Mini edge troubles

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

Hey guys I just took in a mini whelen 9m. 4 strobes, alleys and takedowns. My trouble is I can't get the strobes to flash or light up. I checked the power supply fuses inside the bar and those are both good. I also replaced them just incase. I am thinkin the power supply is shot, but maybe I am doing something wrong? I checked whelens site and double checked the wiring diagram. Any thoughts guys? Thanks.

 

[TritonBoulder47]

Do you hear the power supply making any noises...? If its making the "firing" noises, check and recheck all you strobe connections... Sometimes the pins in the amp connectors like to stretch and not make good contact...


What are you using to power the lightbar...? Sometime if you us a battery pack it doesnt give it the right juice to function properly...

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

I hear he supply making a whinning noise. Now I can't get the takedowns to light up or flash. This is turning into a nightmare. I should say also this is the first edge I have ever worked on also. I was using my brand new yellow top optimas on my truck. The alley lights work fine, but I am assuming those are just power and ground and not run thru a flasher like the takedowns.

 

[STT Installer]

Figure minimum 15 amp continuous power supply - not a battery charger, car battery or jump pack...

 

[bigcat]

You should hear a sound when you hook up the power and ground wire. If you hear this sound and then nothing happens when you hook up the green and/or blue wire, I would then trouble shoot the strobe side of things. If there is a problem with an individual strobe or a fault in the wiring somewhere the power supply might be protecting itself. I would disconnect everything on the strobe side, then using a strobe I know is good, test the power supply.


Is this a home-brew? Is there a main relay board in this thing or is everything hardwired?

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

You should hear a sound when you hook up the power and ground wire. If you hear this sound and then nothing happens when you hook up the green and/or blue wire, I would then trouble shoot the strobe side of things. If there is a problem with an individual strobe or a fault in the wiring somewhere the power supply might be protecting itself. I would disconnect everything on the strobe side, then using a strobe I know is good, test the power supply.

Is this a home-brew? Is there a main relay board in this thing or is everything hardwired?

I will have to do more with it tomorrow. The wires I need to hook up are gray and white/blue for the strobes. With those hooked to power and the power supplies power and ground hooked up I get nothing. As far as the inside goes its all factory. Not a project bar someone pieced together.

 

[VTfireftr]

All Whelen power supplies have short circuit protetion built in. Start by disconnecting all the strobes. Then with the power disconnected, plug 1 strobe in at a time and see what happens. You will probbaly find that you have a bad connection or short in either a strobe tube or connection. This method should help you isolate your "bad" connection.


If all else fails, call Whelen's techincal support in Connecticut. They should be able to help you out on the phone.


Good luck,


Marc

 

[fire1]

I will have to do more with it tomorrow. The wires I need to hook up are gray and white/blue for the strobes. With those hooked to power and the power supplies power and ground hooked up I get nothing. As far as the inside goes its all factory. Not a project bar someone pieced together.

You probability have a 2ZFO or a 2ZSO power supply in it or if replaced someone may have put a 6 head in. It may be a ground or power problem. You also said your flasher/TD stopped working & that goes though a board. I do not know why, but sometimes the gel batt. does not work outside the truck. get a regular batt. I use a 750 amp jumper box and it works fine, just make sure it is charged. The other thing you could do is bypass the main cable and apply power to the supply itself if that works then you know you have a bad connection in the main harness.

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

You probability have a 2ZFO or a 2ZSO power supply in it or if replace someone may have put a 6 head in. It may be a ground or power problem. You also said your flasher/TD stopped working & that goes though a board. I do not know why, but sometimes the gel batt. does not work outside the truck. get a regular batt. I use a 750 amp jumper box and it works fine, just make sure it is charged. The other thing you could do is bypass the main cable and apply power to the supply itself if that works then you know you have a bad connection in the main harness.

Thanks fire1. I will give that a try once I get home.

