First Areodyinc Lightbar

[Lee Hagen]

Hey Folks, stumbled across this aerodynic while rummaging through some stuff in a old barn (yes, barn find!). Not sure if it works, but it looks to be pretty clean and in good condition. I have only wiped down the domes with a little soap and water thus far, and used a little never dull on the speaker cover. It was wrapped in blanket. The plate states that it is a 24E, but it has alleys, which I would think it would make it a model 24EA? Its 52 inches and may have been on a fire vehicle or ambulance, based on the feet? I believe it would need different feet for a car application. Domes are pretty good, some scuffs and scratches.

 

[Nolines]

Id say that looks in Terrific Condition.... Makes ya wonder what were they saving it for. Never find stuff like that down here in south florida it ends up crushed like garbage by people that dont know.. Like the cities who paid for it and then cant resell it..

 

[jph2]

Agreed--nice find! I can't wait til you power it up.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

If the tag reads 24E then it should only have the 4 endlamps, and not the Alleys.. but who cares.
Nice light, you could remove the alleys to make it correct.. but why bother.

 

[Lee Hagen]

I will absolutely keep the alleys, thought it was odd that the plate indicated 24E. A1 with SAE tags 1986/87.

 

[Wailer]

I like the green sunburst Strat more.

 

[2004p71]

great find and it looks mint !

 

[Lee Hagen]

Are there different styles of feet for this bar?

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

There are 2 types most commonly seen.
The Twinsonic/Visibar style tube feet.. found on older bars.
and the "A-Frame" style feet found commonly on the later variants.
Both are correct, and not too difficult to find if your patient enough.

 

[Lee Hagen]

Thanks for the feedback. Are the candy cane aeros more desirable? And following up to that... what are some of the most rare and/or desirable aeros that people collect?

 

[tsquale]

Great condition for a barn find!! Have you been able to fire it up? Would love to see a video of it.

 

[CrownVic97]

Thanks for the feedback. Are the candy cane aeros more desirable? And following up to that... what are some of the most rare and/or desirable aeros that people collect?

Candy-cane AeroDynics are plentiful out there. It was a very popular color combo for Fire/EMS rigs when they came on the market.

Now, before you keep reading below, here's what each letter designation mean for AeroDynic Models, so y'all don't get too crazy confused ;-) :

S = Short
M = Medium
E = Front and rear end lamps for flashers or work lights
A = Alley lights
H = Halogen H55 bulbs
T = Takedown lights
C = California Specification steady red light capable
Z = Custom build for agency
R = Rotator designation for sealed beam series AeroDynic aka AeroTwinSonic
F = Front and rear flashers, mostly associated with AeroTwinSonics
V = V-mirrors
CF - CrossFire oscillating traffic clearing light

Most desirable AeroDynics would be...

Model 24 AeroDynic, 8 rotators and speaker center. This is the bar that started the whole line in 1977. Getting harder to come by each day!

Any short, medium, or standard length Model 24E, EA, EH, or EAH with metal PAR36 lamp holders. These are first run AeroDynics after their debut in 1977.

Model 24 S, SE, SEA, SEH, SEAH series of AeroDynics. These are short, 3 panel bars and are very, very hard to run across in the wild!

Model 25EAH AeroDynic. This are not as common as the Model 25 10 rotator AeroDynics, but are hard to find in themselves.

Model 25CF, with center CrossFire oscillating light and 8 rotators

 

[CrownVic97]

NYPD AeroDynic or AeroTwinSonic, Model 24 RMVF-Z

LAPD AeroDynic, Model 24EAH-T

Cal-Spec Model 24C AeroDynic, or also known as the "Dukes of Hazzard" AeroDynic

Cal-Spec Model 24RMC AeroDynic

French Vama Model 24 SEAH AeroDynic with VisiBeam Spotlight assembly

 

[CrownVic97]

Dutch Model 24 SHSP17 AeroDynic with reverse message board and two rotators

And that's all I know for most desired AeroDynics. If anybody has others, throw 'em in here :-D !

 

[Lee Hagen]

Very Nice. Thanks for the info. I just noticed that the plate inside the bar has a "H" stamped after the Series A1. What does the H indicate with regard to the Series? Also, here is a picture of the wires, which include a black, red, blue, yellow and two browns.

 

[CrownVic97]

H = Halogen 55 watt bulbs

In your AeroDynic, you have 1195 bulbs in the rotators, which are 35 watt incandescent bulbs. Seeing this, your bar is a Model 24 EA. Maybe it was for the end lamps that had halogen par36 bulbs.....I'm not sure.

As for your cable, red lead is rotators and motor, black is ground, Blue is possibly end lamps, yellow is possibly alley lamps, and the brown leads are for speaker hook up (don't apply power to those, they go to the speaker leads from a siren amplifier)

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

@CrownVic97 his H is after the series A1 so he sees A1H.

That means revision H in the A1 series.

H after EA or E would read EAH or EH and that means Halogen or H1 bulbs.

other then that spot on..

 

[Nolines]

Should I be taking Notes here? will there be a test? Thats alot of info to remember !! the good this is Crownvic appears to Know a Helluva alot of info on these old tow bars...

