Thanks for sharing Stuart. This won't be your most-watched video, but those of us that remember the "good" ole days of rotators will definitely enjoy it. Cheers.
That old Whelen 8000 strobe bar was one I saw a lot as a kid. That was a unique looking bar, and they used a different type of strobe module compared to the linear ones you'd see in the Edge bars. BTW Whelen sure loved strobe technology (and now LED). They rarely made anything halogen based. The Federal Signal AeroDynic is a personal fave of mine. I owned one back in the 90s that I bought for $200 from a local police shop. It was not fully loaded (no alley lights now cutouts for allies), but it was in my favorite color combination red/blue. It had 4 corner par 36 style multi fractured sealed beam bulbs, and 6 rotating parabolic fixtures. I wished the lenses had the ally cutouts and the amber sections added for the rear facing corner. BTW while you could change them, the lens sections were sealed with weather proof clear caulk. Not a simple change over. Mine also used the center grille and it actually still had the Fed Sig 100 watt speaker inside. I still have that one. I used it with my Fed Sig. PA 100 siren. Super loud!!! The hard part was getting that familiar rotator (outer to inner) flash pattern you'd see on Roscoe P Coltrane's (The Dukes of Hazzard). Each rotator had a gear with a 12, 3, 6, 9 clock marking on of the flat gear. If you wanted to modify the flash pattern you'd use those numbers as a guide. The entire rotating mechanism was driven by a single motor and large belt. So the fixtures would rotate clockwise, but as I said you could manipulate the pattern by carefully adjusting the rotator gear. This light was a pain to work on since all of lights were a daisy chain and not independent. If the belt ever broke you'd be hard pressed to find one that would fit properly. There is a second version of this called the AeroTwin. Same design as the AreoDynic, but it used the sealed beam lamps and rotating mechanism of the TwinSonic (another fave of mine). I believe the AeroTwin predates the AeroDynic by a couple of years. The AeroTwin was a favorite of NYC Police, Fire, and Resuce for many many years. They even championed the "candy cane" stripe lens color combination and used a red/white sealed beam par 36 bulb (not the multi fractured style).
Both of the Whelen Responder dash lights at 35:24 are second-generation models. Externally they look identical to first-generation models but the internals of 2nd gen models are identical to the Whelen Cadet. For whatever the reason, sometime in the late 80's Whelen completely redesigned the internal mechanism of the Responder, changing it into what would later become the Cadet, which replaced the Responder around 1990 or 91. The Cadet is actually just a 2nd gen Responder with a different dome on it.
wish we could have seen them all fired up. loved the video brought back alot of memories from my firefighting day, both as a volunteer and as a paid career guy 👍👍
Because of the length ,I fast fowarded to each next light showcased after viewing each for about a minute, not sure if I missed but, instead of so many of the Whelen edges I really wanted to see Federal Highlighters,Aerohawks,CJ184's, powerlights,Code3 MX7000's,XL 4 Alarms with sealed beams Stingers and Stingrays. Still a good video but more classic variety was needed. -Thanks for sharing, Frank from Delaware!
wow i miss those code 3 dtech bars always had a crystal like look when off looked really nice in the sun lol used to have one on an old tow truck one time sadly it got wrecked by a drunk driver using the deck as a ramp taking out the headake rack with the bar on it
Thank you Earl Gosswiller for giving us the Federal Signal Beacon Ray warning light. Those red & white sealed beams, have pierced the smoke of many fire scenes. Beacon Rays helped clear the way, in the darkness of night, or brightness of day. Where there was smoke at night, there were the flashes, from the Beacon Rays light.
I remember almost all of these. The Edge strobe lightbar debuted in the 80s and was used well into the early 2000s. They were on Chicago police cars exclusively for years. I believe the Freedom is the modern variation of it.
Thank you for displaying those lights, and the way it was displayed and filmed was perfect. That's how I would want to do it at one point with my 335 lightbars... ;)
Indeed! at the far way from an actual museum yet, as they're all in storage stacked together, but once a suitable place is found I'll build a nice museum just for lightbars. Welcome to come over to The Netherlands by that time ofcourse! facebook.com/lightbarmuseum/
14:15 is my favorite lightbar of all ^^ i love the flash pattern for it. and one of the towns in my area had this exact color pattern on this lightbar aahh my childhood ^^
Hi guys. Hope you're all well. Can I ask a daft question? (I'm from the UK, we excel at them). On the old sealed-beam beacons, why is there usually one tilted up at an angle? It's something that has always puzzled me.
