Was wondering if any of you learned folk have had any experience with making an LED Light bar, something that might appear realistic sitting on the top of a 'Police' boat? I want to put it on this...




Any help would be humbly appreciated.



Many Thanks,

Duck

Check out:

http://www.ramrcandramtrack.com/

Check under R/C lighting systems and the RAM 07 Light bar. There is no picture but I have seen one in person. They look good and have all the electronics installed and ready to go.

http://www.ramrcandramtrack.com/ramd...m07/RAM07.html

Marty

I would get a bicycle flasher, take it apart, and change out all the LED to blue, then mount them on a nice light bar. Bicycle flashers have some nice patterns.

An actual light bar itself might be found on a model car, or cheap toy.

Pusar,
That looks like it might be the ticket..right dimensions. Have you ordered from these people? Any idea on how trustworthy they are?

Umi,
Interesting thought on the Bicycle flasher. I have looked for rc vehicles with light bars, but the ones I have seen are relatively 'cheesy' or are the non-working type. I will keep hunting while I talk to the banker (wife) about spending more money on my toys.

Many Thanks,

Doug

RAm has been around for a long time. They make the Toledo show every year with their display so I would consider them trustworthy.

Ron,

Thanks for the inputon thecompany. With that in mind, I'll give them a shot.

Duck

I called RAm today and they will be shipping the light bar to me via UPS tomorrow. Easiest transaction I've ever been through. He explained how to use the products in a manner that would not void the warranty. Very nice people. I would venture that I would recommend them to any one needing lighting products for thier RC's. I also had to order the '3 way siren' for effect.

Thanks to both Pusar and Ron for your help and input.

Duck

No problem at all. They have been around for a long time. Good to hear you had a nice experience with them. Good luck. What does the rest of the boat look like?

Marty

At this juncture, it sits with 2 coats of primer. I have to finish some sanding and then I'll get it painted. After I get it painted and decaled, I'll post some more.

Duck

A few years ago I found an inexpensive r/c police car (made by Ideal toys, I think) at a Dollar General or something. It had a nicely detailed, heavy plastic body of an 80's Chevy Caprice. The light bar was especially well built. With red and blue transparent lenses and room for LEDs. I also installed LEDs for all of the car's lights as those lenses were transparent too.

I mounted the body on a Traxxas Nitro Hawk. This thing was a blast. But like so many other things I wish I hadn't -- I sold it on eBay.

I had a second light bar from the same type of toy police car I mounted on a little Kyosho nitro vee hull back then too, it looked pretty cool.

Lennoxman,

That looks like what I wanted. However, I have since ordered a light bar from RAm, that has two flashing LED's, and interchangable lenses, red & blue(it comes with two reds).

Duck

Sounds good, Duck. I'd love to see RAMs lightbar if you don't mind posting a pic when you get 'em.

Oh yeah, another lightbar project I came up with involved using disposable lighters as the lenses. I never got around to finishing, but you can see from the pic that those 5-for-$1 lighters might be easy to drill out to add LEDs??? And there are all sorts of colors to choose from. Just a tip if anyone wants to try this method some day.

I thought about making a set, but my electronics skills are lacking in the area of 'how do I make them flash correctly' department. On my Purple Light, I set up 7 LED's that ran on 4 'AA' batteries, 3 of the 7 were flashing LED's, but I could never get them to flash in a frequency that I wanted.

But I might try the lighter trick, just to see if I can do it. I'll post some pics of the RAm light bar when I get it.

Duck

I like that lighter trick.

I got my light bar today..here are a couple of pics for those interested......................


Duck

And, for an encore.....


http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w-Sound003.flv

Duck

Test fit

Duck

Cool! That movie really shows it off well. Thanks for posting your results!

hey, want to try out some LEDS in there?

i could sure make u up a set. 2 on each side. maybe 3.

Hi! DuckofDeath,
I had also made a police boat with barlights. I got the bar lights out of a toy police car just like the one lennoxman1 has. You could take apart the lights in half and I installed strobe lights from, Ram $50. Expensive but worth it. I can turn them on daytime and still see the lights, that's why I bought stronger lights. I've seen the bar lights Ram makes, those are good too. Before you install them you better waterproof them or else your'll short out your bar. The lights I have is a bigger scale, the ones you have looks just the right size for your boat.