AdvantEdge find

Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
Found this one on Facebook Marketplace. If you though the sellers on Craigslist were weird, you ain't seen nothing.. o_O

Overall its in fairly good shape. Does have some slight damage to 1 red segment and 1 blue segment. I am kicking myself for selling the blue segment I had just recently.. but there were no AdvantEdges on the horizon. Oh well. Pretty basic bar just 4 rotators and diamond mirrors, Whelen knows I have little love for them, so I expect this to be a PITA like my other Whelens.. lol.

One of the rotators is frozen, I played with it abit and it starts up a little, but then stops again. Might need to locate a replacement.

Model 4400 if the faded tag can be believed.

Optimized-20210730_155203.jpgOptimized-20210730_155214.jpgOptimized-20210730_155226.jpgOptimized-20210730_155945.jpg

Damaged areas..

Optimized-20210730_155233.jpgOptimized-20210730_155238.jpg


Tag
Optimized-20210730_155851.jpg

Passenger side outer rotator is the culprit.

Optimized-20210730_160720.jpgOptimized-20210730_160732.jpg
 

gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
Nice. 4400 is correct. That's the model with four rotators and two diamond mirrors. 4600 has six rotators and no mirrors. Worth noting those are the older "deep dish" style rotators.
 
May 21, 2010
2,201
Elmira, ny
That is nice!!!!!!!!!.

i have 2 advantEDGEs.........1 is in excellent condition, the other needs stuff (i may use it as a parts bar due to it being a bitch finding the stuff it needs)
 

WhelenNDealin

Member
Aug 6, 2017
575
Ontario, Canada
Always loved AdvantEdges! It's a nice, simple bar that still looks sleek.

@Stampeed Valkyrie please explain your unfettered love of Whelen products in more detail. I realize that they weren't the grandmasters of rotary bars (far from it!) and Tomar kept them from achieving Heliobe-tier legendary status amongst strobes, despite how iconic the Edge series was. However, their LED lighting is where it's at. Yes, I realize that your focus isn't on LEDs lol.
 
Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
@WhelenNDealin Where do you want me to start..
You'll take note that I may only have just 1 Whelen video on my YT channel, and that is not by accident. After spending 12+ years having to piece together FrankenEdge bars for a local municipality that was too cheap to upgrade my love knows NO bounds.. :rolleyes:

Going OT but my biggest gripe with Whelen are the Proprietary parts... Halogen bulbs going for $$$$ when other manufacturers are using standard bulbs is a good example. Having to use a stupid tool to get the Halogen bulb out, that they just so happen to omit from your order... (*&^%! and being told you can't do something by whelen support, only to discover 5 min later that they were full of ****!

The lack of parts for anything vintage, bet finding that rotator will be the death of me, unless I get super lucky.

I find myself intentionally avoiding Whelen anything, either new or OLD. There are some rare exceptions but for the most part.. BOO!

They do make some interesting lights.. like the 80H series bars, and some of their older beacons.
But they also hold the current record of the ugliest beacon ever made, the 5200PA strobe beacons. PA State Police used them back when I was a wee lad, We used to make so much fun of those beacons.. I have memories of Troopers trying to hide on the side of the road, and seeing this stupid beacon just floating out there cause of how high it sat..

BOO again... had to add that last BOO
 

lotsofbars

Member
Jul 20, 2010
1,999
NYC, New York
I have something like 6 AdvantEdges, including two 6-foot FireMaster bars, and I love all of them. They're easily some of my favorite bars that Whelen has ever made.
 
Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
the bulbs on this bar unobtanium? 34-0212030-85C?

35Watt bulbs.. any suggestions?
 

WhelenNDealin

Member
Aug 6, 2017
575
Ontario, Canada
@WhelenNDealin Where do you want me to start..
You'll take note that I may only have just 1 Whelen video on my YT channel, and that is not by accident. After spending 12+ years having to piece together FrankenEdge bars for a local municipality that was too cheap to upgrade my love knows NO bounds.. :rolleyes:

Going OT but my biggest gripe with Whelen are the Proprietary parts... Halogen bulbs going for $$$$ when other manufacturers are using standard bulbs is a good example. Having to use a stupid tool to get the Halogen bulb out, that they just so happen to omit from your order... (*&^%! and being told you can't do something by whelen support, only to discover 5 min later that they were full of ****!

The lack of parts for anything vintage, bet finding that rotator will be the death of me, unless I get super lucky.

