Maine State Police Whelen

[DefianceEngineCompany]

So the past few years Iv been trying to replicate each bar from the maine state police. Finally after a lot of searching, elbow grease and time Iv got the first 2 style bars that MSP used, I just wanted to show these off, all work 100% I will be working on getting or replicating the later style bars now.


Whelen 32 or 3200 series I believe


Whelen 8000


Here are some photos of these types of bars mounted on cruisers.

 

[stansdds]

Very nice!

 

[dmathieu]

Nice bar!!!

 

[JohnMarcson]

I will just be in the corner drooling....

 

[kitn1mcc]

great bars

 

[bpollard]

How are they powered? In other words are they self contained or is there a single power supply that drives all of the heads, so that they are in synch?

 

[DefianceEngineCompany]

How are they powered? In other words are they self contained or is there a single power supply that drives all of the heads, so that they are in synch?

The cross bar has 2 dual head power supply’s in the base of each beacon that are powered separately.

The 8000 is set up pretty much the same

 

[RS485]

The cross bar has 2 dual head power supply’s in the base of each beacon that are powered separately.

The 8000 is set up pretty much the same

Love the 33xx! Thanks for sharing.

The comment left here by Mike indicates this is 3328 ( @Sarge619 is that you? )

Is it single flash or double flash?

Also, wondering if the electrical tape holding/sealing the head on the drivers side of the cruiser was a factory option

 

[DefianceEngineCompany]

Love the 33xx! Thanks for sharing.

The comment left here by Mike indicates this is 3328 ( @Sarge619 is that you? )

Is it single flash or double flash?

Also, wondering if the electrical tape holding/sealing the head on the drivers side of the cruiser was a factory option

Double flash

 

[bpollard]

I love the 33xx bar configuration, as well as the bars that had the two beacons only. The directional strobes had to be pretty effective!

We had a bomb disposal unit back in the 80's that had an 8000 bar in all blue like this. It was the first time I had ever seen "cruise lights" which were really cool on that bar. The strobes themselves,,,,,, were OK. If someone could capture the sound of the strobe packs in operation and make a siren tone from it I would buy one in a heartbeat. Lone Wolf McQuade tone!

 

[dmathieu]

Here's one with double sided PAR46s, and split domes.

 

[RS485]

If someone could capture the sound of the strobe packs in operation and make a siren tone from it I would buy one in a heartbeat. Lone Wolf McQuade tone!

I don't know anything about sirens but this Whelen patent shows how one could wire a speaker into the power supply to produce a tone driven by the power supply.

 

[shues]

I don't know anything about sirens but this Whelen patent shows how one could wire a speaker into the power supply to produce a tone driven by the power supply.

From the patent, it looks the frequency supplied to the electromechanical noisemaker comes from the step-up transformer. Doesn't that frequency typically remain constant in a strobe power supply?

 

[RS485]

From the patent, it looks the frequency supplied to the electromechanical noisemaker comes from the step-up transformer. Doesn't that frequency typically remain constant in a strobe power supply?

No, I don't think so. My understanding is that, with each charging cycle, as the anode voltage on the primary capacitors increases, it takes less time to transfer energy from the transformer to the caps. Thus the frequency of oscillation of the inverter _increases_ and that singature tweet/whine/whirp we hear increases in pitch.

A speaker attached to the feedback coil (driving the switching transistor) should sound just like the signature sound of the power supply.

 

[shues]

No, I don't think so. My understanding is that, with each charging cycle, as the anode voltage on the primary capacitors increases, it takes less time to transfer energy from the transformer to the caps. Thus the frequency of oscillation of the inverter _increases_ and that singature tweet/whine/whirp we hear increases in pitch.

A speaker attached to the feedback coil (driving the switching transistor) should sound just like the signature sound of the power supply.

Now that you have explained it, this really sounds interesting!

 

[DefianceEngineCompany]

Now that you have explained it, this really sounds interesting!

Some one has to do this

 

[TDC]

Some one has to do this

Yes, Please. That would be cool.
I have videos of that sound from a Mustang cabin (rear deck) and people ask if that is the siren.
Plus, with some instruction, it would give new life to those power supplies I have somewhere in a box.

 

[RS485]

Here's a quick down-and-dirty demo:

Also: correction: The tap for the speaker is attached to the high-side primary winding (+12V) feeding the switching transistor(s)..._not_ the feedback winding.

 

[shues]

Here's a quick down-and-dirty demo:

Also: correction: The tap for the speaker is attached to the high-side primary winding (+12V) feeding the switching transistor(s)..._not_ the feedback winding.

Whoa! I wonder why this was never brought to market.

 

[RyanZ71]

Gives the responders a headache for one..

 

[RS485]

Double flash

I would love to see some video of the 33xx both day and night - from a distance if possible. That would be cool!

 

[Maxim2Eng]

These bars are very cool. As I recall, Tennessee State Police were early adopters of the 3200 style bar in the mid-late 70s…single flash synchronized alternating. I first encountered one on I-65 driving toward Nashville at night. We were in a curving stretch of road that was cut through the mountain and the flashes were lighting up the rocks. When we saw the trooper, I noticed how hard it was to determine where the car was. Obviously cruise lights solved that issue.

 

[DefianceEngineCompany]

These bars are very cool. As I recall, Tennessee State Police were early adopters of the 3200 style bar in the mid-late 70s…single flash synchronized alternating. I first encountered one on I-65 driving toward Nashville at night. We were in a curving stretch of road that was cut through the mountain and the flashes were lighting up the rocks. When we saw the trooper, I noticed how hard it was to determine where the car was. Obviously cruise lights solved that issue.

This also has cruise lights