need help making led lighbar PLEASE!!

How is everyone doing?? I am a police officer who is intrested in starting a small business of some sort. I have always been intrested in lightbars and have done some small installs. I am now at the point where i want to make led lights like Whelen,federal signal,sho-me ect... Of course I understand that I cannont make exactly what they have a patten for but i want something similar to the 500 series linear style led lightheads ect... What type of led's can i use to make these lights like what is a good 12v watt's?? I see that the big companies advertise they use 1w led in there lightheads. I will post a picture of what i am intrested in making if its possible.....

**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

Please point me in the right direction I could use the help on how and where to get started...

**broken link removed**

Welcome to Thailand!

Here you can play with any light and any colour at any frequency you want. (last domain for personal freedom?)

However as a police officer you should know the rules better (best) not to collide with your state's rules.

I always enjoy seeing an imprisoned police officer not knowing what is the name of the game.

Boncuk

The OP's writing style is like all the other little kids on the site.

Why not just become a reseller of existing light bars?

blueroomelectronics said:

The OP's writing style is like all the other little kids on the site.

Why not just become a reseller of existing light bars?

Click to expand...

Just because he's "intrested" (interested)?

And he has to stay away from patten (patent)??

yes thanks for the correction im not a spelling champ lets get that out of the way?? Second I would like to become a reseller of the other companies but I want to build my own electronics always intrested me. Im not here to get laughed at im just asking a question on a message board. If you cant help me or have stupid remarks why reply. Im a cop I know what the rules are but also volunteers are allowed to use emergency lights here in NJ and Its a big market for LED lights thats why I asked the question. Thanks in advance for anyone that can in deed help me.

The electronics would be the easy part. The cost of mechanical bits and such would be a concern. In low quantity not worth the expense or effort IMO.
What's your target MSRP?

My mistake. I thought you wanted a full size lightbar (I should have checked your image links)

If you can find an enclosure & lens assembly it shouldn't be too difficult.
A small microcontroller can be programmed for all sorts of light effects.

thanks like i said im not looking to make a fortune not looking at any msrp's just stuff i can build for my patrol car and maybe a few surrounding departments. As for what i need to do im not sure at all what leds to get, i can try and see if i get casing for the lights but not sure where to get them either. But for the internal parts that what i need help with im not sure where to get them and what i need. Can you please point me in the right direction i can get the 1w leds on ebay but im sure someone on here knows where to get them cheaper, and what ever else i need. I really appericate it...
Matt

Hi Matt,

I suggest to approach the problem from the mechanical side.

Police lights are normally filament type lamps with a rotating parabolic mirror to make them omnidirectional with a flashing effect. LEDs are directional components with a view angle of max 120 degrees (most LEDs up to 90 with rapidly decreasing light intensity at increasing view angle)

To compensate for that you might construct a rotating disc with the power LED (3 to 5W). The disc will have contactors at the bottom to allow for free rotation of the LED mounted on top.

I guess the number of different light patterns is not that much and the control circuit can be made using discretes. (No worry about programming a microcomputer).

If you describe the desired light patterns, sequencing etc. I'll see what I can design for you.

Regards

Boncuk

blueroomelectronics said:

The electronics would be the easy part. The cost of mechanical bits and such would be a concern.

Click to expand...

I agree. Making the mechanical housing, ensuring they are waterproof and look decent could be a challenge. Beating the quality of some of the crap put out by Federal Signal, etc shouldn't be too hard though.

Nice now we are getting better, but I am not looking for a rotating light i am looking for exactly what you are talking about the 120 degree type light. Have you looked at my examples that i posted. Please go back to the top of my post and maybe you can help me try to make a scmatic (spelling?) of one of them. I am intrested in using the 1w leds and will start to try and find the 3 pod led housings with a little extended optic lense cover like shown in the example i am looking at. If you can help me out with that then I would be willing to purchase products from anyone who you recommend. Thanks for your time again.

Boncuk said:

Hi Matt,

I suggest to approach the problem from the mechanical side.

Police lights are normally filament type lamps with a rotating parabolic mirror to make them omnidirectional with a flashing effect. LEDs are directional components with a view angle of max 120 degrees (most LEDs up to 90 with rapidly decreasing light intensity at increasing view angle)

To compensate for that you might construct a rotating disc with the power LED (3 to 5W). The disc will have contactors at the bottom to allow for free rotation of the LED mounted on top.

Click to expand...

Maybe in some places, but here in Florida, they switch to LEDs a few years ago, and very low profile. It's almost impossible to spot-the-cop, from the lights sticking up on the roof. They also drive several different makes/model cars, so you can't guess from that either. Haven't seen the rotating lights on a police car in many years, and fortunately not behind me...

I posted the news link, because there are many such light-bar projects here, and figured since it was recent, it would gives some of the people who stumble onto the thread something to think about. I made a little flashing tag for my dog, mostly because he's a black Labrador, very fast, and almost impossible to see at night. The local police weren't amused, just told me to remove it.

Anyway, the best route is using a microcontroller, a single chip for under a buck, transistor or fet to switch, and a buck-puck or similar driver for the high wattage LEDs. Don't forget the heatsinks. There quite a few current drivers for the LEDs, that you can build, but the cost difference isn't great enough for the added complexity. Not a real tough project, getting started with microcontrollers isn't as bad as it sounds, nor all that expensive, but well worth time and money you save, since your control circuit can be copied in minutes, and only one chip to install.

HarveyH42 said:

Maybe in some places, but here in Florida, they switch to LEDs a few years ago, and very low profile. It's almost impossible to spot-the-cop, from the lights sticking up on the roof. They also drive several different makes/model cars, so you can't guess from that either. Haven't seen the rotating lights on a police car in many years, and fortunately not behind me...

Click to expand...

How about if they flash in front of you? You won't see the flash and go for "cop hunting".

Not a splendid idea though to use directional flash lights for a cop car.

well i did come up with this information if it helps anyone to give me the scmatics to build a three led pod like in the first picture federal signal lighting company uses cree leds and whelen uses luxeon and started using rebels. can someone tell me how to put this light together in a three series strip with a driver for 12v use in a vehicle.

Think I got this a little better, had to figure out the terminology... A pod, is only a single color, with three of the same LEDs, all flash together. In my PM, there was a driver for 3 x 1 watt LEDs. Wire your LEDs in series, and hook up the driver. To make it flash, you need a controller. Haven't been inside a police car, so not sure if it comes with a built-in flash controller. If so, should work off that, since your pod, is essentially a lamp at this point. If you need to generate the flash control signal, you can't beat a microcontroller, much fewer parts to fail, and a police car isn't going to be a kind environment. You can also have multiple patterns. Maybe somebody can suggest a good controller for the beginner, there have been a lot of new products since I got started, but haven't had much interest in them, since I already got my feet wet.

The LEDs and driver in the pod/lamp are simple to wire up, need to mount them on a heatsink though. The casing will be the more difficult part, weatherproof and shock resistant, here in Florida, the sun and heat would also be an important consideration for the materials you use. The casing might actually turn out the more expensive portion of this project.

Okay thanks alot so does anyone have an idea for a beginner micro controller that would have to be small enough to be built into the 3 led pod. Also when I am wiring this together im not sure where to solder the micro controller legs to the pods or driver. Is there a way to actully program the controller to the flash patterns that I want. Also since it is 12v do I need a transistor to keep the voltage regulater or reduced. Can someone draw me up a scmatic of this set up and I can take it from there I really appericate all the help eveyone has given me so far.Im gonna go with the 1w cree leds I got a pretty good deal on them they are 350ma so I am gonna get a driver that can handle 3 1w leds in a series. thanks