The History And Development Of The Led Lightbar

By Author: Sunil Punjabi
Total Articles: 2565
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Originally police vehicles have only the markings on their doors to identify them. Ambulances were painted white with big red crosses to distinguish them and fire engines were red. Sound signals like sirens were easily developed but lights took a bit longer. Incandescent lights burn out fast if they are switched on and off too often and a constant light was not very effective. The colors did emerge however where law enforcement started using blue lights, ambulances and fire trucks, being emergency; took red. But still there was a problem in that they shone a constant light unlike the led lightbar.

With the development of the very bright halogen light a beacon was developed which placed a brightly shining halogen light in an appropriately colored dome. Within the dome a rotating reflector was set so that a beam would constantly be moving around and this was very effective in drawing attention to the emergency or law enforcement vehicle. These beacons however were single lights and it was soon realized that the more lights that were flashing the more visible and attention grabbing the display became. Thus began ...
... the development which led to the led lightbar.

The first lightbars were a series of 3, 4 or 5 beacons with their rotating reflectors all wired together and making a very visible display on the roof of the vehicle. They were an immediate hit with both law enforcement and emergency vehicles as they truly could not be missed and so other road users had little excuse and plenty of warning to get out of the way. The drawback was their use of power. Five brightly burning halogen lamps plus five motors driving a rotating reflector drew a lot of current. Usually not that much of a problem when in motion but flattened batteries at crime and accident scenes soon meant that the operators of these vehicles needed another solution. This is where the led lightbar comes in.

The led had been around for over 100 years but was always used as a current indicator and not a source of illumination. However in recent years technical developments have meant that the led became brighter in luminescence while retaining its other properties of durability, low current usage, imperviousness to switching and long life. Once led's were mounted on a led lightbar their effectiveness became apparent.

The color was built into the led itself, they were bright enough to attract attention even in bright sunlight, and they were far more efficient in that they drew very little current for the light they gave off, they did not give off wasteful heat, they didn't burn out if made to flash and the flash patterns could be set by electronics. And there were no moving parts so nothing in a led lightbar was likely to breakdown or need maintenance.

The new standard for all emergency and law enforcement vehicles is the led lightbar which can be configured as desired. With some variations from area to area and from state to state, traffic police use blue flashing lights, Law enforcement uses a blue and red led lightbar, Ambulances and fire trucks use red flashing lights. A led lightbar is also available for road crew, garbage collection services and engineering vehicles which use a yellow or amber colored led. These do not constitute emergencies but draw attention to the presence of vehicles or workers on the road and warn motorists to exercise caution.

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