The angled Beam gives light output that's visible from above the Vehicle and/or from the air. It was very helpful for rolling hill areas, forests and airports.
I remember the Force 4 LP Galls was pushing that forever and it was the featured light bar on the Heat of the Night TV show but wow the Vector I remember when a few local LEA got them and I thought they were so futuristic looking but I still think the old Code 3 MX-7000 was the most popular with the introduction of intersection sweep lights nothing like the sound of four spinning rotators winding away on the roof top
I'm guessing it's for warning ariels flying around overhead, similar to that of top firing diodes found in today's beacons, particularly useful on vehicles working the on the runways at airports
The common name for this light was a 'hill light'. As you were going down a hill it allowed one beam to basically line up with the field of vision of traffic coming towards it.
That is a unique angle light used exclusively by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for many years until about 1990 when the OHP switched over to vector lightbars. In the rear deck was yellow lollypop flashers. Check out youtube videos from the late 1980s to see the lights in action.
There's still a lot of them around and in use. California has them here and there and the split versions still use daily use on Fire Apparatus in New York.
There is still one in service in my area that I know of. I was even asked for my input for lights on some units by a local fire department over the years. The vectors got chosen and it was great.
Could someone shed some light, pun intended, on the Whelen Responder lights at the 35:24 mark? I would like model numbers for both the lights and the reflector. I'm guessing these are no longer current models. By the way, great video.
Have Your See The Old Style Railroad Engine Beacon Since A normal Beacon Wouldn't Survival the Shaking the each lamp was stationary a blink one at a time simulating rotation
Thanks for sharing Stuart. This won't be your most-watched video, but those of us that remember the "good" ole days of rotators will definitely enjoy it. Cheers.
Thank you for watching! :)
Can we get a full museum tour with the lights in operation?
A number of these remind me of my younger days. Growing up with family in emergency services, you sure see changes.
I remember those accessory lights from that Whelen AdvantEdge fit perfectly in the grill of the 93-97 Crown Vics.
Wished they was all wired up ! :(
Same, I would have loved to See that vector with the centre strobe
Gotta love the old style lightbars and lights. I'm especially a hugh fan of Federal Signal ,Whelan and Dominion Automotive.
Thanks for watching :) We're glad you enjoyed it :)
the aerodynic is still one of my favorites. R/W/R/W/R/W/R/W.
candy cane striping used frequently in NYC
Part of me cant believe i just spent 40 minutes watching lightbars, and the other part loved every minute of it. Lol
Ahh, those were the days! Thanks SirenNET for posting as always! :)
That old Whelen 8000 strobe bar was one I saw a lot as a kid. That was a unique looking bar, and they used a different type of strobe module compared to the linear ones you'd see in the Edge bars. BTW Whelen sure loved strobe technology (and now LED). They rarely made anything halogen based.
The Federal Signal AeroDynic is a personal fave of mine. I owned one back in the 90s that I bought for $200 from a local police shop. It was not fully loaded (no alley lights now cutouts for allies), but it was in my favorite color combination red/blue. It had 4 corner par 36 style multi fractured sealed beam bulbs, and 6 rotating parabolic fixtures. I wished the lenses had the ally cutouts and the amber sections added for the rear facing corner. BTW while you could change them, the lens sections were sealed with weather proof clear caulk. Not a simple change over. Mine also used the center grille and it actually still had the Fed Sig 100 watt speaker inside. I still have that one. I used it with my Fed Sig. PA 100 siren. Super loud!!!
The hard part was getting that familiar rotator (outer to inner) flash pattern you'd see on Roscoe P Coltrane's (The Dukes of Hazzard). Each rotator had a gear with a 12, 3, 6, 9 clock marking on of the flat gear. If you wanted to modify the flash pattern you'd use those numbers as a guide. The entire rotating mechanism was driven by a single motor and large belt. So the fixtures would rotate clockwise, but as I said you could manipulate the pattern by carefully adjusting the rotator gear.
