How To Choose The Correct Light Bar For Your Vehicle

Light bars are one of the most important fittings that are installed on vehicles which pave the way for other vehicles on the road and enable you to move swiftly on the road. Road security and safety is significant, and light bar plays a significant role in keeping your vehicle safe from accidents. The high quality of light bars enable you to see clearly and drive safely on the darkest of roads.

Lights of high and low intensity are installed on vehicles to convey particular messages. For example, light or warning beacons of blue, red or amber are used for sending emergency signals in case of an accident. The stronger the light, the more strongly your message is conveyed.

When it comes to selecting the correct light bar for your vehicle that will give you greater visibility and clarity on the road, it is wise to research the best light bars in the market that manufactured from premium quality material integrated with technology. This guide will explain why certain light bars are superior and more durable than others. It will also provide tips and advice on how to choose the best light bar.

There are basically three kinds of vehicle lighting options:

• Led Lights: Most commonly known as Light Emitting Diodes, or solid state products. LED lights have high resistance against vibration, or damage from impact. They are the most expensive vehicle lights available in the market.

• Halogen Lights: Halogen lights are the most popular headlight used in the modern consumer automobiles. They are reliable, affordable and quite powerful, however, they are known to consume a significant amount of electrical power. Comparatively, they are much cheaper than LED lights.

• HID lighting: High Intensity Discharge are vehicle lights that provide the highest level of per watt light output as compared to halogen and LED lights. HID light bars are found to be the most reliable alternative to expensive LED light bars, that are readily available in the automobile market.

Light bars are units that feature a number of lights horizontally aligned to provide clear and bright light beams during the night, when the natural light is not present or adequate enough for visibility. Vehicle Safety Supply (VSS) has a number of light bars that are specifically designed for trucks,  motorcycles, personal cars, ambulances etc. For each vehicle the color, size and shape of light bars vary. Below is a list of the most popular light bars used in various vehicles and their specific uses:

Emergency Light Bars

Emergency light bars are low power and high luminosity LED bars that are useful for ambulances, fire trucks, police and other public service trucks or vehicles. Emergency LEDs are installed in vehicle grills, mirrors or the sun visors. Emergency light bars usually come in three colors; blue, red, yellow or mixture of all three that together provide greater visibility from a distance. Emergency light bars also come in the form of rotating lightbars mainly used in police mobiles, the aim is to immediately provide increased visual impact.

LED Mini Light Bars

Mini bars are portable and easy-to-install plugin lights for vehicles. These lights can be installed both inside the interior or exterior of the car. They can be installed to brighten a cabinet. The smallest category in mini light bars is known as light pods. The full size light bar available in this category covers an array of more than 90 LED divisions in one bar. They can have double, single or quad rows. Mini light bars are ideal for snowplows, personal vehicles, tow trucks, and utility vehicles.

Colored Light Bars

Color increases both the visibility and distinguishes your car when it’s on the road. For example a red and blue light bar drastically increases its influence on the road.

Federal Signal Light Bars

Federal signal light bars are used for emergency and public service vehicles. The modern federal signal light solution are reflector design based offering 80% reduction in connection failure. These are short bars that come with both LED and halogen bulbs.

TruckLite Bars

Vehicle Safety Supply offers a wide variety of truck lights. From stainless steel identification bar assembly to Halogen rotator light bars, VSS has got it all covered. TruckLite light bars are popularly known as warning lights, generating a powerful signal with vibrant colors. The beam of truck lights have a flood pattern covering a large area with light placed on both front and back. They generate power through 12 volt input while increasing the fuel efficiency.

Amber Light Bars

Amber lightbars at Vehicle Safety Supply are of the most durable light bars for  police cars, EMS vehicles, fire trucks and also construction trucks. You can choose from since a variety of amber lights that are available in LED and are durable.

ShoMe Able2 Light Bars

Sho Me Able2 Lightbars consists of 336 high intensity LEDs in each minibar. They come in 7 different flashing patterns with a volt of 12 VDC. It has a permanent mount with a customer supplied switch, giving the user full control. These low profile lightbars come with a two year warranty and are highly durable. VSS offers a wide variety of ShoMe Able2 Lightbars, including, interweave LED lights, LED stretch bar, LED warning stick, LED signal stick, etc.

Code3 PSE Lightbars

Code3 PSE are public safety equipment lights that are specifically designed for police and fire rescue emergency vehicles. Code 3 PSE lightbars have a magnetic mount and are used mainly in police, fire and EMS, as well as, emergency or warning vehicles. VSS has a wide range of Code3 PSE lightbars available, such as, Defender lightbars, Excalibur lightbars, as well as, SuperVisor LED Interior Lighting System.

Evaluating the Best Light Bar

Length:

Light bars are generally available in the following length: 4, 6, 10, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40 and 50 inch. Before selecting a light bar, you need to be sure of the length of light bar that would fit your vehicle best. For a small vehicle the recommended length of a light bar is 10 and 24 inch.

Beam Angle:

Beam angle suggests the depth and width of the illumination area. While driving, a deeper penetration of light is highly recommended to light up the road. Truck drivers are strictly advised to install a high beam angle light bar on their trucks.

Shape:

Light bars come in different shapes and have different utilities. For example, a square light bar would be more suitable for a personal vehicle, whereas, a round shaped light would serve the purpose of rotating light in case of emergency, better. The round shaped lights are also easy to fit in small areas.

Brightness:

Brightness level is extremely important in light bars. Brightness of LED lights is measured or indicated in Lumens. Lumen suggests the human visibility of light in terms of outputs. Many manufacturers, however, present their lightbars in terms of raw lumens, that is the theoretical measurement rather than the effective lumens which is the actual measurement of the light output. Raw lumens is converted to effective lumen by multiplying it with 0.8.

Efficiency:

Im/W or lumens per watt is the measurement of efficiency of an LED bar, entire or in rows. It is a good indicator of quality. Higher efficiency light bars are durable and do not fade.

Color Temperature:

CCT or color temperature specifies the output of the bulb and whether or not it falls into the light spectrum of visibility. The measurement unit is according to the Kelvin temperature scale. Therefore, a temperature of a particular light is measured by a K, for instance a 5000K. Check for the temperature to ensure that the light bar falls into the visibility criteria.

Vehicle Safety Supply is the largest supplier of lightbars for a wide range of vehicles. With its versatile collection of lightbars available in permanent as  well as magnetic mount, makes VSS the most preferred lightbar supplier for personal vehicles, police, emergency and work vehicles as well as utility vehicles and tow trucks.