Let's look at the Whelen Ohio State patrol Edge Matrix bar

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
In the 1990s Ohio State Highway Patrol used a unique version of the Whelen edge controlled by a unique version of the PCDS9 serial controller. The bar featured 8 strobes, 4 take downs (2 being within a piercer housing), 2 alleys, and 2 rear flood lights with a flash option.

The controller had a 3 position slide switch which worked as follows: P1- Rear 4 strobes. P2- Front and Rear 8 Strobes. P3-All 8 strobes plus the alleys, standard takedowns and piercer takedowns flash.

The Controller featured other individual buttons; Takedown, Alley L, Alley R, Rear Flood, Rear Flash (of the rear floods), and low power. There was also a purple steady burn light in the rear center section that illuminated with the Trooper's distress button (hostage light). The bar also featured clear "kickers" or glued sections of clear lenses mixed into the corners of the front and rear corner strobes.

All in all it was a unique setup that I liked and was sad to see replaced with strobe vistas. My only "notes" would be the rear flood could have been made amber and tied to position 1 on the slide switch and overridden into floods via push button (being still effective in amber color).

Here is a video of me putting mine through the paces after "hacking the serial control"

 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
I have heard to that purple light referred to as the hostage light. Nice bar, John!
Indeed it was, I refer to it as that in the video but not the description. Good point.
 
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stansdds

Member
May 25, 2010
3,533
U.S.A., Virginia
Very nice and very effective! I can see the rear facing work lights as having some benefit at a crash scene and especially when backing the vehicle at night.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Very nice and very effective! I can see the rear facing work lights as having some benefit at a crash scene and especially when backing the vehicle at night.
Yeah, they were a nice option but rarely remembered. The one time I saw them used was on I-75 the trooper in front of the wreck gave use some much needed light. I have never seen them in flash mode in the field.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
whelen did these custom for Ohio then they went to federal
Then white cars..... with strobe vistas with lower Cuda LEDS that were all you could see. Now back to the traditional silver/gray cars but the Code 3 all blue 2100 variant is super dim. The setup needs some amber and a firm revalidation on what is acceptable brightness. I think the blue outer domes is causing some of the issue. I was/am hoping to see a custom Whelen creation again.
 

kitn1mcc

Member
May 24, 2010
2,566
Old lyme ct
Then white cars..... with strobe vistas with lower Cuda LEDS that were all you could see. Now back to the traditional silver/gray cars but the Code 3 all blue 2100 variant is super dim. The setup needs some amber and a firm revalidation on what is acceptable brightness. I think the blue outer domes is causing some of the issue. I was/am hoping to see a custom Whelen creation again.
Whelen spent lots of money to set those bars up for them. there was some promises to stay whelen then the state went to the vistas. mass also had some custom stuff but also stayed whelen
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Whelen spent lots of money to set those bars up for them. there was some promises to stay whelen then the state went to the vistas. mass also had some custom stuff but also stayed whelen
Yeah the whole white car and cheap lightbar thing happened very suddenly at a "change in command" from my understanding. These custom edges could have transitioned into custom freedoms or liberties and things could have been really cool. On the plus side Whelen did sell a decent number of "OSP" serial controlled setups to local PDs and County Sheriffs, not to mention an all red version that a lot of fire / ems chiefs used and we still have on our backup EMS SUV.
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
You got a lot of mouth watering Whelens in that room.
Whelen stuff, especially items that were not standard or discontinued are my thing. I do have a bit of Code 3 for the "metal rotator, stingray and stinger" lover in me. I'm slowly picking through trying to document each item, I lost my main display room to a an office for my wife so the workshop became a display room and I'm kinda walled in with Whelen treasures. More videos of said items to follow.... stay tuned.
 

kitn1mcc

Member
May 24, 2010
2,566
Old lyme ct
Yeah the whole white car and cheap lightbar thing happened very suddenly at a "change in command" from my understanding. These custom edges could have transitioned into custom freedoms or liberties and things could have been really cool. On the plus side Whelen did sell a decent number of "OSP" serial controlled setups to local PDs and County Sheriffs, not to mention an all red version that a lot of fire / ems chiefs used and we still have on our backup EMS SUV.
they could have done remounts and put them on the white cars. what was the thinking behind the rear work lights
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
they could have done remounts and put them on the white cars. what was the thinking behind the rear work lights

The rear work lights were always an odd addition, but once you saw their operations on I-75 and the Turnpike they make a bit more sense. The Turnpike has gotten a lot a better with sending safety / blocker / light trucks and I -75 is better covered and most emergency vehicles have LED floods or light towers. Around the time these bars came out it wasn't out of the ordinary to have the Troopers on an accident for 20 minutes before anyone else arrived. They would "sandwich" the scene with two or three cars and use the 4 takedowns, rear floods and alleys. Whether this was the real reason for the design or not I cannot say for sure, but it is how they got used. The rear flood flash feature was pretty much a forgotten feature that I don't ever remember being used. Some local departments would order the bars with amber lenses over these rear floods and then use them in flasher mode as a rear only low urgency mode without having to use any rear strobes. I assume the floods still worked in amber, Whelen's amber was closer to yellow and people use yellow fog lights. Over all the bar was unique and the requirement of the special controller made them impossible to customize in the field aside from lenses.
 
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