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Use of LED lights on D-3 trucks offers many benefits

District 3 is joining other public agencies in testing the use of LED warning lights (the lights on top of the cab) to save fuel and reduce air pollution.

“As the old lights on our trucks are replaced, we go to LED (light emitting diode) lights,” said D-3's Dan Bryant . The efficiency and environmental measure complements the department’s “no idling” policy for trucks.

LED lights require much less electricity to operate, so they don’t drain truck batteries nearly as fast as the old incandescent lights. So, when an ITD truck has been dispatched to an incident, the flashing lights can be left on without the vehicle running or idling for hours at a time.

Also, since LEDs require less power to operate, they put less demand on the alternator, which influences horsepower requirements. An incandescent bulb pulls about 5 amp/hours (a measurement of electrical current), where an LED requires just a fraction – less than 10 percent of the amps for the same output.

For example, in the past the D-3 Shop tested alternators with a five-horse electric motor, but then the alternators required to run the systems on the trucks got so large they would stop the electric motor when a full electrical load was applied.

The LED lights are more expensive than the traditional lights, but the benefits are significant. The traditional lights require “a lot more maintenance, such as belts, bulbs and rotator motors,” said Rich Rabe, District 3 maintenance shop supervisor.

"Other foremen and I also believe that the LED lights have an increase in visibility in most conditions, would most likely last the life of the vehicle and would save fuel by not having to have a V8 engine running to power up the lights.”

Rabe said some manufactures claim an 85 percent reduction of load on the vehicle’s electrical system and a much longer bulb life - 100,000 hours of operation for LED lights.