The Car Strobe – A brief look at its history usage
This article will explore the car strobe, how it works and its many uses. Strobes are a type of emergency lighting that is common in many countries around the world, and this article will reveal the inner workings of this type of emergency lighting.
There are two major types of car strobe lighting, and these are briefly looked at in this article. A car strobe is commonly seen on ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles. They are used to warn other motorists of impending danger, or to give way for the emergency vehicles to pass. Before we can properly understand the car strobe, we need to briefly look at its history. The word strobe is derived from the Latin word strobos which loosely translated means – the act of whirling. This is in reference to the appearance of strobe lighting, where the light gives the illusion of whirling. Strobe lighting made its first appearance in 1931 and was first used by Harold Eugene Edgerton to study moving objects, as strobe lighting is known to make objects appear to move in slow motion.
A car strobe is primarily used by emergency vehicle operators on their vehicles and are almost always mounted on top of the vehicle. When these are turned on, they indicate that the motorist give way for the emergency vehicle to pass, or to pull over in the case of a police vehicle. This type of lighting has proved invaluable to emergency vehicle operators, as in the olden days, emergency vehicle operators had to rely on bell and whistles.
A car strobe contains a capacitor, which stores energy, just as a battery does, but charges and releases this energy which is charged to about 300V. A small amount of power is then diverted into a trigger transformer inside the light. This transformer generates a high-voltage spark that in turn ionizes the xenon gas in the flash tube. The end result is an extremely bright plasma discharge, which we see as a flash. It is also important to note that the amount of light produced by emergency vehicle strobe lights is not sufficient to trigger photosensitive epilepsy and are made in such a way that they minimize the glare seen by other motorists.
A modern day car strobe however does not use capacitors. The device simply discharges voltages across the tube once it is switched on. Since no charging time is required, the flash rates are much faster, thus more effective on an emergency vehicle as this stresses the urgency of the situation. This car strobe requires a device to limit the current, as the tube would draw high amounts of current from the power source causing it to burn out. Typically, a flash from a car strobe will last for about 200 milliseconds. This can however be faster depending on the strobe.
The car strobe is no longer limited to emergency vehicles. Young people now put these lights on their cars as a fashion statement. It is important however to note that the color and amount of light given off from commercial strobes differ from those used in emergency vehicles. The amount of lighting produced by the commercial strobes is lower in intensity. We should be very careful however on the type of car strobe we choose to place on our vehicle, to prevent us from confusing other motorist, and at worst, cause an accident.
Extreme Tactical Dynamics is a one-stop shop for
Car strobe and many other items like Flashlights, Dash Lights, Deck Lights, etc. Please visit the site for more details of various items available – http://www.extremetacticaldynamics.com/
Processing your request, Please wait....
