Do flat LED combo turn/clearance lights work?

[belfert]

I had a tour of Odyssey (Sean Welsh's bus) Monday evening.  He has some surface mount LED combo turn/clearance lights from Truck-Lite that are flat.  Most combo turn/clearance lights have the turn signal portion sticking out in sort of a dome.

Does anyone think I will have issues with the turn signal portion of a combo light if it is flat?  The turn signal portion does have angled mirrors to try to direct the light outward.  Sean was going to demo the turn signals, but he (and I) forgot by the time we got to the driver's area.

I had purchased some cheap $25 LED combo lights, but two have cracked already and two of four were molded improperly at the factory.  Most of the light manufacturers don't make a 6" combo LED turn/clearance light that are surface mount.  Grote has one that has a regular bulb and LEDs.  (No thanks.)  Maxxima has inexpensive lights that mount in a grommet, but not sure I want to cut a hole in the skin.

[paulcjhastings]

Is Sean in the metro area? I'd like to see him and his bus in person as well.

[Sean]

Brian,

Sorry I forgot to demo them.  I can assure you these are "photometrically certified" to DOT and SAE standards for combination lights.  The corner reflectors make them highly visible.

Paul -- sorry we missed you.  I never remember who's where.  We are in Winona tonight, on the Mississippi more or less due east of Rochester.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[belfert]

Paul, I happened to read Sean's blog that he was in Minneapolis and got the chance to meet up with Sean and Louise in Uptown where they were parked.

Sean, I just wasn't sure that not having the turn signal portion sticking out would make the lights visible enough.  The lights are not exactly cheap at $60 each, but there don't seem to be many options.

[buswarrior]

Care must be taken in choosing side LED's, Prevost even got it wrong for the first model year they used them.

Couldn't see the turn signals flash in the daylight.

Makes it a lot harder to change lanes in traffic when even the bus supporters don't know you want over.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Sean]

Care must be taken in choosing side LED's, Prevost even got it wrong for the first model year they used them.

Couldn't see the turn signals flash in the daylight.

Sorry, should have mentioned that there was a conversation that happened before this came up, which went like this:

We started with a 24-volt lamp that was identical to the marker lamp just above it.  So at each position, there are two, a marker and a signal.

These "marker" lamps just did not cut it in the daylight.  Could hardly see them.  So we traded them back to the Truck-Lite dealer (Fleet Pride) for a different item with a lot more visibility.  These were 12-volt combination (marker/signal) lamps that had been purpose-built for, I think, PeterBilt.

Since we already had 24-volt markers right above them (and the last marker on each side is red, not amber), we left the marker wire unconnected and just connected the wire for the turn signal.  Same LED's, just a higher brightness.  We added high-wattage resistors in series to drop the voltage in half.  Normally I don't like to run lights through resistors, but since turn signals are illuminated so seldom I decided it would be fine.

I'll see if I can upload some photos or a video.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[belfert]

Grote has a kinda goofy looking combo that does have a bubble for the turn signal, but it only has one LED for marker and one LED for turn best I can tell.  Price is basically the same as the Truck-Lite part.

[Sean]

OK, here are a couple of short videos.

First is a more "head-on" view of a side lamp pair.  Top lamp is an amber side marker, and bottom is the turn/marker (with marker disconnected).  I am at about a 30°-40° angle off of "head on" (by which I mean facing the side of the bus).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62779424@N00/4753877166/#secret7fd2664655-w500-h375

Now here is the same pair at a much more severe angle.  In fact, you can also see the rear pair, with the red marker on top and the amber turn on bottom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62779424@N00/4753882490/#secret1e79efa59b-w500-h375

The markers are standard 24-volt LED model 21s.  The turn signals are not in the catalog and I can't find the number -- maybe someone else can help out here but it appears they are Truck-Lite part number 21290Y.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[belfert]

Those look like they work great from any angle.  They are in the Truck-Lite catalog.  They are considered a model 21 light with a model number of 21096Y.

I will be ordering four of these lights soon.  Thanks for the videos.