I find myself intentionally avoiding Whelen anything, either new or OLD. There are some rare exceptions but for the most part.. BOO!

They do make some interesting lights.. like the 80H series bars, and some of their older beacons.
But they also hold the current record of the ugliest beacon ever made, the 5200PA strobe beacons. PA State Police used them back when I was a wee lad, We used to make so much fun of those beacons.. I have memories of Troopers trying to hide on the side of the road, and seeing this stupid beacon just floating out there cause of how high it sat..

BOO again... had to add that last BOO
The 80H is a neat bar, but every Whelen bar from that era makes Heliobes look very sleek and low profile. They're just plain ugly and are reminiscent of something you'd see on a toy truck. Heliobes at least have a rugged "don't mess with me" look.

Bar aesthetics aside, I'm a fan of vintage Whelen sirens, whether or not Carson made them. They have a great sound and the wail and yelp of the WS-224 and 227A are incredible.

Whelen's gonna be Whelen and be a diva in general. They're at that point where they know that customers/agencies will be flocking to them in droves because it's almost as if Whelen equipment has become the standard.

Their new high-end bars and systems *are* cool, I'm sticking to my guns with that one.
 
Jun 18, 2013
3,709
PA
I was "donated" some parts that I am going to scalp a motor from to see if I can get this working. I found yet another reason to "LOVE" whelen you can't remove the rotators from the tray without breaking the plastic screws that hold the base on. #$&^%$#!
 
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Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
Bar aesthetics aside, I'm a fan of vintage Whelen sirens, whether or not Carson made them. They have a great sound and the wail and yelp of the WS-224 and 227A are incredible.
What I like about the old Whelen sirens is that they have low pitched wail and yelp tones.
 
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WhelenNDealin

Member
Aug 6, 2017
575
Ontario, Canada
What I like about the old Whelen sirens is that they have low pitched wail and yelp tones.

Agreed 100%. Still, the distinct yelp that the WS-224 and WS-227A had is one of my favourites. It's just so distinct.

Any siren with low-pitched wails and yelps is good in my books. By the same token, I have an affinity for Unitrol wails and they're not exactly low-pitched. Again, it's their distinctness.
 

Wailer

Member
May 24, 2010
2,290
Canada
I have an affinity for Unitrol wails and they're not exactly low-pitched. Again, it's their distinctness.
Unitrol sirens typically have a fast rising slow falling high pitched wail tone.

When the components wear out electronic sirens get lower in pitch, and a low-pitched Unitrol 800 wail sounds kind of neat.
 

WhelenNDealin

Member
Aug 6, 2017
575
Ontario, Canada
Unitrol sirens typically have a fast rising slow falling high pitched wail tone.

When the components wear out electronic sirens get lower in pitch, and a low-pitched Unitrol 800 wail sounds kind of neat.

Can the same be said of an 80K ;)?
 

1968

Member
Aug 13, 2021
97
CT
@WhelenNDealin Where do you want me to start..
You'll take note that I may only have just 1 Whelen video on my YT channel, and that is not by accident. After spending 12+ years having to piece together FrankenEdge bars for a local municipality that was too cheap to upgrade my love knows NO bounds.. :rolleyes:

Going OT but my biggest gripe with Whelen are the Proprietary parts... Halogen bulbs going for $$$$ when other manufacturers are using standard bulbs is a good example. Having to use a stupid tool to get the Halogen bulb out, that they just so happen to omit from your order... (*&^%! and being told you can't do something by whelen support, only to discover 5 min later that they were full of ****!

The lack of parts for anything vintage, bet finding that rotator will be the death of me, unless I get super lucky.

I find myself intentionally avoiding Whelen anything, either new or OLD. There are some rare exceptions but for the most part.. BOO!

They do make some interesting lights.. like the 80H series bars, and some of their older beacons.
But they also hold the current record of the ugliest beacon ever made, the 5200PA strobe beacons. PA State Police used them back when I was a wee lad, We used to make so much fun of those beacons.. I have memories of Troopers trying to hide on the side of the road, and seeing this stupid beacon just floating out there cause of how high it sat..

BOO again... had to add that last BOO
The 80H is a neat bar, but every Whelen bar from that era makes Heliobes look very sleek and low profile. They're just plain ugly and are reminiscent of something you'd see on a toy truck. Heliobes at least have a rugged "don't mess with me" look.

