subject: A Light Bar Is A Trailblazer [print this page] The way a light bar lights up a street, it is a trailblazer in the literal sense. Besides that, a light bar is a trailblazer in the metaphorical sense as well. The idea of a light bar, and its manufacture, has substantially enriched the world of emergency vehicle lighting. Manufacturers have been highly experimental and innovative in coming out with light bars with excellent features that it is blazing a very healthy trail in highly functional and energy efficient models of emergency vehicle lights.
When we look at how simple a light bar has been, we can easily understand how fast it has evolved and how much more efficient today's light bars are. To start with, it was just a metal bar on which one or more beacons were juxtaposed together with a couple of stalked lights, also known as lollipop lights. And such a light bar was rarely sold in the market as a single product. Vehicle users bought the independent units that went into the making of a light bar and fixed it together themselves.
But the popularity of this combination of lights soon prompted the manufacturers to start manufacturing off-the-shelf light bars that customers could use without any modifications. With every new model of a light bar they added more lights to it. In the beginning the siren used to nestle between the lights on a light bar. Later it was shifted to the front bumper so that the bar had space for additional lights.
Nowadays a typical light bar will have four or more rows of lights. A great addition to a light bar today is what is known as takedown lights and alley lights. These lights can be easily fixed and removed according to need and are very much in use in police vehicles. Takedown lights will be in the front part of the light bar and will be positioned in a way that the beam of the light will focus on the place just in front of the vehicle. It comes in handy for searching the area when there has been an accident or for searching the interior of a suspect vehicle. Alley lights are necessary for illuminating both sides of the vehicle.
The advent of LED, or light emitting diode, has further revolutionized a light bar, which is now more energy efficient and produces much more light. Further, the light produced by LED is directional which has further improved the functionality of a light bar. Though an LED light bar is expensive, it has a very long life. The result is that calculated and controlled use of an LED light bar may make the investment worth in the long run.
A light bar may be elongated; rectangular, V-shaped, A-shaped, or even may come in the shape of a dolphin. And there are lots of mini light bars as well which come in very handy for police in stealth operations. These can be just mounted inside the vehicle and kept switched off so that nothing would give away that the chasing vehicle is a police vehicle.
