Torpedo said:
In my limited understanding of deep cell batteries they are better for many recurring cycles of discharge/charging type use as in trolling motors and golf cart applications. That said they may be better for Q-2 abuse however it is the alternator that will be taxed as well as the delicate electronics mentioned here by another professional. Sounds risky to me and I run four of them at once.
:duh:
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Thanks, Dennis for that input as I almost forgot to mention something. In 1966 the City of Longview, TX bought a brand new '66 Pontiac station wagon which they took to the Gordon K. Allen Co. in Dallas for conversion as an ambulance. GKA was not only the longtime Super Coach dealer, but built thousands of ambulances in-house more than 30 years. Gordon K. Allen, Sr., established the short lived Modular Ambulance Corp., building the original Modulance Type Is along with Type II and III ambulances. Now Longview's fire chief wanted something specific on this new ambulance: three Qs and five Dietz 211 beacons. There was nothing problematic about the beacons, but getting the three specific Qs the chief wanted was another matter. Longtime GKA salesman Travis Hagen had to take every single Q they had in stock to get three sirens that had the specific pitches the chief wanted. That having been done, GKA had to tackle the problem of how to power three big Qs along with five four-lamp beacons. What they came up with was twin batteries and two high output L-N alternators. That did the trick. I got the see that Pontiac one time, and that was after Longview traded the car to GKA for a new ambulance. GKA removed the two "extra" Qs, leaving the one and the five beacons intact. Where I saw it was in Clovis,NM in 1973 when my friend Phil Bickerstaff, owner of the former Gold Star Ambulance bought the car. The one time that I saw it I also got to go in a call in it. It was a very nice, smooth-running car, but it wasn't all that spectacular with "just" the one Q and the beacons. Gold Star ceased operations shortly after I saw that car, so I never knew where it went. Since station wagons were still legal at the time, I would've liked to have had it. I would've liked it more with the original setup.'
Another New Mexico ambulance that I saws years before the Pontiac was a 1964 Chrysler wagon ambulance that had been leased from GKA by the Hobbs Fire Dept. in 1969 when the one private ambulance co. there went out of business. I only saw this wagon the one time,so I haven't a clue as to who did the conversion. The unusual thing about this wagon was that the original factory luggage rack was retained, which was unusual for ambulance conversion. That suggests that whoever originally "built" this ambulance may have done so in-house rather than by someone like Gordon K. Allen Co. On both sides of the luggage rack two large metal plates had been mounted large brack arms extending to the roof of the car. On the those two mounts were placed twin Qs. The lighting package consisted of twin red 17 beacons on the front corners and blue 174 beacon just behind the luggage rack, just over the tailgate. And there was a pair of Unity 6" red sealed-beam lights on the bumper. Not quite as spectacular as the '66 Pontiac, but you could see and hear it coming quite well. The only time I ever saw it was when it had made an emergency transfer from Hobbs to the then-Methodist Hospital in Lubbock. I only got a quick look at the wagon, so I didn't get a chance to look underhood to see what powered the twin Qs and the lights. Hopefully it was something equitable.