I know that the CHP did a trial of the Whelen Edge in the late 80s. What set up was used? I believe it would have been J tube era. I've only seen one or two B&W pics and I'm curious how that one was set up.
CHP Whelen Edge
- Thread starter 1968
- Start date
RyanZ71
Member
Don't recall all the details but it was a decent looking bar, had 2 yellow alternating flashers in the rear.
JohnMarcson
Administrator
I have pics. When I get home I will post. If you picture their vision. As far as color layout, the edge was somewhat similar and the sense that you had some red blue crossover from side to side.
RyanZ71
Member
Can't figure out why they went with the vision, the Edge and Whelen bars were superior in my opinion.
StEaLtH2
Member
My uneducated guess would be due to the airflow/resistance numbers.
Think of the thousands of gallons of fuel “saved” by a bar with less drag on the highway patrolling across a department that large.
Think of the thousands of gallons of fuel “saved” by a bar with less drag on the highway patrolling across a department that large.
JohnMarcson
Administrator
I would tend to agree, also IMHO Federal Signal's "selling to big departments hype guys" were outperforming Whelen's still at this point. I know I have more pics.... that's the problem with having so many pics and naming them all like Rick from Rick and Morty.
My file naming problems (not sure why everything is sdajsadkmfkl1224345_2JPG.jpg)
Wow that sure is an interesting setup. Is the white light in the center a strobe of a halogen light? About the Whelen v. Federal thing how did the Whelen lights of the time stack up against Aerodynics, streethawks, Jet-series and such. I'm a bit young so my earliest memories of lightbars in 2000s CT were the turbo tube style Edges. I remember them being plenty bright and effective on par with the liberty's and Freedom's that succeeded them. The 80xs (including the two halogen models) and early V and J tube Edges I haven't seen in person. The cameras don't do them justice but how did the 80s and 90s Whelen products compare to the more common at the time Federal models?
JohnMarcson
Administrator
I can't speak for all of the demos that CHP had, but I think this one in front had 2 red/blue corner strobes (with small clear lens sections at the corners), steady burn red and blue lights, 2 front inboard strobes, and a center take down (that flashed too). I think the back was the red and blue corner strobes and the rest were amber and blue halogen flashers.
The early Whelen strobe bars were difficult to compare to existing bars of the time. They were pretty low profile for what they offered as far as options were concerned. The only other real strobe lightbar being sold nationally was the Whelen 8000 which was a the size and shape of a rounded twinsonic basically. These were truly "covered crossbars". Essentially a crossbar with the 360 strobe domes stretched out across it. Whelen called their 6000 and 8000 lightbars "crossbars" even though they were enclosed. The idea of making an actual strobe lightbar, vs. a covered strobe crossbar was the turning point of making the strobe lightbar a real option.
I think Federal oversold their "only 3% more wind drag than slick roof" pitch with the vision, but it worked. Yes a "bar" shape on the roof could be a significant fuel economy issue if spread over enough cars and miles, but edges were hardly twinsonics or even streethawks. Federal did a nice job of making bars aerodynamic early on (aerodynic, jet) and stuck hard to the that selling point moving forward. Whelen went with a modular approach and remained somewhat "square", but lower profile. Their products both worked, but were very different. IMHO the vison was a great innovation as far as synchronized programmable halogen, but they really were not that visible vs. "dumb" bars; cool concept as far as options though. They brought that to CHP with the idea that you could just flash the bar or oscillate it rear, or use just a few pods etc, which had the CHP philosophy written all over it. CHP has always subscribed to the "less is more" and "slow and steady is safer" theories, so I doubt strobes really fit their needs anyway. The modular and programmable Vision and CHP were a great match.
The concept of the edge; facing directional strobes outward instead of using 360 strobes under an enclosure really brought a new sort of "punch/pop" to the table that older strobes, and even rotators, lacked. If you didn't add some supplemental halogen to the bar strobes still had a tad too much "off time"and were difficult to judge distance with. All types of bars of the era suffered from white washing out anything and certain colors being less "bright" under certain conditions. The early edge bars were no different. However if you set an early edge bar up in a sensible way they were a unique system that no other product really matched. The concept of a "I" beam and sliding your existing modules into the frame served Whelen well. They started with the edge in the 1980s and continued up into the Freedom. Their "existing directional modules in a frame" design ported well into new models as strobes got better and then later into LED.
When I put my 1989 J tube edge next to my 1995 turbo tube style the difference that 6 years made is amazing. Strobes started a tad on the "bright but brief" side, but Whelen kept updating the technology until it was every bit as noticeable as halogen. Whelen strobes became so much of a standard that Code 3 and even Federal tried to port halogen bars over to strobe; essentially competing only with whatever the previous generation of strobes Whelen had made.