WIP - Rebel Emergency Warning Lights

[JFD140]

I thought i would post this just to see what people thought.

Basically, i was making from scratch and potting in aluminum emergency warning lights as a hobby in my garage and people liked them so i started selling them, but they were using 10mm LEDs and using epoxy for everything was such a pain. Also expensive. But basically i wanted to manufacture/design a product that was more professional and didn't look like a home depot special, that could be sold and i could open a business name/website for.

So basically i asked around here on the forum, looking for someone to design the board and luckily i was contacted by jtr1962. We worked out the design and after a couple weeks the product arrived and it could not have been more perfect. jtr1962 Did an OUTSTANDING job and i would recommend his work to anyone. Excellent customer service as well, it worked out great with me living only 20 minutes from him. Hopefully if these lights are successful i will have more business for him in the future.

Anyway, the lights are pretty straight forward... they are divided into sections, 3 LEDs per section.

They are extremely bright with the optics on, i am just perfecting my method of gluing them down right now. Hot glue melted lol. Silicone/epoxy my next test. The lights were originally being driven at 350ma, but jtr1962 suggested we could change them to 500ma and still not have heat issues, 750ma is the max they can run out, but get they get a little too hot for comfort. So 500mA works great for everything but the amber, which seems must be driven at 350ma or they dim for some reason.

Vids

http://s475.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view&current=VID00005-20091202-1259.flv

http://s475.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view&current=VID00001-20091201-1214.flv

http://s475.photobucket.com/albums/...ction=view&current=VID00004-20091202-0259.flv

The lights will be housed in a custom extruded black annodized aluminum housing with a composite lense. The housing is on order, just waiting for it to be made.

Total cost of this so far is upwards of $3000 and i expect it to cost about $5000 after registering a business and all that. Hopefully it will be worth it.

Also, white steady burning modules make for EXCELLENT off road lights.


They can be seen easy during the day from like 1/2 a mile, and rediculously far at night.


once again, if you need any work done for any electronics application, contact jtr1962.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

those are some very nice boards!

You might want to do some testing with the hot glue, to make sure it doesn't re-melt or anything.

 

[JFD140]

sorry guess i was not clear enough, the hot glue did re-melt, and i am switching to silicone first, if not that then epoxy is last which obviously will not fail me.

 

[IcantC]

Wow great work! I just pmed a memeber regarding something like this!

How much are we looking at for a 9 led setup with half red and blue, smallest case and cigarette lighter plug?

 

[JFD140]

i dont have the housing in my possession yet, it is on order.


It also requires an external flasher if you want it to flash, it is not built in to this model. I figure if these are successful, the next one will be integrated.


I cannot do half red/half blue with 9 leds, i can do 2/3 1/3 or you can do half half 6 leds or 12. Sections are 3 led increments.

When finished, not an exact number but a light like that will probably cost around $51.50. This is in a very durable aluminum custom extruded housing with end caps and a lense to span the length of the light.

The dimensions of the light are 1.5 wide by 1 inch tall by desired length.

 

[IcantC]

Ok not bad at all! I just need built in flasher and cigarette lighter since I use covert unmarked cars. It is hard to find discrete but Bright dashlight I can move from car to car with me (hence need for flasher and cigarette lighter built in). 12 LEDs might just work!

 

[JFD140]

silicone not strong enough for my liking, if agitated by any outside force directly it comes off VERY easy. Looks like its 5 or 10 minute epoxy time.

I just dont know if i am ok with the fact that its pretty much permanent if i need to do a repair on an led for a customer.

 

[Ken_McE]

What is an "aluminum emergency warning light" ? How do you use it?

 

[JFD140]

Nonono

The housing for the circuit board, what the board will go into is a custom extruded piece of aluminum.


These lights are meant primarily for emergency vehicles such as volunteer ffs, police officers, EMS/Rescue personnel but they can be used for other things like off road lights/fog lights on cars.

 

[greenLED]

....but they can be used for other things like off road lights/fog lights on cars.

So you'll be making these in white (or warm white) versions to use as fog lights?

 

[JFD140]

Cool White for now.