This light was a pain to work on since all of lights were a daisy chain and not independent. If the belt ever broke you'd be hard pressed to find one that would fit properly.
There is a second version of this called the AeroTwin. Same design as the AreoDynic, but it used the sealed beam lamps and rotating mechanism of the TwinSonic (another fave of mine). I believe the AeroTwin predates the AeroDynic by a couple of years. The AeroTwin was a favorite of NYC Police, Fire, and Resuce for many many years. They even championed the "candy cane" stripe lens color combination and used a red/white sealed beam par 36 bulb (not the multi fractured style).
ohh the pain of the split color fail of the dashking. what a collection!
13:46 OH YEAH the hangover...HILARIOUS MOVIE.
Both of the Whelen Responder dash lights at 35:24 are second-generation models. Externally they look identical to first-generation models but the internals of 2nd gen models are identical to the Whelen Cadet. For whatever the reason, sometime in the late 80's Whelen completely redesigned the internal mechanism of the Responder, changing it into what would later become the Cadet, which replaced the Responder around 1990 or 91. The Cadet is actually just a 2nd gen Responder with a different dome on it.
wish we could have seen them all fired up. loved the video brought back alot of memories from my firefighting day, both as a volunteer and as a paid career guy 👍👍
I saw this in my subscription and expected about a 10 minute video, not this. Great work as always!
We're glad you liked it :)
That's awesome Stuart ..
Thank You :) It was a fun Project :)
❤espectacular grandes joyas
11:30 Ahhh Mators tow beacon light.
It would be neat if Chris did some videos on some of these in the same way the most current products are reviewed on the channel!
Because of the length ,I fast fowarded to each next light showcased after viewing each for about a minute, not sure if I missed but, instead of so many of the Whelen edges I really wanted to see Federal Highlighters,Aerohawks,CJ184's, powerlights,Code3 MX7000's,XL 4 Alarms with sealed beams Stingers and Stingrays. Still a good video but more classic variety was needed. -Thanks for sharing, Frank from Delaware!
Thanks for watching... our collection doesn't have one of everything unfortunately... but were sure a collection like that exists somewhere :)
wow i miss those code 3 dtech bars always had a crystal like look when off looked really nice in the sun lol used to have one on an old tow truck one time sadly it got wrecked by a drunk driver using the deck as a ramp taking out the headake rack with the bar on it
Very cool!!!
Thank you Earl Gosswiller for giving us the Federal Signal Beacon Ray warning light. Those red & white sealed beams, have pierced the smoke of many fire scenes. Beacon Rays helped clear the way, in the darkness of night, or brightness of day. Where there was smoke at night, there were the flashes, from the Beacon Rays light.
Great video! I love the single halogen dashmiser! There were quite a few amber dash lights, were they not the best sellers back in the day?
Thank You. The Dash lights of days past we're all very popular and widely used.
11:50 yes I’ve seen in heat of the night and my hometown fire dept has a ex-army tanker from the 90,s with this exact code 3 bar only Red of course.
I remember almost all of these. The Edge strobe lightbar debuted in the 80s and was used well into the early 2000s. They were on Chicago police cars exclusively for years. I believe the Freedom is the modern variation of it.
Thank you for displaying those lights, and the way it was displayed and filmed was perfect. That's how I would want to do it at one point with my 335 lightbars... ;)
Really 335? Wow :)
Indeed! at the far way from an actual museum yet, as they're all in storage stacked together, but once a suitable place is found I'll build a nice museum just for lightbars. Welcome to come over to The Netherlands by that time ofcourse!
facebook.com/lightbarmuseum/
Would have loved to see the all D-Tech Code 360 running.
14:15 is my favorite lightbar of all ^^ i love the flash pattern for it. and one of the towns in my area had this exact color pattern on this lightbar aahh my childhood ^^
NYPD has all of its police cars equipped with that bar but no blues.
Hi guys. Hope you're all well.
Can I ask a daft question? (I'm from the UK, we excel at them).
