JohnMarcson
Administrator
I finally found a 5300 "Darth Vader" beacon. Now I just need a 5500 (split front and rear) and a 5250 (front facing par 36).
One more Commander Strobe checked off the list.
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JohnMarcson
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Lt.214
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JohnMarcson
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Yes, they are the iconic and largest user. They actually had a field guide for retrofitting 5200s into these. They went from a shorty base 5200 to these and all the units in use got a retrofit kit. Obviously some cars came new with the full light, but there were enough existing 5200s in the field that an upgrade kit was used.
Special takedowns (non optic higher watt 4x3)
Previous "short" 5200"
Later 5300 (obviously not the same car but shown for reference)
I believe the order of lights went Single rotating beacon in red, single beacon model 14 in blue, all blue twinsonic (usually model X), standard 5200, "Vader" 5300, brief 8000 series bar experiment (some overlap with 5300), MX7000/Vista, edge version, and then other LEDs.
Model 17? in red
model 14 and twinsonic
Old paint scheme 5200
Old paint scheme 8000 bar
New paint scheme 5300 (there were upgraded old paint scheme ones too, they overlapped the 8000)
New paint scheme 8000 bar
MX7000
Vista (first/only? bar with a clear center)
Edge 9000, 9M and Early freedoms
dmathieu
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JohnMarcson
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I posted a video, I haven't cleaned or polished anything on the light yet. It should clean up really well.
Maxim2Eng
Supporting Donor
Ky Highway Patrol used white cars and later became State Police switched to black and to the FS 17 as the primary warning light (56 I believe). In the 60s they switched to the gray paint scheme as it allowed the cars to be less noticable to better apprehended traffic violators. In the mid 70s, KSP splurged and went with a white car with blue hood & trunk lid and capped it with the FS 12X…astonishing for a notoriously frugal agency. (The early domes we’re dark blue so much so they were hard to see in daylight. Not wanting the added expense/power consumption of 60w bulbs, FS lightened the domes to almost a blue/green appearance. I was working summers for an outfitter at this time.) Reverting back to more frugal ways, KSP went with all white cars until switching back to gray cars in early 80s.
EDIT: KSP tried to get the KY legislature to pass a law designating blue lights as State Police exclusively (I believe this was in the early 60s). Previously, all police & fire used red and KSP wanted to be special. Well the legislature passed the law, but it said ALL police agencies will use blue. It wasn’t until the 80s (or early 90s?) that the law was amended to allow police to use blue and red. Like Arkansas and many other souther states, police are mostly all blue.
I have an Arguslight that was KSP surplus mounted on the North Oldham Fire Department tanker (a 52 Ford flatbed with a 1000 gal tank) along with a 78B DualTone…now part of my display.
And here’s my tribute model to Trooper Wilcox and his 57 Chevy complete with a C4 behind the grill. Unfortunately the Testors inkjet decal material is very opaque.
EDIT: KSP tried to get the KY legislature to pass a law designating blue lights as State Police exclusively (I believe this was in the early 60s). Previously, all police & fire used red and KSP wanted to be special. Well the legislature passed the law, but it said ALL police agencies will use blue. It wasn’t until the 80s (or early 90s?) that the law was amended to allow police to use blue and red. Like Arkansas and many other souther states, police are mostly all blue.
I have an Arguslight that was KSP surplus mounted on the North Oldham Fire Department tanker (a 52 Ford flatbed with a 1000 gal tank) along with a 78B DualTone…now part of my display.
And here’s my tribute model to Trooper Wilcox and his 57 Chevy complete with a C4 behind the grill. Unfortunately the Testors inkjet decal material is very opaque.
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JohnMarcson
Administrator
Anyone wondering about the power supply "discharge noise", this late commander had a pie pan strobe with a GEN 2 / "J tube" era edge power supply factory installed in the pie pan. It has only 1 output vs 4 on an edge supply. This was one of the last years for the 5200/5300 series and the "J tube" edge was hitting the scene, so I guess that makes sense. This also makes me wonder if it would be easier to rewire later 8000 bars with edge supplies.
Here is the supply:
The supply with the box around it is exactly the same as the "pie pan" except it has covers on the capacitors and 4 outputs on the board instead of 1.
Regardless, it would be so much easier to rewire an 8000 with an edge supply and harness than follow the factory wiring on the original pie pans like this:
Here is the supply:
The supply with the box around it is exactly the same as the "pie pan" except it has covers on the capacitors and 4 outputs on the board instead of 1.
Regardless, it would be so much easier to rewire an 8000 with an edge supply and harness than follow the factory wiring on the original pie pans like this:
kitn1mcc
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JohnMarcson
Administrator
kitn1mcc
Member
JohnMarcson
Administrator
I don't blame you a bit. Post some pics at some point so I can see if I can fake one. If you ever want to put another level on your house or buy a porche and are selling it, keep me in mind.
Maxim2Eng
Supporting Donor
JohnMarcson
Administrator
Yes, the "5300 Vader" portion is just a base. You could put any 5xxx series strobe beacon top you wanted on it basically. The 5500 would fit onto of the "Vader' speaker housing. KSP took all the models of Commander strobes they had and retrofitted them onto the "Vader" base, so if they had a 5500 or two in the mix then those would have gone onto the 5300 base as well. I know this was possible but had never had a report of it "in the wild", but this makes total sense.