Changing patterns on an LAPD Aerodynic

[fedsig7]

I have heard you can change the patterns on a 24EAH T LAPD Aerodynic. How do you do it?

 

[GranPrix]

I believe it's how you place each rotor with the gears in comparison to the others.

 

[GranPrix]

There's a couple of vids on youtube.

 

[CrownVic97]

I have heard you can change the patterns on a 24EAH T LAPD Aerodynic. How do you do it?

Here's a little diagram of what I usually do if I want to mess around with patterns:


Pattern Technique.JPG[/attachment:ed8obh8e]


Also, fedsig.com has the old installation sheets on their website. Here's a link to the one that may work for you:


http://www.fedsig.com/products/docs/install/256A391.pdf


Some flash patterns are given on pg. 2


The best examples would be from the YouTube user, VintageLightBars. He has a bunch of videos showcasing AeroDynic flash patterns. The listed patterns below will be different for your bar because there's only three rotators on each side and these gear settings are for 10-rotator AeroDynics. They are easy to work around for 6-8 rotator Aeros, so it shouldn't be too big of a hassle .

Pattern 1: [8,6,4,2,0][0,2,4,6,8] (factory setting 25A — classic outside-in)


Pattern 2: [8,0,6,2,4][4,2,6,0,8] (factory setting 25B — "burst")


Pattern 3: [0,2,4,6,8][18,16,14,12,10] (alternating inside-out)


Pattern 4: [0,2,4,6,8][8,6,4,2,0] (inside out)


Pattern 5: [8,6,4,2,0][10,12,14,16,18] (alternating outside-in)


Pattern 6: [10,12,14,16,18][0,2,4,6,8] (left arrow)


Pattern 7: [8,6,4,2,0][18,16,14,12,10] (right arrow)


Pattern 8: [18,10,16,12,14][4,2,6,0,8] (Alternating "burst")


Pattern 9: [18,0,16,2,14][4,12,6,10,8] (zig-zag or "knight rider")


Pattern 10: [14,12,10,8,0][0,8,10,12,14] (inside hesitation)


Have fun!

Hope this helps you out, dude !

 

[fedsig7]

Thank you, that was exactly what I was looking for.

 

[CrownVic97]

Not a problem, man. Glad to lend a hand for the rest on the boards who own these cool classics .

 

[toon80]

How do you do the inner-most rotator. Cir clip under the spur gear is hardly accessible...

 

[CenTexPSE]

Here's a little diagram of what I usually do if I want to mess around with patterns:


Pattern Technique.JPG[/attachment:3qpbe435]


Also, fedsig.com has the old installation sheets on their website. Here's a link to the one that may work for you:


http://www.fedsig.com/products/docs/install/256A391.pdf


Some flash patterns are given on pg. 2


The best examples would be from the YouTube user, VintageLightBars. He has a bunch of videos showcasing AeroDynic flash patterns. The listed patterns below will be different for your bar because there's only three rotators on each side and these gear settings are for 10-rotator AeroDynics. They are easy to work around for 6-8 rotator Aeros, so it shouldn't be too big of a hassle .


Hope this helps you out, dude !

That is SCHWEET!! I never knew that about these bars!!

 

[CFD125]

Not easily!!


I remove the idler gear next to the inner rotators, then remove all of the deck screws except for the outer end screws. Then gently lift up the center of the deck. This will arc the deck, causing the belt to slack a little.


You can then turn the inner rotators by "skipping" them in the belt. Gently, but with a little force.


When you let the center back down, the belt will become taught again.


It works good for me.

 

[toon80]

Thanks CFD125.


I had found a way which was to unscrew all the deck, and then unscrewing the holding bolt of the strapped spur gear and then spin the rotator.


VERY time consuming. Your method seems a bit faster, so I'll give it a shot.

 

[nerdly_dood]

I do like synchronized rotator bars, they allow more flexibility than independent ones - if you want you can create a random flash pattern, or you could do something more organized like [8,6,4,2,0][8.6.4.2.0].


I've seen YT videos of longer bars on fire trucks (all light) that seemed to have smoother flash patterns than even numbers 0-18 - are odd number rotator settings usable on normal-length bars, or only longer bars, or neither?

 

[toon80]

Well, changed from outside-in to alt. outside-in... I definitely had to take off the whole plate to adjust the inner-most rotator...


I find it kinda weird that such a well designed bar have this issue... Oh well...


Still nice

 

[toon80]

nerdly-dood,


I believe you can adjust the gear to whatever number you please. In between the numbers too, but that close to each other, they would flash almost at the same time.


Would be nice to see an all-light that does the arrowstick pattern but with only 1 tooth of difference between each rotator instead of increments by 2, as usual. That would sure be interesting to see.


If one of you guys have an all-light Aerodynic 25, do it and post a video. I beleive no one did this yet...

 

[nerdly_dood]

The video I saw (can't find it) was of a long all-light Aerodynic, all red, with a right-to-left arrow pattern - the outer rotators flashed at the normal even number increments, but the center rotators flashed much more closely together and the "arrow" moved much faster.

 

[EL1998P71]

Is there such a pattern list for a mini bar 4 rotator?


or should I just use the list above and only pick one side?

 

[toon80]

Nerdly-dood,


this one!

 

[CrownVic97]

Is there such a pattern list for a mini bar 4 rotator?
or should I just use the list above and only pick one side?

