GREAT SCOTT! The future of wireless tow lights has arrived. It was just a year ago TowMate had developed the future tech of wireless lights, but here we are again, back to the future! TowMate has advanced technology onward and upward once again! “Regardless of whether or not there were ‘competitors’ entering the market, we will always be working on integrating the most cutting-edge technological advancements into our products. It’s what has kept us the industry standard,” says Lee Young, Chief Electronics Engineer for TowMate. Looking back at the storied history of wireless tow light technology, it becomes evident how the company paved the way from bulky, obtuse, and inconveniently heavy systems that operated with incandescent bulbs to today’s light weight, bright, and safety-feature rich LED driven lights. “Well, it’s a matter of staying on top of the technologies being developed and how they might apply in a practical manner,” Lee continues. “It is about continually refining, redefining, improving, and building upon what we achieved before,” and they have that with TowMate’s new and expanding line of ‘FLUX” series wireless tow lights being the latest example.
With the vision of Bryan Anderson, President of TowMate, the company continues to dig deeper into new tech that provides clear benefits to everyday tow operators. One example being a super-fast charging wireless tow light. That’s what you get with the TM-FLUX series. For the light-duty wireless tow lights that run on TowMate’s patent pending technology, the light will achieve a full charge in just under eight minutes! This, compared to a traditional eight-hour charge time for lead-acid battery systems, represents a major shift in efficiency! Not only that but the system operates without batteries. The technology utilized will support millions of charge cycles to the degree that the operator will never have to service a battery. There is one small tradeoff, however, and as such the TM-FLUX and TM-FLUX32 (pictured above) have about a four-hour run time per charge. Even so, a quick step into the office, conversation with a customer or a coffee break, and the unit is ready to go another round. Look for several new lines of TowMate product to utilize this tech in 2020, including a heavy-duty wireless light bar! That’s right! TowMate has undergone preliminary testing that shows there is viability to applying this technology to a 36” heavy-duty wireless light bars and achieving a six to eight-hour run time off just a 10-minute charge time. What a time to be alive!
With new products and technologies being developed on the regular, it begs the question just exactly who TowMate is and how they manage to do so. The answer may be somewhat surprising to those not familiar. TowMate is a family-owned and -operated company. Based in Rogers, Arkansas, they have grown in their 35 years of serving the industry from being a one-man operation to now employing 50+ workers. A true leader has more than just a controlling role in any given situation. They also must have vision. Bryan continues to guide the company towards innovation by reinvesting in facilities, equipment, and the employees themselves. In addition to these things, TowMate has aligned themselves with other industry leaders in order to address the needs of tow operators everywhere.
A prime example of this is the development of a lighting package for Landoll 400/455/930/955 series trailers. Using the Power-Link technology developed by TowMate several years ago, these lights simply plug into the existing wiring of the trailer and act as marker lights as well as strobes with no additional wiring necessary, except for the controller that simply wires to power and ground. That’s right, easily add safety lighting to your Landoll trailer at the time of purchase or to your existing trailer as well. As with all TowMate made products, they are made in the USA and carry a lifetime warranty. This is all in addition to being a super bright warning light that doubles as a marker and simply uses the factory harness to install. It literally could not be any simpler.
As we all know, motorists on the highway are more distracted than ever these days. Tow operators risk their lives day in and day out to provide a service and save the day for those in distress on our roadways. The unfortunate truth is that not every hero makes it home at the end of every day. That is why there have been many ‘Move Over’ initiatives that have set out to raise awareness of our brothers and sisters who find themselves working on the side of our highways and roads across the nation on any given day. Making people aware on a broad level is no easy task however, and so it becomes a mixed bag of awareness of the public along with safety equipment that notifies motorists of a worker’s presence on the side of the road in case they missed the memo.
TowMate has begun an initiative that combines the convenience of wireless tow lights with the added layer of protection from warning lights, along with the development of other roadside safety systems. The MO series of lights (Move Over) spans numerous product types ranging from the MO37 heavy-duty wireless light bar that features arrow/strobe/work light modes to the brand-new MO-PRO magnetic rechargeable flare. Unlike the small puck-shaped LED flares, the MO-PRO is built with the highest quality components and some of the brightest LED’s on Earth. It also features numerous color profiles for its flash modes as well as a steady on for the work light mode. Derived from the previous model, the TMPRO-3-1, but packed with more features, the MO-PRO is hands down the most versatile and effective portable LED warning light available today.
For more information, visit www.towmate.com
