# Illinois state plow trucks driving lights led???



## dupupp (Jan 23, 2009)

i was driving on the highway this weekend in illinois around peoria and i seen the new state plow trucks with really bright lights on the very top of there truck for driving lights-they appeared to be led and were very very bright? does anyone know about these? 

later
Rob


----------



## newhere (Oct 13, 2009)

i would also guess they are l.e.d lights. i was going to mount some on the top of my dump until i saw the price at $110.00 each. I think i will go with some $35.00 tractor supply lights, but on second thought i do have to replace those every year..... hmmmmm 

how many did they have on top? i was going to do 4. 2 straight forward and then 2 kinda angled off to the side.


----------



## Snowplowkid (Feb 12, 2008)

The ones Ive seen on IDOT trucks are 4 or 6 sections of amber with 2 takedowns. All LEDS.


----------



## JohnnyU (Nov 21, 2002)

I saw them too. Some had them built into the Whelen lightbars, others had separate lights mounted on the cab. I'll have to try to find out. I've got a buddy that drives for IDOT, he might be able to find out for me.


Where are you from in IL?


----------



## dupupp (Jan 23, 2009)

they are led and i did not see any during the day or how they were mounted-i was on the highway alot this weekend and seen several idot trucks that had these lights and they all seem to be mounted in the same location but like i said it was at night-spent four hours on highway on saturday night! 

johnnyu- i am located in peoria


----------



## JohnnyU (Nov 21, 2002)

dupupp;930772 said:


> johnnyu- i am located in peoria


Maybe we'll see each other around then!


----------



## cplmac (Nov 25, 2009)

I drive plow trucks for IDOT, I'll take some pictures at work and post them up tomorrow. There is one main light bar across the roof that has all the front and side strobes, the rear of the truck has strobes mounted in the dump body just above the tail lights. All the strobes are amber. There are also spotlights in some light bars and mounted separately on some trucks. I haven't noticed if any of them are LED's or not, but I do know that different districts can have different setups to some extent. Every truck I've seen so far is an International, mostly 4900's with a handful of PayStars. I was running an older paystar with a flip down wing plow this weekend, that thing was a monster that completely limited visibility out of the passenger side. The wing plow is actually operated by a passenger from the jump seat. The very bright lights on the top of the truck are called "scene lights", they are not for driving. They can be on when you are driving but they are for lighting up an area where you are working, and yeah they are VERY bright. I had to flip them on to push a tree out of the road during the ice storm last week.


----------



## cplmac (Nov 25, 2009)

Older style light bar setup. There are only a couple of these in our yard. No LED's.









Normal light bar, this is the most common light bar in our yard but I think it is being slowly phased out as the new trucks come in. No LED's.









This is the new style light bar, sorry about the crappy picture. It's only about an inch and a half tall, and I believe entirely LED.


----------



## ultimate plow (Jul 2, 2002)

cplmac;932059 said:


> Older style light bar setup. There are only a couple of these in our yard. No LED's.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice pics cplmac,

The long strobe bars with the takedowns have been around forever. they do work well for those big trucks. I have been seeing them use led freedom bars and the newer justice bars like the one you posted. They also have amber and clear flashing leds in the back.


----------



## ultimate plow (Jul 2, 2002)

The strobe versions are way more effective


----------



## Snowplowkid (Feb 12, 2008)

ultimate plow;958510 said:


> The strobe versions are way more effective


I might have to disagree. You can see those LEDS close to 1.5 - 2mi away as long as nothings blocking your view. At least from what Ive seen.


----------



## JohnnyU (Nov 21, 2002)

cplmac;932059 said:


> Older style light bar setup. There are only a couple of these in our yard. No LED's.
> 
> Normal light bar, this is the most common light bar in our yard but I think it is being slowly phased out as the new trucks come in. No LED's.


So do these lightbars all go to auction with the trucks or are they separated? I'd love to pick a couple of them up for our trucks. I wouldn't mind picking up one of those single axle trucks at the right price either....


----------



## DFLS (Dec 24, 2007)

Snowplowkid;959559 said:


> I might have to disagree. You can see those LEDS close to 1.5 - 2mi away as long as nothings blocking your view. At least from what Ive seen.


I agree that the newer generation LEDs are brighter, the newer police cars with the newest LEDs are amazingly bright.


----------



## ultimate plow (Jul 2, 2002)

I agree about the leds being brighter. But this is only a basic justice bar with 4 average led heads on the corners with 2 led3 heads. No takedowns WTF? The other edge bars are way longer and stick off the side and is clearly visible 360. And they sync their bars with the rear strobes on the body. effective!!!! These were a signature for IDOT. Bye bye.


----------



## ultimate plow (Jul 2, 2002)

Snowplowkid;959559 said:


> I might have to disagree. You can see those LEDS close to 1.5 - 2mi away as long as nothings blocking your view. At least from what Ive seen.


You could see any class 1 light at that distance


----------



## jackal1028 (Jan 21, 2010)

cplmac;932059 said:


> Older style light bar setup. There are only a couple of these in our yard. No LED's.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


yea our trucks are set up the same way two strobes and two in the back(leds) and sho-me mini lightbar(5mm) on top. now for our fleet trucks they have code3 2100 led lightbars with amber clear in front and from behind is amber and red...strobes in the head lights.some of our trucks have SoundOff Signal - EPL 7000 Mini Lightbars amber/clear good light real bright! we havent had much luck with the sho-me mini lightbars(5mm) there was two that the switchs messed up on.there was another one that when real cold out would not flash it would just do a steady burn.and would eat fuses they replaced two of them with the EPL 7soundoffs which so far is holding up pretty good.


----------

