The Development And Uses Of Police Dash Lights

By Author: Sunil Punjabi
Total Articles: 2565
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In certain situations all police vehicles want to draw as much attention to them selves as possible. These are situations such as hot pursuits and when responding to an emergency (999) call. There are many ways of doing so. Police dash lights are one of the solutions that are in common use. There are many others

The first is the police siren. This noise maker on its own is very effective in drawing attention to the presence of the police car but doesn’t really show which car is making the noise, then they developed the rotating light beacons. These beacons were especially successful as they were clearly visible, and this visibility was enhanced by the rotation which attracted more attention that a steadily burning light. It was very soon realized that the more lights the better so one beacon became two, then the lightbar came along, then the police started using red as well as blue lights to attract attention and insist on attention. Then they started adding other things as well. The Police dash lights were one of these.

Police dash lights are very useful in that they sit on the dashboard ...
... in front of the driver and shine through the windshield when required. They may also be placed on the rear shelf shining backwards. Up until the development of the modern, hi powered, led they were of limited use as their flashing pattern was limited and the heat build up inside the car was unwelcome.

The new led Police dash lights are very useful. LEDs have virtually no heat buildup and are robust and long lasting. Because the luminescence is not dependant on electrical resistance in the filament as is the case in incandescent and halogen lights, but rather a property of an electron passing from a high potential to a low potential are in a semi-conductor there is very low power draw for the amount of light given off. Modern leds are able to give off lots of light (up to 3w) and are assembled in arrays to increase their visibility and strength.

The other thing about the Police dash lights is that they are able to flash in various patterns; Red blue red blue each half a second continuously or blue blue red blue blue red each a tenth of a second every 5 seconds and so on. Fast short flashes give off a greater sense of urgency than to slower longer flashes. The Police dash may incorporate a camera which is assisted by the light given off by the Police dash light. But that is a secondary purpose, the primary purpose is to draw attention. The arrangement of the arrays of leds by color means that there are huge variations in the flash patterns possible.

One variation has a strip of 3watt leds each independently wired with a single take down led separately switched. The colors of the leds in the Police dash are the choice of the jurisdiction and should comply with their own by-laws and regulations. Another Police dash light on offer is virtually double that with 3 watt leds to a side and two switchable take down lights in the centre. This obviously gives the vehicle huge visibility and when seen in ones rear view mirror must prompt one to take immediate action in pulling over and getting out of the way. An even greater model is one with 9 3 watt leds to a side which can all be different arrays of as colors with central take down lights. Each of these is very effective on the Police dash.

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