# Emergency and Work Lighting Install > Warning bars, scene lights, advisors and compartment lighting installed with fused distribution, sized protection and clean grounds. Source: https://fleetservicesocrv.com/services/equipment-and-upfit/emergency-and-work-lighting-install Business: Fleet Services OCRV, 23281 E La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 Phone: (714) 909-1844. Serving Santa Ana, California, about 17 miles from the facility. Emergency and work lighting installation adds warning and scene lighting to a commercial or municipal unit: light bars, corner and surface modules, hideaway modules, directional advisors, flood and scene lights and compartment lighting, wired through a fused distribution panel with correctly sized protection and a clean ground path. ## Specification - Price range: $400 to $3,500 - Labor hours: 2 to 14 hours - Turnaround: Upfit install - Insurance: typically customer pay or fleet account ## Symptoms - Warning lights that dim or flicker when several circuits run together - Circuits that trip protection after a few minutes of operation - Intermittent lighting faults that change with vibration or weather - Battery too low to start after a stationary work session - Inline fuses and taped splices found throughout an older install - Scene lights aimed above the work area rather than at it - Corroded connections at exterior lamp mounting points ## What lighting classes and colors apply to my fleet? Warning lamps are described by SAE practices that define output and pattern. J595 covers directional flashing warning lamps, J845 covers 360 degree optical warning devices, and J1318 sorts beacons into classes by intensity, with Class 1 being the highest output tier. Those class designations are what a specification should reference, because brightness claims by themselves mean very little. Color is set by state law, not by preference. Under the California Vehicle Code, amber is the color available to utility, construction, service and recovery operators. Red and blue are restricted to authorized vehicles, and installing them on a unit that has no authorization creates a problem for the operator rather than a benefit. So the specification starts with who is running the truck. A Santa Ana utility contractor gets amber warning and white scene lighting. A municipal unit gets what its authority specifies. A recovery operator gets amber with the output class that makes them visible on a freeway shoulder at 2 a.m., which is a genuinely different requirement from being visible in a work zone at noon. - SAE J595 for directional flashing warning lamps - SAE J845 for 360 degree optical warning devices - SAE J1318 class designations sorting beacons by intensity tier - Amber for utility, construction, service and recovery operators - Red and blue restricted to authorized vehicles under state law - White scene and flood lighting for work area illumination ## How is the electrical side actually built? Around a fused distribution panel, not around a pile of inline fuses. Every circuit lands on a panel with its own protection, the panel is fed by a single protected main from the battery, and the switch panel controls relays rather than switching load current through the dash. That architecture is how a fault gets isolated in five minutes instead of five hours. Protection is sized to the wire and to the continuous draw. Circuits are protected at a value that accounts for continuous load with headroom, and conductor size is chosen for the current and the length of the run so voltage at the device stays where it belongs. A 10 or 12 AWG run for a high current device is not overkill, it is what keeps a light bar at full output at the end of a long chassis. Grounds get the same care as feeds. Each ground lands on cleaned metal with the coating removed at the contact face, star washers under the terminals, and dielectric grease over the connection. Every intermittent lighting complaint on a truck that has been added to over the years traces back to a ground somebody made through a painted bracket. - Fused distribution panel with a single protected main feed - Relay controlled circuits with the switch panel handling signal only - Circuit protection sized to the conductor and the continuous draw - 10 to 12 AWG conductors on higher current runs to hold voltage at the device - Grounds landed on cleaned metal with star washers and dielectric grease - Weather resistant connectors and sealed splices throughout - Grommets and loom at every pass through sheet metal or structure ## How much current does all of this draw and does it matter? It matters on any unit that sits and works with the chassis shut down. Modern LED warning bars land somewhere in the 5 to 12 amp range depending on size and pattern, and each scene light adds roughly 3 to 8 amps. A truck running a full warning package plus four scene lights at a job site is pulling real current out of a battery bank that nothing is replenishing. The math is straightforward and worth doing before the install. Total the continuous draw of what will actually run at once, multiply by the hours the crew works with the chassis off, and compare that to what the battery bank can give up before it will no longer start the unit. Fleets that skip this discover it as a recovery call on a Santa Ana job site. The practical protection is a low voltage cutoff on the accessory circuits, set to shed the accessory load around 11.8 volts so there is always enough left to start. It is an inexpensive component that