{"id":1170,"date":"2017-05-24T15:07:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T20:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.websitepreview.dev\/?p=1170"},"modified":"2020-09-30T13:15:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T18:15:48","slug":"emergency-vehicle-lights-should-you-choose-strobe-halogen-or-led","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/emergency-vehicle-lights-should-you-choose-strobe-halogen-or-led\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Vehicle Lights: Should You Choose Strobe, Halogen, or LED?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deciding which emergency vehicle lights are best for your fire truck may be something you haven\u2019t ever considered before. You know that your lighting should be visible, bright, and durable, but which types of fire truck lights do that best? Don\u2019t worry- we\u2019ll go over the pros and cons for the most popular types of fire truck lights for your emergency vehicle and determine which would be best for your department.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Halogen emergency vehicle lights <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Halogen bulbs are the closest thing to a traditional light bulb. They work by using halogen gas to ignite a filament, which lights up the bulb. They are the oldest bulb of the three and have been used in emergency vehicles the longest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pros: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Halogen bulbs are most often the cheapest form of lighting in terms of raw materials, offering a cost-effective lighting solution. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Halogen bulbs also produce a warm, familiar light that is bright without being blinding. These bulbs do not produce a glare for others, making it safer by not limiting the vision of fellow drivers on the road. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cons: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The biggest energy draw of all of these forms of lighting is from the halogen bulb, pulling the most energy from the vehicle itself. The bulbs are not energy efficient, as about <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">95% of their energy<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is wasted in producing light. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lifespan of halogen bulbs is the shortest as well. Due to the fragile state of the filament, it can blow out in as few as 1,000 hours. The bulb itself is fragile and can be broken easily. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emergency vehicle strobe lights <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strobe lights are flash tubes that are filled with the gas xenon and require a power source to work, usually a capacitor. When the xenon is ionized by the electric components in the tube, it produces a plasma that is seen as a bright flash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pros: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strobe lights have the benefit of being very bright and can be seen from a good distance away. This makes drives safer for your emergency vehicle and gives other vehicles plenty of notice to get out of the way. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strobe lights are less expensive than LEDs, and the tubes themselves have a life of about six months. The power source itself has a life of about two years, lasting even longer. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cons: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These lights are equally as bad in terms of energy draw. The intense heat caused by strobe lights has been known to <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hendonpub.com\/resources\/article_archive\/results\/details?id=2061\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">melt parts of vehicles<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in some cases. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seizures can be triggered by strobe lights for those who are epileptic. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iaff.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/EVSP\/PDF_and_PP\/Best-Practices.pdf\">International Association of Fire Fighters<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 Best Practices report shows research that advises not to use strobe lights for this reason, along with the eye strain and distraction experienced by those who are around these lights. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LED emergency vehicle lights<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LEDs are light emitting diodes that work with driver electronics to produce a bright light. LED light comes in a variety of colors and is by far the most popular light used in emergency vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pros: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These emergency vehicle lights are by far the most energy efficient of the bunch and have a minimal energy draw on the emergency vehicle itself<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LEDs have the longest lifespan of any of the other lights, typically lasting more than <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iotaengineering.com\/emlib\/led-emergency-lighting-part1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">70,000 hours at a time<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LEDs are also exceptionally rugged. Where strobe tubes or halogen bulbs can be easily shattered, LEDs are more likely to withstand the elements. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The light given off by LEDs is far more bright and clear than other lights, offering absolutely no glare to other vehicles. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cons: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a minor safety hazard if you live in a colder area, as <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.findlaw.com\/injured\/2009\/12\/accidents-traffic-led-light-cant-melt-snow-3.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LEDs do not get hot enough to melt snow<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This means that ice or snow accumulation will have to be cleared on your own. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Initially, LEDs are more expensive. However, when considering the cost of replacing other lights more frequently and the costs associated with energy consumption, LED lights are actually far cheaper in the long term. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, the benefits of LEDs outweigh any risk. Especially since most emergency vehicles are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.extremetacticaldynamics.com\/knowledge-base\/emergency-vehicle-lights\/fire-lights\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transitioning to LED<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it would benefit your department to adapt sooner rather than later. If you\u2019re looking for an energy-efficient, long-lasting solution to your emergency vehicle, look no further than LED lights. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deciding which emergency vehicle lights are best for your fire truck may be something you haven\u2019t ever considered before. You know that your lighting should be visible, bright, and durable, but which types of fire truck lights do that best? Don\u2019t worry- we\u2019ll go over the pros and cons for the most popular types of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[733],"tags":[784,739,787,788,785,786],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonsmidamerica.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}