LIGHTING
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CUSTER PRODUCTS-AN EXPERIENCE IN EXCELLENCE! By Brad Custer, President-Custer Products
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afety lighting and work lights have been evolving for years and will continue to evolve as new technologies are developed. You may still remember the days when safety lighting consisted of an incandescent or halogen bulb in a chrome base with a colored glass or plastic lens and a mirror that rotated around the light source to give the warning flash. This type of light was often referred to as the “bubble gum” light.
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Early light bars were made in a very similar manner, but as vehicles added more lights, they encountered many power issues since the lights took a tremendous electrical drain. Vehicle owners wanted more visible safety lighting but could not keep up with the ever-increasing power demand that the old-style lights required. Today, technology has improved, so vehicles can now have multiple lights with significantly less amperage draw than the predecessor light. High-powered LEDs have made equipping a vehicle with safety lights and work lights very practical because of the low power draw. It’s very common to see vehicles with multiple strobes and work lights all running at the same time. This is very important for safety at the scene of the job. It is much safer when the work area has proper lighting and nearby traffic can see the warning lights to know to slow down and move over to protect the workers at the scene. As technology improves, the demand for auxiliary safety lighting and better work lights has increased significantly. The rising demand for this type of lighting can also be attributed to the decline in price on LED lights in the last ten years. There is an abundance of selection when it comes to brightness, style, size, and functions of the newer safety lights and work lights. Because of this high demand and the almost infinite selection of lights, we are noticing a continuously growing number of distributors and manufacturers in the lighting industry.
