# Anyone still run rotary lights?



## Embalmer (Dec 30, 2004)

Curious if anyone still uses rotary bar lights. I still run my excalibur 5 rotor light on my 2019 f250. Eventually will switch to led, but it still works very well and very bright so no rush to spend $1500 on another full size bar. Always liked how snow won't build up on them due to heat.

Any others still out there?

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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

Nice user name...

You a mortician by trade????


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## Embalmer (Dec 30, 2004)

Philbilly2 said:


> Nice user name...
> 
> You a mortician by trade????


Used to be almost 20 years ago. Electrician these days. Still was one would never be able to afford a new f250 lol


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## Randall Ave (Oct 29, 2014)

Embalmer said:


> Used to be almost 20 years ago. Electrician these days. Still was one would never be able to afford a new f250 lol


At least in that field, not many complaints from the client.


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

I use rotating lights. I live in NewEngland and while you can see strobes from further away (in a strait line of sight) Rotary lights work better around curves and over hills.


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

Randall Ave said:


> At least in that field, not many complaints from the client.


Yea but it's a dead end job...

Some fire departments run a rotating light on the front their rigs called a roto ray (spins while driving)
It's pretty tack and annoying, and I'm not a fan of it.

WHELEN makes a roto beam light which is just a bunch of led's in a circle.

Federal signal makes a bad ass light bar called the vision slr which is multi color and had the old rotators in in, and it's led too.


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Yea but it's a dead end job...


True, but people are dying to be serviced


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

JMHConstruction said:


> True, but people are dying to be serviced


So many people coffin these days...


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

Some are a real killer


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

These posts are grave


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## JMHConstruction (Aug 22, 2011)

They are getting pretty stiff. Hope they're not the death of me.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Some fire departments run a rotating light on the front their rigs called a roto ray (spins while driving)


Yeah...if you're a wanker...department I used to be on put one on their new engine a couple years back...stupidest thing I've seen. Put a bell up front if you want to spend money.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

Embalmer said:


> but it still works very well and very bright so no rush to spend $1500 on another full size bar.


Still trying to figure out why I would ever need a full light bar for just plowing.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

theplowmeister said:


> I use rotating lights. I live in NewEngland and while you can see strobes from further away (in a strait line of sight) *Rotary lights work better around curves and over hills.*


You have the ability to bend light waves???

That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cool...


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

Mark Oomkes said:


> You have the ability to bend light waves???
> 
> That's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cool...


You don't attach prisms to your blade markers? All the cool kids are doing it these days.


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

I can attest that when I was plowing in a white out, you could only find the other trucks in the lot if they had rotary lights.

The guys with the led light bars you did not see till you almost ran into them.


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

Philbilly2 said:


> I can attest that when I was plowing in a white out, you could only find the other trucks in the lot if they had rotary lights.
> 
> The guys with the led light bars you did not see till you almost ran into them.


Do you think it was a factor of the rotary, or simply the incandescent bulb dispersion vs LED?


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## Philbilly2 (Aug 25, 2007)

cwren2472 said:


> Do you think it was a factor of the rotary, or simply the incandescent bulb dispersion vs LED?


I believe it was because the light was constantly circling. The LED just casts straight out more or less. But I have no idea for sure.

I never thought much of it tried to make reason of it to be honest.


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

cwren2472 said:


> Do you think it was a factor of the rotary, or simply the incandescent bulb dispersion vs LED?


Sealed beams\halogens don't "disappear" like strobes and some LED's do, because they are always on. Strobes are extremely bad (or is it good?) at doing this because there is no depth perception when they just shut oof.

IMO some of the LEDs have solved this problem with different flash patterns. And they are brighter\longer flashing than strobes.

This gets into the whole number of flashes thing. Studies have shown that faster flashing\more flashes per minute is not better. Equal time on and off is most visible. I fight this with one of my guys when we add jagoof lights with adjustable flash patterns...he always wants triple or quad flash, I tell him to set it for the slowest flash pattern possible.


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

There’s different classes of LED lights too, SAE designates class 1, 2, and 3, the difference in each class is the intensity of the light.

Also you can buy a bunch of teardrop warning lights and look like a hick with them all on your roof top


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Also you can buy a bunch of teardrop warning lights and look like a hick with them all on your roof top


@Defcon 5 ????


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Also you can buy a bunch of teardrop warning lights and look like a hick with them all on your roof top


Are you allowed to yell "Wee Woo Wee Woo" out the window, too?


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

cwren2472 said:


> Are you allowed to yell "Wee Woo Wee Woo" out the window, too?


Only if you live in the north east, they're a custom to moron drivers...


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## cwren2472 (Aug 15, 2014)

BossPlow2010 said:


> Only if you live in the north east, they're a custom to moron drivers...


Oh, that's right. Lapeer said that Deliverance was filmed in MI, so I guess your sirens sound just like "WeeWeeWee"


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## BossPlow2010 (Sep 29, 2010)

cwren2472 said:


> Oh, that's right. Lapeer said that Deliverance was filmed in MI, so I guess your sirens sound just like "WeeWeeWee"


:laugh:​


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## Noelie84 (Oct 5, 2018)

I have a rotary light on the '84 but I had to put a low-profile LED unit on the '15 otherwise it'd have been to tall to fit into the garage.


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## NYH1 (Jan 10, 2009)

theplowmeister said:


> I use rotating lights. I live in NewEngland and while you can see strobes from further away (in a strait line of sight) Rotary lights work better around curves and over hills.


I agree 100%.

I have lights like these on my trucks. They're bolted to the back racks and hardwired into my dash switches.








NYH1.


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## Fox80 (Oct 7, 2018)

I use a four bulb rotating light, I have a large LED bar but the problem I found was it does not produce any heat and would always ice over. With the rotating light it gets slightly warm over time so between the wind over the cab and the heat generated it always stays clear. And I do agree you can see this light much further away than the LED unit I have


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## Too Stroked (Jan 1, 2010)

Call me old school, but I still like good old fashioned rotators. And I too believe that in certain situations they actually give better situational awareness to others driving around you. I think that's because you can see the moving beam of light both coming and going. Truth be told, they still suffer from greater power draw, higher maintenance and more moving parts. 

That said, I have (Star) rotators in the upper half of my light bar and (Star & Whelen) LED's in the lower half. I really like the lower power draw of the LED's. As for using LED's in a rotating pattern as some do, I find it pretty pathetic and almost useless for warning purposes.


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## Embalmer (Dec 30, 2004)

Mark Oomkes said:


> Still trying to figure out why I would ever need a full light bar for just plowing.


Found the take down or ally lights useful for emergency night electrical work (car took out a service mounted on a 4x4 frame near road as Cape cod area alot of homes have service meters mounted away from house ect)


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