Firetruck Feniex Install & Retrofit

[buddek09]

Our latest install. A fire department has an older truck and the lights were getting warn out. Some of the lightbar's rotators weren't rotating and the lights were hard to see during the day. They've had problems with people not yielding and were worried about being hit while parked on a scene.
Fusion 49" mix of 40 and 180 optics. Red/White front and sides. Red/Amber rear.
Cannon 120's replaced halogen bulbs in the front lights
Dual stacked T3's were added to the grille area
4200 controller and 200W Storm Pro
100W Triton speakers were mounted below the front doors
T3's mounted above the rear fenders
Wide-Lux 9x7's replaced the rear brake lights
Beacons will eventually be replaced. They did not have enough money in the budget to replace them this year.

 

[Jarred J.]

leave the strobe beacons....

add some sort of longer lasting white light to the front.

 

[buddek09]

leave the strobe beacons....

They've already made the decision that they will be replaced next year. We have not fully decided with what but more than likely an LED beacon. The strobe beacons are being replaced because the sunlight drowns them out. The Wide-Lux are too low to be effective at long distances especially if their is traffic behind the truck.

 

[pdk9]

If anything, I would've put the front lower T3's as intersection lights right. Not really a huge fan of the 120's there to be honest (I'm wondering if 360 might've filled the large reflectors up a little more). I know they're on a budget, but I wish they would've gone with something a little larger on the sides and sacrificed a little elsewhere (i.e. in the lightbar by not fully-populating it).

If they're on a budget, I think Whelen fast rotator halogen beacons would be the way to go (keeps it a little era-friendly) plus it's a nice mix to the rear IMO.

 

[buddek09]

The 360's wouldn't have worked. Their is no actual reflector in those lights. The back is just a flat chrome piece against the body. The 360's wouldn't have anything to reflect the light back forward and I don't think their would have been enough room. The 120's look a lot better in person than the camera showed.

The front T3's were mounted there instead of for intersections for several reasons. It's a rural fire deparment, their town is roughly 4x5 block square and majority of their runs are country roads. They're low enough that some crops would block them and negate any usefulness. They wanted more forward lighting to catch the attention of drivers in front of them because they've had issues with people not yielding.

They weren't even concerned about not having side lights when we quoted it because they don't block intersections very often. The majority of the time they are parked blocking one lane of traffic. They later decided though that they wanted T3's there because it's better to have something than nothing on the side, just in case they needed to block an intersection. The department did not pay for them, a fire fighter bought them out of pocket.

Lightbar was left fully populated because when originally quoted the Fusion series wasn't out yet. Also they paid about what they would have if it wouldn't have been fully populated because we discounted it. IMO they benefit more from a fully populated lightbar because with the small hills and fields the lower lights can be blocked for approaching traffic from the sides, which leaves the lightbar as the only defense for being seen.

Not sure they would go for rotators in the rear. They're pretty well set on LED. Again it's going to be several months at least before they switch them. A lot can change by then.

 

[vonirkinshtine]

*ugh* why people feel low-profile lightbars on full-sized apparatus is a good idea is beyond me.

To the OP: no offence to you. Your install is clean and well done.

I can't think of a way to quantify it, but I've always felt "big truck = big light". If not a 84" Freedom, I would have gutted the old lightbar and populated it with some M-series or 7x3s or something.

The 9x7s on the back are fantastic!

 

[buddek09]

Thanks, I know bigger lights are better and tried to use them where I could. That's why I try and double stack light heads whenever they aren't Wide-Lux.

I had considered repopulating it but the lenses were in rough shape and with the truck still in service I also didn't want to leave the truck without a lightbar while we were repopulating it.

I think the 9x7's are everyone's favorite light on the truck. We checked in with them yesterday and they only had 2 complaints about the truck. It's too bright and too loud lol. They no longer have to worry about someone not yielding because they weren't seen or heard

 

[StEaLtH2]

At least the light bar was mounted atop the standoffs to keep it up high, but I normally agree with the whole large piece, large bar. Great job on the install and the vid!