On the old sealed-beam beacons, why is there usually one tilted up at an angle? It's something that has always puzzled me.
The angled Beam gives light output that's visible from above the Vehicle and/or from the air. It was very helpful for rolling hill areas, forests and airports.
Love the little whelen beacon, think i'll buy the amber one.
Thanks for this video!
We're glad you like it :) Thanks for watching.
I want all of these things. And I want to see the rest of them turned on. This is an amazing collection.
Thank You :)
Can you please show how the Force 4 had different color lights in the little round cutout area? I always wondered how that worked.
Please operate them. Whomever invented the rotating beacon had the greatest idea. Far better than a flashing lamp.
you got to do a video of the code 360 bar running please that is a awesome bar
We can probably make that happened :)
I remember the Force 4 LP Galls was pushing that forever and it was the featured light bar on the Heat of the Night TV show but wow the Vector I remember when a few local LEA got them and I thought they were so futuristic looking but I still think the old Code 3 MX-7000 was the most popular with the introduction of intersection sweep lights nothing like the sound of four spinning rotators winding away on the roof top
enjoyed it very much i have one of the rotor ray jr love the old gumballs light
That's great to hear :)
The Beacon Ray at 6:27 has one light angled up. A long time ago our PD had a light like this. Why is the one light tilted up?
@SirenNET TV
Can you do a video showcasing the strobe lightbars in action? Would love to see...
"Hopefully it wasn't too long"? Hah, cool intro trailer, now lemme see the feature length version
Love the Code 360 with all D-Tech rotators!
It's a great Bar :)
it looks like it's still brand new.
Polish and elbow grease :)
Awesome video!...@6:27, what was the purpose of the one clear light pointing up at a angle?
I'm guessing it's for warning ariels flying around overhead, similar to that of top firing diodes found in today's beacons, particularly useful on vehicles working the on the runways at airports
+illumiKnight12
Thank you sir!
The common name for this light was a 'hill light'. As you were going down a hill it allowed one beam to basically line up with the field of vision of traffic coming towards it.
That is a unique angle light used exclusively by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for many years until about 1990 when the OHP switched over to vector lightbars. In the rear deck was yellow lollypop flashers. Check out youtube videos from the late 1980s to see the lights in action.
I stand corrected, OHP started using JetSonic lightbars around 1989 as they fazed out the FS bubble gum domes.
We still have a few old Vectors in service in Las Vegas (15:00)
There's still a lot of them around and in use. California has them here and there and the split versions still use daily use on Fire Apparatus in New York.
There is still one in service in my area that I know of. I was even asked for my input for lights on some units by a local fire department over the years. The vectors got chosen and it was great.
Could someone shed some light, pun intended, on the Whelen Responder lights at the 35:24 mark? I would like model numbers for both the lights and the reflector. I'm guessing these are no longer current models. By the way, great video.
Have Your See The Old Style Railroad Engine Beacon Since A normal Beacon Wouldn't Survival the Shaking the each lamp was stationary a blink one at a time simulating rotation
13:42 my favorite
looks so cool!
Thank You :)
Aerodynic Model 24x & Whelen responder & Whelen RB 6 beacons aawesome ;-) lightbarmartin Hungary
That Advantedge Tho
federal smart vision lightbar is now smart vision slr led lightbar
I was hoping to see a whelen Respond-A-Strobe, but that's okay
26:56 what is that… I need one
I wanna know what the first bar was. it would look great on my car
It's a Whelen EDGE 9000. It later gave way to the more modern 9M bars.
SIRENNET how long it is? it doesn't like more than 36"
Technically it 35.75". :)
SIRENNET I love it. it would fit perfectly on my car
How much for the Smith and Wesson Light Bar
We like it too much to part ways... check eBay & Elightbars.org… you never know what might pop up.
What no lens divers on the whelen bar?
We've since added in dividers to make it complete. :) It made way to our collection without them and some times part of the fun is keeping them as is.
Anyone know the name of that Whelen bar in 22:05?
It's Whelen Engineering's 8000 Series enclosed strobe bar. They started them in 1978.
Very interesting! Thank you!
do they lite up
Some do while others have exhausted their internals.
いいねぇ✨
❤😎🚔