Overkill? Hell ya

[BigDigger]

Well, thus starts "Revenue Snow Season" for me. I needed a Beacon and I am sick of all the pissy-assy strobes and rotators that either crap out or blind you when the snow starts swirling so I decided to put a couple bucks into a high quality "mini Lightbar" for the Ol' cat. See the video below.

Now I know what your thinking.

1: dang that's overkill.

2: how is that not going to blind you?

in answer to #1, for Health and safety here in alberta it can't hurt to have a class 1 strobe, even better if all of the strobe patterns are class 1 certified. Drivers/people around here can be idiots, especially in the middle of the night tearing through parking lots etc. Brighter the better.

in answer to #2 watch the following video, you will see the simulated double or single head rotating beacon effect, or the slow burn effect *only shown briefly* those ones don't pound your eyes the same way a straight beacon does when the snow is flying. Also we always get light powder here, destroyed night vision is a fact of life if you want a decent beacon.

in general I think a wicked lightbar looks sexy on a machine like the cat :cool2:

Anyhow, here is the video.

Federal Signal Minijet Solaris 12 module unit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o788B9D-Ngk)

With that all said, I also want to say Hi to all the old faces, I haven't been on for a while, busy with work, new baby, vacationing....life in general. But you will likely see me more this winter.

As far as winter contracts go, I have 24 hours of solid pushing for every snow fall so it's gonna be busy. next year I think I may add a plow truck, but time will tell.

Good to see you all again......:drinkup:

[MarcSmith]

buy two of these, http://www.emergencyresponderproducts.com/254seflst.html for 120 with shipping, keep $380 for yourself, send me $100 for saving you almost 400 bucks....:canadaflag:

[ProTouch Groundscapes]

i think i just had a seizure...

anyways, its a nice bar, but i got 2 of those voltex led bars off ebay, one 27" and one 37" fully selectable, they've worked well so far, really bright, brighter than expected actually, the controllers are easy to use, the 37" has full traffic advisor on the back and both have alley lights and front take downs. paid less than 500 for the two of em.

[Junior M]

Yep, just came out of my seizure!

Good to see ya again big, never thought you'd come back! You should get us some updated pics of the ol' beast! (just dont post the pics of it in the shop, I know thats where its spent the majority of its time. :laugh:)

[BIGBEN2004]

Do you plug it in to a standard cig. lighter style plug in or do you direct wire it? I want to put a strobe light on my machine but I need to add some type of power outlet to plug it in to.

[bobcat_ron]

I think I saw my dead grampa in those flashes, odd he was holding a paddle.

Damn that is a nice setup, not sequential flashing is nice.

[Gravel Rat]

Your out of luck Ron it isn't legal in B.C. to own one of those on a private vehical.

Only tow trucks or emergency vehicals can have something like that.

[stuvecorp]

And here I thought you were switching over to the dark side Biggie.:waving:

I had about the most obnoxious strobe on the skid for plowing and people did stay away from it.

[ioilyouin]

If everyone puts those on their rigs, then people will start ignoring those too. At one time flashers were good enough.

[Gravel Rat]

I worked in traffic control and people don't pay attention to flashing lights.

People are so d*mn preoccupied with other things besides concentrating about driving.

People text messaging or talking on the cellphone while driving drives me nuts.

Had a young lady couple months ago go into the ditch I said how in the h*ll did you do that its a dry road. She said uhhm I was texting :nono:

I made sure she was allright and her car was able to drive.

[BigDigger]

Heheheh.....

Thanks for all the comments and the warm welcome.

While yes this bar is bright, the video is not so good because the flashing makes the Iris go nuts, it's a much cleaner look in person. Especially the sequential flashes.

I agree for the most part that if you can't see the big skid steer with lights on then the beacon is likely not going to help someone not smoke ya. But all we can do is the best we can and this is a pretty significant step up from a standard strobe. And while brighter, it's less annoying (depending on chosen flash pattern). I will move this on to a plow truck next. But it's a nice compact size and by running class one flasher at least I have done everything I can do to make myself visible. That an it's sexy.

Hey Ron, I don't think you would have any issues running this on a skid steer in your neck of the woods. Running it on a truck or car for the heck of it, I don't think so, but for construction equipment/snow removal, I don't see you EVER having an issue running this.