 

[CrownVic97]

Should I be taking Notes here? will there be a test? Thats alot of info to remember !! the good this is Crownvic appears to Know a Helluva alot of info on these old tow bars...

LOL....not everything, as Stampeed pointed out x-D ! But, yeah, the Federal Signal AeroDynic and Code 3 Force 4 XL lightbars are the most prominent in my collection, so...mandatory soft spot in me heart for them

 

[801]

Most of the time you will find a tag on the motor with the build date. That will give you a pretty good idea of when it was made.

 

[Lee Hagen]

Thanks again. Always learning! As indicated, the bar tag indicates 24E.

 

[Lee Hagen]

Here is the bar fired up. Although the bar has ally lamps, they don’t appear to be wired through the power cable. The blue wire turns on the driver side rear end lamp and curbside front end lamp. The yellow turns on the driver side front and curbside rear end lamps. Seems like an odd end lamp pattern. There is no can flasher, so that answers my question on whether the end lamps have alternating flash.

 

[lotsofbars]

They could have been wired to alternating flash by an external flasher. I couldn’t think of another reason they have that bizarre wiring.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

I don't know what your cable harness looks like.. but the colors go like this..
R- rotators
Black- Ground
Brown and Brown w/white stripe- speaker
Yellow & Blue- endlamps
Green & Orange- alleys
Grey- option

if you have a 24E you may not have the Green and Orange.. or its a non Federal cable.
If the alleys were added post factory, which it looks like it was.. then there is no telling how it was wired.. so you will need to investigate.

 

[Lee Hagen]

The alleys have just a red and black wire attached. There is no green and orange in the bar that I can see. I will take of the domes off this weekend and investigate more. Wires are blue, red, yellow, black, and two brown off the back of the bar. At some point I would like to adjust the rotors, so there not turning in the same rotation all together.

 

[Wailer]

With the light bar on it looks like the second Strat is black.

 

[stansdds]

That's is a great barn find! Model 24E should just have the front and rear facing end lights. If it had factory installed alley lights, it would be a 24EA and would also have small mirrors attached to the bulkhead to reflect light from the rotators to the ends of the bar. The addition of the alley light without those mirrors results in almost no rotator light visible at the ends of the bar.

 

[2004p71]

To crownvic 97

thank you so much for taking the time to make it clear about all the variation of the aerodynic

 

[Lee Hagen]

That's is a great barn find! Model 24E should just have the front and rear facing end lights. If it had factory installed alley lights, it would be a 24EA and would also have small mirrors attached to the bulkhead to reflect light from the rotators to the ends of the bar. The addition of the alley light without those mirrors results in almost no rotator light visible at the ends of the bar.

I didn't look at it from the side when on, good point. Perhaps those "Alleys" were set up to flash or be a steady burn, if not operating as true alleys?

 

[Lee Hagen]

I didn't look at it from the side when on, good point. Perhaps those "Alleys" were set up to flash or be a steady burn, if not operating as true alleys?

I didn't look at it from the side when on, good point. Perhaps those "Alleys" were set up to flash or be a steady burn, if not operating as true alleys?

Don't those mirrors block the inner rotors?

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

Don't those mirrors block the inner rotors?

Yes they did, they took some of the flash of the inner rotators and directed the light outward towards the ends. This was to compensate for the poor side warning these bars had when the alley option was installed.

 

[stansdds]

Don't those mirrors block the inner rotors?

They absolutely do block the innermost rotator, cutting it's output when viewed from directly in front by about 50%. It was a real compromise and the reason I do not like Aerodynics with alley lights.

 

[Nolines]

So im guessing thats why you see so many with driving lights to the side just a lil low or back of the sides to give them visibility.. and so came the invention of lower alley lights pods. which is reasons why i Love the Whelen Advantedge... Lower light pods of strobes and takedowns and rear flashers or traffic director and integrated lower alleys..

 

[CrownVic97]

They absolutely do block the innermost rotator, cutting it's output when viewed from directly in front by about 50%. It was a real compromise and the reason I do not like Aerodynics with alley lights.

Maybe Federal Signal should've looked at what the LAPD was doing with their alley light solution and incorporated it into their bars in some way. Someone at the LAPD Maintenance Garage was using their brain!

 

[shues]

Is that a wire nut?

 

[Nolines]

yep thats a wire nut, apparently they ran out of pea nuts to terminate a wire connection, probably a hook up point for the alley light option.

 

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

Is that a wire nut?

Yes this was typical for the LAPD Aeros coming from the Garages.
This one even has security screws if you look close enough.. don't want anyone getting away with these minty fresh domes.. lol

 

[CrownVic97]

Yes this was typical for the LAPD Aeros coming from the Garages.
This one even has security screws if you look close enough.. don't want anyone getting away with these minty fresh domes.. lol

I read somewhere that the LAPD had a streak of AeroDynic lense theft from leaving the vehicle parked somewhere unattended and douche bags with flathead screwdrivers would unbolt the lenses and leave the lightbar fully exposed, thus making the cruiser unit worthless until new lenses could be installed again. They went to the security screws afterwards and stayed that way until they retired the AeroDynic from being installed on new units altogether.