Chasing a trash truck [blush]

Ok, it wasn't hard to catch but something very bright white on the rear caught my attention as I drove past.

I noticed the usual red brake LEDS and some nifty animated yellow turn signals on a trash truck, but it was the reverse (back-up) lights that made me go around the block for another look.

A set of oval housings, each with what appeared to be 8 1W LS emitters.

Very nice. I wonder who made them? Judging from the animated yellow turn signals, it could be an LED fanatic's custom project.

Regards,
Mark

"Stalking" trash trucks? The things we Flashaholics will do! Funny how we notice things like that, whereas a "normal" person wouldn't...and then to actually double back to see it again...yeah, I can relate!

I've heard of ambulance chasers, but TRASH TRUCKS???





_ ^..^ _

was it very bright? i want to put a row of 15 or so underneath my car to aid in backing up...

Yeah, I'd chase (or stalk) a garbage truck if it had some LEDs on it too.

I desire a pair of those approx. 42 LED red tail lights for my truck, but don't have anywhere to put flange or grommet mount 4" lights. Surface mount only. (which right now are Optronics LED lights made for a trailer).

However, if I ever saw bright white LED oval or 4" round lights.... well you can damn betcha I would figure SOMETHING out so I could use 'em as back up lights! (and might just turn thief to get a pair... NOT EVEN!)

I dunno about trash trucks, but dupmster diving is a time-honored tradition, I have acquired all sorts of goodies for free this way. it is wise to ask the owner or user first, but so far I have never been refused.

Helps to have an old flight suit or mechanic's coverall handy, so you don't get all that old rubbery blubbery macaroni and coffee grounds all over your clothing, and helps prevent a severe case of stinkitis. But, mixed in with all that swill, there canbe treasures to be found.

/ed B in NH

OK, here we go off topic. Hemingray, I was thinking of starting a thread on dumpster diving. A building acroos the street from where I work was doing a complete gut and redo job. In a two month period I saved six new 5500k flor T-10 tubes, twenty feet of telephone wire (100 twisted pair 24ga), a 400' roll of telephone backboard wire, various sizes of copper pipe and pieces of aluminium good for heatsinks. I did take some ribbing from my co-workers but what the heck, what a nice haul.

Hey can we help it if people throw away good junk!

I fully understand, sunspot. My junk collecting efforts have caused much verbal abuse from my wife and co-workers over the years. You just never know when you might need this stuff. By the way, I got behind a school bus the other day. The turn and brake lights appeared to be 40 LED clusters and the rear marker lamp looked like a 7 LED group.

I was tossing out the trash in my office and found about ten plastic cases that held those electric shock thing-a-ma-bobs that you attach to yourself to deal with pain. They were all broken and non-working, but they all had 9volt batteries in then that were still good. And one of the cases was worth keeping, snaps were good to keep lid closed, and had removable foam blocks for customizing the interior.

I've chased vehicles to look that their lights too.

It never ceases to surprise me what people will throw away. As a fire alarm engineer I`ve created a whole "museum" from the unwanted fire alarm components that would otherwise have gone in the trash. OK, to most in this industry it is garbage, and has no value whatsoever - infact I`ve gained a bit of a reputation for not letting anything be thrown away! But to a habitual and avid collector, and someone with an appreciation for vintage electrical stuff, I find it all interesting and most of it still works and can be restored pretty nicely. And what I`ve already got good examples of, gets scrapped for parts - free components! Too bads they don`t use Luxeon LEDs in any of the smoke detectors....

I`ve just taken over running of the company web site and once I get it in order (the previous guy did next to no work to it in the 2-1/2 years we`ve been going) I want to have a "virtual fire alarm museum" on there - going back to the beginnings of modern UK commercial fire alarm installations in the early 60s. The best part of it is that here`s a pretty big collection of stuff - and it cost nothing!

Not that I don`t have an interest in foreign ones too, but I just don`t have access to any!

Just back on topic again, I recently went on a self-drive trip to the south of WA (Oz). Noticed quite a few trucks were using brake and signal lights that were obviously not the typical incandescent variety.

The overall lights were rectangular with at least 20 discrete points on them though some had quite a lot more, but smaller, discrete points. The overall effect was good and bright, but the lights certainly looked like they were composed of a whole panel of LEDs.