2 Jetsonics I brought home...

[ChargerLighting]

I got a call yesterday from a cousin who had gotten a call from one of his friends wanting to sell him a couple lightbars. I didn't have much going on so I drove out there & met the guy @ his Marina. All I had heard was that there were 2 lightbars & a 1/2 / parts bar. No idea on what make/model/color; nothing.


Walked inside & there sat 2 Jetsonics on the floor of his garage, which wasn't terribly well lit. He fired one bar up & I noticed that one was chain drive (the other is also), then he shut the rotators off, turned the flashers on, so I assumed it had 4 flashers also. OK, cool...


He went onto tell me they were Marine City, MI PD bars & they had stripped the red/blue filters out & they currently were all amber filters with takedowns & alleys.


The 2nd bar had cables cut so I didn't mess with it. I offered $100 for both, he accepted & I took them home.


Got them home & hooked up the one with long cables...red to positive, black to ground...nothing...OK?


Noticed a red/white wire...put power to it; rotators. But the blue wire is also thin...shouldn't a blue wire be thicker than this? Powered it on & the rotators start flashing!! So I bump the red/white wire again while the rotators are flashing but NOT rotating & they continue to flash as I manually rotate them via the red/white wire.


IT IS a synchro bar! (I THINK?). & everything in it works as far as I can tell...even the speaker & speaker grille are still intact.


Video below:





I got to the second bar & it looks exactly the same inside & as far as cable, but, when I put the large red & black wires to power & ground, the rotators come on....unlike the other bar....haven't figured that out yet.


Any other Jetsonic experts know exactly what I found, or am I close on what I think I have?

 

[tsquale]

Sweet find! A little bit of polishing and they should clean up nicely.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

Your Red is your primary power, Black is ground, The smaller wires are what trip the different functions. The brown, or brown with white stripe is the speaker.


I don't remember the exact color schema, but one should make then run, one probably lights up the front or the rear. These should be the smaller gauge wires. The larger gauge are probably your take downs and alleys.


$100 for 2 bars... good deal.

 

[toon80]

The first bar you describe, model J, is a synchro bar. Lucky you!


You can tell by the black relay box on one side of the inner part. If you look at the motor assy, you will notice it is longer than the one on your other JetSonic. You will see that there is a little limit-switch triggered by on a round notched flat gear in the gear cage. It is this part that tells the relay when the rotators are facing front and rear to then stop and flash when the function is activated.


The other Jet is a "dumb" one. Notice there is nothing special on the gear cage and no relay box. Just the standard function like rotate, alleys, etc.


Good finds! I'd like to own a "J" synchro JetSonic :thumbsup:

 

[jph2]

Very nice!

 

[solid_snake]

The first bar you describe, model J, is a synchro bar. Lucky you!
You can tell by the black relay box on one side of the inner part. If you look at the motor assy, you will notice it is longer than the one on your other JetSonic. You will see that there is a little limit-switch triggered by on a round notched flat gear in the gear cage. It is this part that tells the relay when the rotators are facing front and rear to then stop and flash when the function is activated.


The other Jet is a "dumb" one. Notice there is nothing special on the gear cage and no relay box. Just the standard function like rotate, alleys, etc.


Good finds! I'd like to own a "J" synchro JetSonic :thumbsup:

It's like this one?

 

[ChargerLighting]

They both have a black box on the passenger sides; behind the mirrors & the cables are the same. Both Series B also

 

[ChargerLighting]

I think I found the problem with the 2nd bar....someone made it dumb lol

 

[stansdds]

Nice find! The synchronized, multi-function Jetstreams were the first of the Jet series. I think a great many have found their way into scrap bins and yours are not in all that bad of a condition. The one that has been made dumb will be the challenge. You will need to locate a functioning relay box in order to fully restore that one.

 

[Shawn L]

I micro switches often went bad, that what positioned the rotators so they would be oriented correctly .

 

[jdh]

I micro switches often went bad, that what positioned the rotators so they would be oriented correctly .

So did the board in the original bar. It was not concealed in a box, so alot of times it got junk and debits in the contacts.

 

[HILO]

Very nice score! Fort Worth Tx PD ran that bar in the early 80's.

 

[ChargerLighting]

Very nice score! Fort Worth Tx PD ran that bar in the early 80's.

Was that the one that had the Signalmaster mounted behind it?

 

[David]

I'd appreciate help in how to power a jetsonic. I really need the "powering for dummies" version.


I have a jetsonic that I just couldn't figure out--if I connected the large gauge black to ground and large gauge red to power nothing happened. Leaving the ground connected, I powered the smaller wires and got the individual alley and takedown lights to power. When I pulled the domes, I found jetsonics to be much more complicated than I expected--instead of a black box just to the right of the speaker compartment, mine had all the wiring and electronics exposed. Tons of wires neatly bundled with cable ties connecting to junction strips and a circuitboard. It looks like Federal included wiring for every possible accessory whether it was installed or not. Its a heck of a lot more complicated than a streethawk or twin sonic!


Looking through old posts for something to help, I saw a post that said to power the red wire and the red wire with white stripe simultaneously--I did that, and for the first time got the front and rear rotators to work! The red/white wire is so thin, that I can't imagine it handles all the load. I'm guessing that this bar is capable of doing tricks such as shutting off the front rotators, but I don't really know what they are. Can somebody please give me a simple guide to wire the Jet's cable to a Federal SW300 six switch control box?