BTW I was just in your neck of the woods, Visiting some friends up on Sumas Mountain. Nice area, but I don't think I saw the mountains once......damn rain.

[bobcat_ron]

BTW I was just in your neck of the woods, Visiting some friends up on Sumas Mountain. Nice area, but I don't think I saw the mountains once......damn rain.


You "friends" with the Bacon brothers too? :laugh:

[Gravel Rat]

Ron I would be carefull what you say the Bacon bros might be knocking on your door :dizzy:

[BigDigger]

Well now, you gotta tell me who the Bacon Bros are.......

nope not friends with them.....I assume that's a good thing?

[Gravel Rat]

Google Bacon Brothers you will get all the info you want.

Poor Ronald has to live in the same community as they do.

[BigDigger]

Ron ain't got a thing to worry about. Looks like if they show their face in public the UN gang will cap'em. To quote a post i found looking for Bacon Bro's, Gangs and people like the Bacons are a self cleaning oven......too true, 7 associates dead so far. Those guys are dead men walking

[stuvecorp]

What kind of blade/pusher are you going to plow with?

[BigDigger]

What kind of blade/pusher are you going to plow with?

84" Degleman Snow bucket.

The 96" is too big for some of the spots and too wide for the dips etc. we work with a plow truck as well. Tones of edging as these are all commercial properties and they need to be immaculate. Scrape is my middle name.

I have 24 hours of work each time it snows, so it should be busy. (yes a small break in between)

[BigDigger]

What are you using this year? do you do snow removal as well? I am not certain where you live.

[stuvecorp]

I'm talking to a few places, would like to be a sub for this season with a skid. I have been watching for used stuff. I would like a 8611 Blizzard but haven't seen one yet. Probably end up with a 8' or 9' Snowwolf. There is one of those Snovantage pushers floating around but don't know if I want to experiment that much.

24 hours each time is sweet, Benjis from heaven.

[BigDigger]

Yeah it's a great gig. Don't get much sleep if it keeps snowing, but you make ummm....uhhh hay when the snow flies....yeah? hehehehe.

I would love a big pusher, that sectional snow plow makes complete sense to me and the guys using them seem to love them, especially after some early issues where solved. Expensive though and the company doesn't seem totally responsive, but it's said to be awesome for scraping esp for uneven or sloping or v shaped parking lots....just follows that action....

Anyhow that would be my baby......but I think a snow plow for the truck would be next for next year.

The Degleman Speedplow looks fantastic, but I think it's weak in the scraping department, but one hell of a pusher at 15' fully articulated and for skid steer to boot.

[BigDigger]

Dude, I just checked out the snow vantage.

Degleman bought the rights to that plow and produces them up here in canada as well *sells to all of north america though* Anyhow, the Degleman takes the snowvantage unit, fixes everything wrong with it calls it the Speed Blade, beefs the crap out of it comparatively and then sells them here. Still speedplow/snowvantage either one is still not great for scraping....they have no blade edge to them, they are pushers only. but still nice idea....

How much stronger than the US version? not sure but it's what they tell me. I just about had one then found out about the lack of scraping ability and cancelled the order. Now I have a plain o'l bucket, but when you sub, usually that's all you need since they can hire out the big stuff if they need it.

[stuvecorp]

I wondered about the scraping or 'one pass' ability of the Snovantage type. It would work great around the shop but not on commercial stuff unless you were pretreating.

[BigDigger]

I wondered about the scraping or 'one pass' ability of the Snovantage type. It would work great around the shop but not on commercial stuff unless you were pretreating.

Yeah I think you are right.

Now it may be that it works better on wet snows. I say this because there is likely to be melt anyway. However up here it's more powder, it compacts into concrete/ice and then sticks around for months on end. So getting it ALL off is very important.

Yeah, I think it's use specific, though I gotta say I don't see why they couldn't put an edge on it......surely they must see the limited nature of this.

Who knows. I do know of a guy up here who does a job that normally takes 23hours, with this plow he does it in 12. How happy are his customers with the "scrapage"? I don't know, but I know the company he subs for loves him like a first Son.