Volkswagen Amarok Design Specification
Recently we were asked by Dr Chris Press, a paramedic, if we could provide lighting and switching products to go on his brand new Volkswagen Amarok pick-up. The vehicle is used for mountain rescue. Also for BASICS (volunteer doctor) responding through the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS). Dr Press also asked if some existing products that were on his pick-up being de-commissioned could be re-used.
For this particular installation we partnered with a local specialist auto electrical company, named Autolec HD which is run by Matt Foster, who is fully City & Guilds trained and has years of experience. Matt is highly skilled and knowledgeable in most things auto electrical. Plus the Autolec-HD premises are a few minutes from the Trafficlear office, so we can keep an eye on the installation and be there to answer any questions that may arise, such as positioning of the lights etc.
On Dr Press’s pick-up we specified various Whelen® lights. These included number plate fend offs and various dash lights in windscreen pods and side pods. We recommended Whelen® ION lights for the grille and rear window along with reusing an existing Whelen® siren and speaker and a light bar from the old vehicle. The reason we chose Whelen® for all lights on this vehicle is because of their high quality and therefore forbidding reliability.
We usually choose Whelen® for external vehicle lighting and Labcraft for internal vehicle lighting as they are two reliable suppliers, whose products are equally as reliable.
We decided that the Ideatec product that best suited the requirements of Dr Press’s pick-up was the Tiny8 (console pictured); the reasons being that it is small, therefore easily to position the power module either under a seat or behind the rear row of seats. It is simply, a tiny switch panel which can be mounted unobtrusively or even covertly in the cab, so as the vehicle is also used as a daily driver this was ideal. In this particular vehicle it was possible to remove some of the switch blanks around the gear selector and install the Tiny8 switch panel with no cutting or damage – this means that on removal of the equipment the blank can be re-inserted and the vehicle is good to go; but the main reason for choosing Ideatec and in particular the Tiny8 has to be it’s reliability, with hundreds having been successfully installed and operated in a variety of different vehicle types across Europe, since it’s relatively recent launch.
Doug Fairlie
Manager