUGE bulbs in a housing instead of a bunch of little ones. I have them located over the rearview mirror and they are extremely bright. A lot brighter than the strobe system I had.

LED's generate very little heat. I don't know where you get your information but LED's generate a fraction of the heat that an incandescent bulb does.

There definantly is a hide-a-way kit that uses LED's. It's just not available for very many vehichles yet. The product is manufactured by Code 3. Go to www.lshlights.com (http://www.lshlights.com) and click on the LED lights link on the left side. The kit should be the first item at the top of the page. Heat?

Well I'll be dipt......that is pretty cool......:cool:

Here is how I have mine mounted.

Well, maybe the new generation of LED's have worked out their bugs. We had a lot of problems with Whelen bars in Louisiana during the summer, which is just about all year. Now that I'm alot further north, I havent heard anything bad about them.

There definantly is a hide-a-way kit that uses LED's. It's just not available for very many vehichles yet. The product is manufactured by Code 3. Go to www.lshlights.com (http://www.lshlights.com) and click on the LED lights link on the left side. The kit should be the first item at the top of the page. Heat?


Great info, thanks for the link. I bet in the next year or so we will see these really take off. It looks like the only reason they are vic and impala specific is because of the way the bracket and plug hold them in the housing.

Well, maybe the new generation of LED's have worked out their bugs. We had a lot of problems with Whelen bars in Louisiana during the summer, which is just about all year. Now that I'm alot further north, I havent heard anything bad about them.

LED's have never run hot. The problems you are probably experiencing is failure due to the heat of the sun.

Yeah, the sun seemed to bretty much bake everything. All the blue lightbars turned green after about a year. We went from red and blue to all blue and you could easily tell which were the old lenses and which were the new ones.

I had a 99 tahoe for about 3 years and I made the mistake of never waxing the roof. Well, after a year it was obvious. It was all sun faded and looked like crap. I'm glad I dont have to worry about that anymore.

Now you won't find tinted lenses. All Blue and Red super bright LED's are clear.

Here is how I have mine mounted.


Hey Max, do you have those mounted behind the ducts in the filler plate or in the ducts in the filler plate?

Behind

How is the view from the side?

Not bad. It's pretty bright up to around 45 degrees. It is REALLY bright straight on.

Max, why do you have red lights? Not to pry just, wondering.

Volunteer fire fighter.

Ok.....How well does that grill breath? I've looked at them before and it seems like they dont get much airflow. Of course it really dosent matter in the winter months up there huh?

It blocks so little air that it is not a concern. They lights are only block a hole maybe 3 inches wide and an inch and a half high. Hardly enough to worry about IMO.

As for the screen front in that picture that is an old one. I am not running a cloud rider 'spectre mesh' that allows much more air through it. It looks a lot better too IMO.

Got a pic? I've been lookin at the putco tubular inserts. I also wanted to paint th echrome header pannel gloss black but I didnt want it to look to gay. I'm not a real big fan of chrome.

Trust me these pictures do it no justice. I don't have any pictures of it on my truck but it looks really good. I attached a picture in polished and black

http://www.cloud-rider.com/images/linkages/29-2440_GMCsierra15002003-standard.jpg

http://www.cloud-rider.com/images/linkages/39-2440_GMCsierra15002003-standard.jpg

The bottom one looks better to me....You put on your winter cover yet? Thanks for the pics..

Not yet. It's only been around 5 or 10 degrees below freezing. That's warm :D

-40 now that's cold!

Wow....***** that....

Buyer beware. LED's generate a lot of heat and will tend to melt plastic lenses with use. And I dont mean hours either. I've seen it in as little as 15 minutes. That is their main drawback.


Really???? I've been dealing with LED's for over 7-8 years since there inception for automotive lights. You may see that in the cheap light bulb types, but not quality LED's. They draw VERY minimal electrical power, generate NO heat, and have a life of 100,000 hours.

You can remove the lense of a quality LED lighthead from WHelen or Federal after it has been on for HOURS and put our hand on it. It is not even warm.

Our last fire apparatus has LED's for everything except headlights. Warning lights, back-up lights, compartment lights, turn and brake lights, marker lights, etc.