Strobe light flash rates:

[1968]

I'm curious about how the flashes per minute on strobe beacons and lightbars particularly Whelen evolved from the late 60s through the peak of the Edge era. What I have noticed, and it's my main beef with earlier pre Edge strobe set ups is that they were fairly bright and noticeable but they had an off time that seemed a little too long in many cases. Also I'm curious how that would effect side warning, particularly in intersections. It seems that the off time may hurt. Hope to see educated responses that enlighten me on this topic.

 

[dmathieu]

Back in those days the industry considered 60-120 an effective flash rate, depending on mfg, number of heads etc. They tested and found that that range provided adequate eye retinal recovery for safety and effectiveness. Most ended up around 80-100.

 

[stansdds]

Back in the early 70's, Whelen advertised the 1200 strobe to produce 100 fpm, the 5000 Commander to produce 120 fpm. All of their dual strobe systems produced 80 fpm per side for a total of 160 fpm.

 

[cabunty]

Back in the "olden days" we didn't much think about dwell time and side warning. The effectiveness was with the operator, not the lights. I mentioned this the other day and all but had my head torn off by the light reliant crowd.