Bar aesthetics aside, I'm a fan of vintage Whelen sirens, whether or not Carson made them. They have a great sound and the wail and yelp of the WS-224 and 227A are incredible.

Whelen's gonna be Whelen and be a diva in general. They're at that point where they know that customers/agencies will be flocking to them in droves because it's almost as if Whelen equipment has become the standard.

Their new high-end bars and systems *are* cool, I'm sticking to my guns with that one.
Without a doubt Whelen Edge's are engineered much more intensely than old school Federal bars and beacons. I see that aftermarket support is not near as good expecially with the vintage products. Whelen's sealed beam and halogen products from the 70s and 80s were really good, why they weren't the higher sellers for the company is quite surprising. I think the 99x series is contends as the greatest sealed beam beacon during the time of it's production and is as good as any beacon of any era. Crossbars were cool as hell b/c you can do anything with them and could be set up to be kick ass if you installed the right beacons and 99x's are perfect for that. The 80h and 90h were also very interesting lightbars and were technologically ahead of their time, the drawback was the bloated platform the rotators were contained in. If they built a more aerodynamic and lighter platform it would have easily been the best bar of the era. Whelen was early with halogen and never get's credit for that, they had halogen beacons earlier on than most and could have been installed on crossabars, and the 80/90h was one of the early halogen full sized enclosed lightbars. They invested a lot in strobe which was quite lackluster in many cases but ironed out the issues later on and by the 90s and 2000s they were every bit as noticeable as halogen. It boggles me that despite being so early with halogen they let that market slip the way they did. They could have easily had a good sized marketshare in that market.
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
There were three basic generations of rotators for this bar, this looks like the second or deep dish. Within the first two generations, there were two different styles of brushes that made contact with the rotating assembly in order to power the bulb. The last generation rotator had a stationary bulb with a reflector that rotated around it. While I think the generation of rotator you have may have been the most visible, It was probably the most problematic from the standpoint of failed brushes stripped gears (they were very fine teeth and plastic), and overall reflector fade. I have lots of replacement rotators lying around. Send me a email or PM and I will get you whatever you need.
 
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1968

Member
Aug 13, 2021
97
CT
There were three basic generations of rotators for this bar, this looks like the second or deep dish. Within the first two generations, there were two different styles of brushes that made contact with the rotating assembly in order to power the bulb. The last generation rotator had a stationary bulb with a reflector that rotated around it. While I think the generation of rotator you have may have been the most visible, It was probably the most problematic from the standpoint of failed brushes stripped gears (they were very fine teeth and plastic), and overall reflector fade. I have lots of replacement rotators lying around. Send me a email or PM and I will get you whatever you need.
I've seen an Advantedge in action years ago on a police agencies old unit, and it was very bright and noticeable. I think the Advantedge didn't have the physical footprint that agencies that sought halogen lightbars desired. I think they were interesting it's like a beefed up Edge with a few second level options, but it wasn't for everybody.
 
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JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
I've seen an Advantedge in action years ago on a police agencies old unit, and it was very bright and noticeable. I think the Advantedge didn't have the physical footprint that agencies that sought halogen lightbars desired. I think they were interesting it's like a beefed up Edge with a few second level options, but it wasn't for everybody.
When set up well and in good condition, they were great; basically an edge bar with lower options and halogen options. The rotators needing to be redesigned 3 times didn't help their popularity, but also I think people looking for rotator bars wanted (and had) other options. If you wanted an edge size bar you just got an edge. I love the advantedge.... I have over 20 in my collection. For various reasons they never got the level of interest they could have .
 

1968

Member
Aug 13, 2021
97
CT
When set up well and in good condition, they were great; basically an edge bar with lower options and halogen options. The rotators needing to be redesigned 3 times didn't help their popularity, but also I think people looking for rotator bars wanted (and had) other options. If you wanted an edge size bar you just got an edge. I love the advantedge.... I have over 20 in my collection. For various reasons they never got the level of interest they could have .
It was too much of a niche. Agencies that wanted a Edge level bar just just got an Edge maybe a Jet. For rotators most sought a full duel level bar like a Streethawk or MX7000. I think if they had a proper duel level bar which they achieved with Delta it would have done well in the 90s. I guess it serves well as a platform for lighting nerds like us to dazzle ourselves with. I think I may have considered the model if I was running a fleet, but the Edge made most sense expecially with the strobe tech was reaching halogen levels around the time.
 

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