Compartment space is a precious commodity for work trucks, and while storage can be scarce on most fleets, it’s important to leave a little room to equip your crew with mobile lighting for those past-dusk jobs or long-into-the-wee-hours operations. Good work lighting can help crews safely and efficiently tackle the job at hand.
That said, since space is a premium, here are a few lighting products that are compact and more importantly versatile. If you’re operating battery-powered tools on your vehicle, a few of these lights may even operate off the same platforms that you already carry on your work truck.
First, let’s introduce you to the Command Light brand, it is known for its patented light tower that graces the tops of many fire trucks across the nation, but the Colorado manufacturer also has its traffic advisors, which elevate and rotate for added visibility.
We’re going to lump products one and two together as both mobile lights are battery powered. One, the EOS Rapid Deploy Light, a small-footprint, high-powered DC light, and two, the Trident Tripod, which is durable as a result of its aluminum design.
Agencies can pair their choice of non-proprietary power source with high-output, high-lumen LEDs. Non-proprietary, meaning that the batteries you can source off most any hardware shelf. These lights work with DeWalt FLEXVOLT, Makita XGT and Milwaukee M18 and M28 batteries. As for LEDs, you have your pick of Akron, FRC, FireTech, Tomar, Vision X and Whelen fixtures which can produce anywhere from 10,000 to 28,000 lumens. Run times vary from 40 to 300 minutes, depending on battery and light head combination.
“We really wanted to create lighting that works with crews’ other battery-operated tools, while delivering even more light than traditional mobile lights. We recognize that mobile lights and work tripods are not new in the market, but LEDs and power sources were always limited. Until now,” says Roger Weinmeister, president, Command Light.
Both are built for abuse, the EOS and Trident are made from aluminum. The EOS features 180 degrees of rotation and can be optioned with a magnetic attachment to secure this light on the truck for mountable lighting. The Trident, which is available in a 40” or 50” design, comes with an extendable leg that lets you position the tripod on uneven surfaces, like stairways or a hillside. Both can be spec ’ed with optional shorepower. The Tripod also can be purchased with a Feniex light bar or amber or blue federal message bar, converting this light into a traffic advisory tool.
If a handful of battery-powered lights don’t meet your lighting needs; there’s always a roof-mounted Command Light light tower. The company offers a wide array of light towers, but since space is a commodity on your truck, we’ll talk about one of Command Light’s most compact towers and the market’s narrowest design, the Shadow (SL) Slim. With a 1.3 meter reach, this tower nests at 203 mm x 280 mm x 1,600 mm and produces 57,000 lumens with (two) HiViz FireTech FT-MB-2.27 Minibrow LEDs.
The SL Slim also features Command Light’s patented movement, which allows the tower to be raised and rotated into endless positions to illuminate dark ditches, mountain slopes and other terrain. The tower can also overhang the side of a vehicle in streetlight position to light work areas and prevent shadows near the side of the truck. Each tower deploys in less than 15 seconds with the push of a button and stows with the unit’s standard one-touch auto-park feature.
With so many compact lighting options on the market, it’s important not to let compartment space prevent you from equipping your crews with proper lighting. After all, your workers face many obstacles, and seeing shouldn’t be one of them.
for more information
To learn more, visit www.commandlight.com.