Model 22 patterns:


Alternating (0-10-15-5)


Wig-Wag (0-10-10-0)


Extra tidbit: I had created a list of the existing flash patterns for the model 24 (8-rotators w/ speaker center) AeroDynic. But, since I didn't want to mess with the spur gears under the bulkhead, I decided to come up with some other neat patterns that would work for this particular model if you felt to leave the center-most rotators alone. Check it out!


Some factory patterns and variation on a couple of them:


Pattern 1: [6,4,2,0][0,2,4,6] (factory setting A — classic outside-in; SAFE)


Pattern 2: [12,8,4,0][0,4,8,12] (slow SAFE)


Pattern 3: [0,6,2,4][4,2,6,0] (factory setting B — "burst")


Pattern 4: [0,2,4,6][6,4,2,0] (inside out)


Pattern 5: [0,4,8,12][12,8,4,0] (slow inside out) My AeroDynic had this pattern when I first got it. Still stays that way


Pattern 6: [12,10,8,0][0,8,10,12] (inside hesitation)


These were based off the model 22 settings. Works for the model 24 too!


Pattern 7: [0,10,15,5][5,15,10,0] (dual alternating)


Pattern 8: [0,10,10,0][0,10,10,0] (dual wigwag 1)


The next eight are my ideas. They look pretty good! And yes, I know what you may be thinking: when I get the time, I'll do a video of them .


Pattern 9: [0,0,10,10][10,10,0,0] (dual wigwag 2)


Pattern 10: [0,10,0,10][10,0,10,0] (dual wigwag 3)


Pattern 11: [12,10,2,0][0,2,10,12] (alternating SAFE 1)


Pattern 12: [2,12,0,10][10,0,12,2] (alternating SAFE 2)


Pattern 13: [2,0,12,10][10,12,0,2] (SAFE/inside out 1)


Pattern 14: [2,10,0,12][12,0,10,2] (SAFE/inside out 2)


Pattern 15: [2,0,10,12][12,10,0,2] (inside out/SAFE 1)


Pattern 16: [10,12,2,0][0,2,12,10] (inside out /SAFE 2)

 

[nerdly_dood]

Nerdly-dood,
this one!

Thanks but that's not it - that one has a steady left-to-right arrow pattern, the one I saw was on a fire truck on a rural road with trees on the sides, and it had a right-to-left pattern that was normal speed on the edges and very fast in the middle, and I think it was a 72-inch version too.

 

[EL1998P71]

For some reason the line up marks like on my 24EAH on not present on my model 22.


I just set mine to how the rotators look.


Approx gear setting is 0-2-13-10

 

[Nz lightbar collector]

A bit late to the party here but I'm having trouble finding out exactly how to get my aerodynic back to a factory flash pattern, I have a model 24sh ( 3 panels either side 6 rotators) with synchro gears, I see written above that a factory flash pattern is 6,4,2,0-0,2,4,6 but not sure what the number are meant to be aligned to? Would it be correct to assume these numbers on each rotating light is meant to face the front of the bar? Also each side seems to come out of sync with each other which would suggest a skipping belt under the speaker housing, would that then needn't to be replaced?
Any info would be much appreciated!

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

@Nz lightbar collector The numbers 6,4,2,0-0,2,4,6 correspond to the rotators starting from passenger side over to driver side, and from the front since the mark to set the timing is visible only from looking at the bar from the front. Since you only have an S or small Aerodynic your going to have to drop either the 6 on each side or the 0.. personally I would drop the 6 as 0 has the inner rotators facing you directly.

As for skipping gears.. the belt may possibly be the issue.. but unlikely.. more likely culprit are worn idler gears on the bar. you can determine the point of failure by setting all the rotators to the same number.. so lets say 0, then running the bar to determine which part is out of synch. I have an old SEH bar that I am working on that has an OLD belt and it still works fine..

Remember to unmount the motor and drive assembly from the bar before changing any settings on timing.

Rob

 

[Citabria7GCBC]

Does anyone have the actual gear numbers for the LAPD all light aerodynic?

 

[CrownVic97]

Does anyone have the actual gear numbers for the LAPD all light aerodynic?

From what I was able to find on YouTube search of other collectors with the all-light LAPD Model 25, I've come up with 3 possible patterns they came in.

Pattern 1, Classic SAFE, which most AeroDynics ran from factory: [ 4,2,0 ][ 0,2,4 ]

Pattern 2, Inside-Out...most likely done in the LAPD Vehicle Shop by certain techs: [ 2,4,6 ][ 6,4,2 ]

Pattern 2: Alternating Outer-in, or Alternating SAFE, the pattern the LAPD chose for some, if not most of the LAPD Aero bars: [ 4,2,0 ][ 10,12,14 ]
This was validated by several collector's videos and an official LAPD video from the '90s (Mute it if you have to. I sure did )

 

[toon80]

Mine was set-up alternate outside-in. From precinct 17.

 

[CHIEFOPS]

Just as a point of information- LAPD doesn't refer to their stations as precincts, they call them Divisions and identify them by "area" (neighborhood) names, 17 is the Devonshire Division/Area or simply "Devonshire".

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

It's been awhile since I powered mine up..
If I remember correctly it is inside out.. and this is another project bar I need to complete...

 

[Citabria7GCBC]

Thanks y’all! I’ll post photos and video when it is back together!