NCJ Number
199285
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 48,50,52,55
Date Published
February 2003
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discusses LED warning lights for police vehicles.
Abstract
The author explains that LED warning lights for police vehicles are a relatively new technology that is replacing the use of strobe and halogen lights. The author first reviews the challenges of LED warning lights and then lists the advantages of using LED lights instead of strobe or halogen lights. One challenge of LED lights that has been overcome is the fact that LED emits light in a 360-degree radius. To overcome this type of emission, a reflector was added to the lights in order to reflect the light in only one direction. After this was accomplished, a lens was created to focus the LED lights in a certain pattern, depending upon its use. Finally, LED lights are heat sensitive, so a heat sink was created to prevent the lights from suffering excessive degradation due to heat buildup. The advantages of using LED lights as opposed to strobe or halogen lights include the fact that LED lights use less power than other types of lights, LED lights have a long life, require little maintenance, and emit pure color. The author goes on to list several varieties of LED lights that are available for purchase, including lights made by Code 3, Federal Signal Corp., and Whelen Engineering.