turns a bad day into a minor inconvenience, and it belongs on any unit that works stationary for hours at a time. ## Where does the lighting go on the truck? Warning lighting goes where it is visible from the directions the hazard comes from, which usually means a combination rather than a single bar. A roof bar covers the long approach, corner and surface modules cover the near angles that a roof bar shoots over, and a rear directional advisor handles the approach that actually kills people on a shoulder. Hideaway modules mounted inside existing lamp housings give warning output with no exterior hardware, which suits units that need to look conventional most of the time. They also survive car washes and low clearance better than surface hardware. The trade is lower output than a dedicated module, so they supplement rather than replace a primary warning package. Scene lighting is aimed at the work, not at the sky. Flood units on the sides and rear of a body, compartment strip lighting inside every door, and step well lighting where crews get in and out at night. Common flood units run 1,500 to 5,000 lumens, and two well aimed lights beat four badly aimed ones every time. - Roof bar for long approach visibility plus corner modules for near angles - Rear directional advisor for shoulder and lane closure work - Hideaway modules in existing housings on units that stay conventional looking - Side and rear flood units aimed at the work area at 1,500 to 5,000 lumens - Compartment strip lighting inside every door on a service body - Step well lighting where crews enter and exit after dark ## What does it cost and how long does it take? Lighting installs carry the upfit install band, 3 to 10 business days, with labor at 2 to 14 hours and a published range from roughly 400 dollars to 3,500 dollars. Accessory and electrical labor bills at the posted 260 dollar rate. A pair of scene lights on an existing panel is quick. A full warning package with a new distribution panel and switch console is not. What moves the number is the existing wiring. A truck with a proper panel already installed takes additions fast. A truck with a decade of inline fuses, splices into random circuits and grounds through painted brackets needs that undone before anything new goes on, and undoing it is time that should be in the estimate rather than discovered mid job. For Santa Ana fleets standardizing, build one truck to spec and document it, including switch positions and circuit assignments. Then every unit after that goes together the same way and any technician can work on any truck. That documentation is worth more over five years than the difference between any two brands of light bar. ## Questions ### What color warning lights can my utility trucks run in California? Amber is the color available to utility, construction, service and recovery operators under the state vehicle code. Red and blue are restricted to authorized vehicles, and putting them on a unit without that authorization creates an enforcement problem for your driver. Tell the shop what your operation is and the specification gets built to what you are permitted to run. ### Why do my warning lights dim when everything is running? Almost always the supply side rather than the lights. Undersized conductors, a shared feed carrying more than it was sized for, or a marginal ground will drop voltage under combined load, and the lights show it first. Measuring voltage at the device under full load finds it quickly. The fix is usually a properly sized feed and a real ground, not new lamps. ### Will running warning and scene lights kill my battery on a job site? It can. A full warning package at 5 to 12 amps plus four scene lights at 3 to 8 amps each is real current with nothing replenishing it. Total the continuous draw, multiply by the hours you work stationary, and compare it to the battery bank. Then add a low voltage cutoff around 11.8 volts so the unit always has enough left to start. ### Can you clean up an older truck that has been added to over the years? Yes, and it is common work. Inline fuses, splices into random circuits and grounds through painted brackets get removed and replaced with a fused distribution panel, relay controlled circuits and proper grounds. Expect the teardown to be part of the estimate. It is time well spent, because it turns the next fault into a five minute job. ### Are hideaway lights strong enough to be the main warning package? Usually not on their own. Hideaway modules in existing lamp housings are excellent supplements, they survive car washes and low clearance, and they keep a unit looking conventional. Their output is lower than a dedicated module by design. Use them to fill near angles alongside a primary bar rather than as the whole package. ### How should scene lights be aimed? At the work surface, not at the horizon. Two properly aimed floods beat four badly aimed ones, because light thrown past the work zone blinds approaching traffic and does nothing for the crew. Aiming gets set with the truck in a working position during the install rather than eyeballed in the bay, which takes a few extra minutes and shows every night. ### Can lighting be done at the same time as a body or rack install? Yes, and it should be. With a body off, a rack on the bench or an interior open, the wiring runs are accessible and mounts can be fabricated in the right place. Doing it during another job costs a fraction of retrofitting, and it saves a Santa Ana fleet a second 17 mile trip up SR-55 and SR-91.