WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
In 1985, Bryan Anderson, Owner/President of TowMate®, vowed to make the towing industry safer for the towing professional. Operating his own towingpool service one frosty night, Bryan received a towing call and jumped into action. Arriving at the scene, he saw an icy cold, miserable situation– one he was going to be in shortly. At this moment, is when he vowed to create a better and faster way to deploy the safety lighting that makes it legal to tow a vehicle. This process of running cables, attaching the lights, and hoping everything works usually took around 10 mins. — 10 mins. too long in the frigid cold weather of winter.
Bryan thought that if there was a wireless tow-light solution that attached via magnet, operated via trailer plug transmitter, and could be ready in seconds instead of minutes, he could save many lives as well as make the job easier and faster for towing professionals. TowMate® was born at that moment and has been the leader of wireless tow lights since 1985–that’s 34 years of saving lives using innovative and cutting-edge technology. Throughout those 34 years, many different models of wireless tow lights have been developed–some for general use and others for specific industries and needs.
LEAD-ACID BATTERIES
The main driving force for innovation in wireless tow lighting has been the everevolving battery systems. In the late 80s, lead-acid batteries were introduced to wireless tow lights greatly increasing the run time and making maintenance much easier. Due to the low cost, availability, reliability, and high level of consistency, lead-acid battery technology led the way for tow lights for decades. Although leadacid technology has its benefits, it also has many downfalls that made many users seek a better solution for powering wireless tow lights.
LITHIUM BATTERIES
The introduction of lithium battery technology ushered in the era of the long run tow light: not only does the battery run many times longer than a lead-acid battery, but the lithium batteries also have a lifespan close to a decade unlike the one year expected lifespan of lead acid batteries. Lithium batteries are capable of being in a light, compact form factor such as rechargeable battery packs and charged via an easy-to-use vehiclemounted charge cradle making them ideal for TowMate® wireless tow lights. The Helios, Li26, and TM36Li are great examples of how the lithium age of tow lights has evolved.
CAPACITANCE CELLS and TOWMATE’S TM-FLUX TOW LIGHT
2019 ushers in yet another era for TowMate® Tow Lights with the introduction of a technology that has been proven in many industries to be a great solution for a fast charge, high-reliability system. The new TM-FLUX embodies this new technology with the introduction of capacitance cells. Providing the ability to fully charge the light bar in 8 minutes and giving a run time of over 4 hours, the TMFLUX tow light gives the in-town tow operator a light bar that will always be ready for use. Providing the basics of “Stop,” “Tail,” and “Turn” functions using a wireless transmitter plugged into the trailer light socket, the TM-FLUX is the shorthaul tower’s dream light bar! Simply charge the TM-FLUX on the way to the tow, and you will have 4 hours before the light needs to be charged again.
As technology continues to advance at an accelerated rate, so will the line of TowMate® wireless products. There’s no way of telling what sort of amazing advancements we will see in the next few years for wireless tow lights, but one thing is for certain, TowMate® will be at the forefront! ◆