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

Okay, so I took the whole bar apart. Gutted it. The takedown flasher was a simple power wire that I had hooked to a ground (as per whelen's site it said it was a ground). So those are all back up and working again. Someone was in the bar before me though. 2 of the strobes had been replaced. I believe 1 in 08 and 1 in 09. The power supply was also not bolted down. It was only "resting" on the mounting bolts. I re zip tied the wiring and organized it so I know whats what and it looks factory again. I took the power supply out, and hooked it to my truck battery directly. (not thru the wiring harness that comes out of the bar) I took 2 strobe tubes that I had layin around from a fasttrax and pluged them into the supply. And got nothing. No sound, buzzing, or humming. The wires coming out of the supply are as fallows. Red, Black, White, Purple, Blue, and Green. Red and black are power and ground. I would assume the white, green and blue are control/pattern. Atleast all but white are control. The purple is high and low functions for the supply. I know the strobe tubes are good that I used. The supply has a 2 dates written on it. 1 says 06 and 1 says R-07. I forget the months off hand but I know the years. I am thinkin the supply is shot. Any thoughts guys? How long are the supplies warrentied for? I am hopin to get it warrentied if it is covered because that would be free then. I mean who doesn't like free right.

 

[bigcat]

Red - power, black -ground, blue and green are trigger wires, white is scanlock, purple is high/low. With the PS out of the bar, take the strobe wire harness off. Then plug in the power and ground and either the blue or green wire with nothing attached. The ps should make noise, if it doesn't it's dead. WHELEN power supplies have a five year warranty. Send it back with a note. As long as they don't deem it caused by the end user, they will replace it.

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

Red - power, black -ground, blue and green are trigger wires, white is scanlock, purple is high/low. With the PS out of the bar, take the strobe wire harness off. Then plug in the power and ground and either the blue or green wire with nothing attached. The ps should make noise, if it doesn't it's dead. WHELEN power supplies have a five year warranty. Send it back with a note. As long as they don't deem it caused by the end user, they will replace it.

I just tried it and its dead as a door nail. I kinda figured, but wasn't sure. I'll get ahold of them tomorrow and get ready to send it out. Thanks for everyones help.

 

[fire1]

Okay, so I took the whole bar apart. Gutted it. The takedown flasher was a simple power wire that I had hooked to a ground (as per whelen's site it said it was a ground). So those are all back up and working again. Someone was in the bar before me though. 2 of the strobes had been replaced. I believe 1 in 08 and 1 in 09. The power supply was also not bolted down. It was only "resting" on the mounting bolts. I re zip tied the wiring and organized it so I know whats what and it looks factory again. I took the power supply out, and hooked it to my truck battery directly. (not thru the wiring harness that comes out of the bar) I took 2 strobe tubes that I had layin around from a fasttrax and pluged them into the supply. And got nothing. No sound, buzzing, or humming. The wires coming out of the supply are as fallows. Red, Black, White, Purple, Blue, and Green. Red and black are power and ground. I would assume the white, green and blue are control/pattern. Atleast all but white are control. The purple is high and low functions for the supply. I know the strobe tubes are good that I used. The supply has a 2 dates written on it. 1 says 06 and 1 says R-07. I forget the months off hand but I know the years. I am thinkin the supply is shot. Any thoughts guys? How long are the supplies warrentied for? I am hopin to get it warrentied if it is covered because that would be free then. I mean who doesn't like free right.

Since it was not bolted down someone knew the supply was bad. The R-07 means it was already repaired once. From what you saying on the wiring and not being bolted down you have a 9M4S power supply. That has 10 flash patterns. I took it it was a older bar when I told you model of the power supplies. Hope you can get it under the warranty.

 

[RBRONKEMA GHTFD]

I called whelen today and explained to them what supply I had and gave them the serial number and dates and they said because it had already been replaced they won't be able to re replace it. I didn't quite understand why. The guy also said that it would of cost me 140 buck to have them fix it. I think I might call them tomorrow again and retry because it didn't make sense.

Since it was not bolted down someone knew the supply was bad. The R-07 means it was already repaired once. From what you saying on the wiring and not being bolted down you have a 9M4S power supply. That has 10 flash patterns. I took it it was a older bar when I told you model of the power supplies. Hope you can get it under the warranty.

 

[grfd711]

Read the warranty at Whelen's site:


http://www.whelen.com/pb/Automotive/Warranties-Trademarks/Automotive_Warranty.pdf


Power supplies less then seven years old but already out of the five year HDP warranty can be repaired for a flat rate of $143. You said your power supply was marked with '06, but is there a month? If it's this month or earlier, you're JUST out of warranty and seem to be screwed by time. If it's marked 09/06, you should still be covered.

 

[Keith K.]

Buy a used one on ebay.