Whelen Edge 9000 wiring

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
Hi all. I've been given a Whelen Edge 9000 (according Edge 9000 being stamped into the amber lens') but cannot get it to do anything but click a relay. It no longer has its sticker on the base so I can't find it's model number from there. The power supply inside has 66365E on the bottom.

When opened up it has 4 wires coming from the power board, Red +12V, Black 0V, Green which when given +12V activates a relay and a White or light Violet which goes into the 4 pin connector with the others. This wire also has a voltage reading of about 6 volts.

The Red, Black and Green wires then go off onto a connector which turns them to Red, Black and Purple, but the White wire goes no further.

Everything I've seen while looking into this shows a 11 or similar pin connector which powers different light actions but this has only those 4 wires coming out of the power board. It then has four, 3 pin sockets which go off to each corner strobe light.

Thanks for any help given.
 

MtnMan

Member
Dec 20, 2012
1,533
Eastern PA
The standard 9000 setup would include a power distribution board and one or more strobe power supplies. It sounds like your bar was stripped and reconfigured, or it could have been an economy version from the factory. Pics of the power supply would help identify it.

In any case, some combination of + and - 12V power to the red, black, and green wires should fire up the strobes. If that doesn't work, replacement 4-output strobe supplies are plentiful and cheap.
 

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
Thanks for the replies. I do have all 4 strobes but only have 2 connected for testing. I am also fully aware of the dangers of capacitors so am careful while working with this unit.

Here's a few pictures of what I have electrics wise for this light unit.

whelen3.jpgwhelen1.jpgwhelen2.jpg
 

RS485

Supporting Donor
Aug 5, 2019
369
Central MA
Unfortunately, I think there's something wrong with the power supply. It should have flashed as the wiring is pretty simple. I believe the relay you hear clicking was a "cutout" that would limit flashing to only two outlets.

There seems to be a thin yellow wire coming from underneath the board. Is that just a stray wire on the bench?

Given the size and shape of the transformer and the size of the capacitors, I think you have a double-flash power supply. The "F8848" printed on the transformer might indicate it was made 48th week of 1988. The caps appear marked as "95-32" which I assume to mean 32nd weak of 1995. This would imply that the power supply was repaired around that time.

Practically speaking, Comet-flash EDGE power supplies are still fairly easy to obtain (as MtnMan says) but the older double-flash aren't quite as abundant. If you wanted or were expecting Comet-flash, you should be able to find an inexpensive replacement.

If you're interested (for curiosity's sake) in trying to get this PS to work, then I guess the first question is if you're getting high voltage on the capacitors (measure carefully and safely!). If so, then the inverter is working and the problem is somewhere in the timing/trigger side. If not, then the first tests would be around the three pins on the power transistor which I suspect might be one of these: https://www.vishay.com/docs/91203/91203.pdf

You'd want near zero ohms _resistance_ between the "S" pin and ground, around 12 _volts_ between "D" pin and ground, and at least 4 volts between "G" and ground.

Also, make sure to measure resistance between the legs of devices and the PCB tracing into which they're soldered to catch simple cold-solder joints. That would be an easy fix.
 

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
Thank you for the information. The thin yellow wire is just a stray wire I hadn't noticed. In terms of compatible power supplies, I've read that a lot of Whelen stuff is interchangable, would the likes of this unit swap right in? Ebay Link

My end goal for this unit is just to have some flashing lights so the exact pattern or number of patterns doesn't matter to me. The light unit is more for the look than use, however I can't just fit a dead light unit to my roof. I have already been in a few situations where they would have actually been put to proper use but my hazards have had to step in instead.

So from what you said I get 0.08 Ohms between S and ground, my +12.36V input voltage at the D pin and 4.88V at the G pin. I am getting about 40V combined for the capacitors.

The lacquer on these boards makes probing and soldering a pain. There were a few joints which had corrosion on them but re-soldering them has had no positive effect.

At the end, I'd be happy to pay £30 for that ebay unit if it should be good for powering this light bar. They say that wiring harnesses are available and if needed, I can always solder a few connector ends on to adapt with a good bit of heat shrink round them.
 

RS485

Supporting Donor
Aug 5, 2019
369
Central MA
I don't think the UB412 would fit correctly in an old EDGE. It is designed for the Ultrabar/9U series. Check out these - or better yet, if you can find and "EB6", here are Whelen's instructions for upgrading older EDGE 9000s. It might help.

Your measurements indicate the possibility of a bad power transistor (though I can't guarantee it :) ).

Good luck!
 

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
I should hopefully have the EB6 tomorrow. Just to be sure, to power the unit is it just +12V on red, 0V on Black and then apply +12V to any of the other wires to trigger it's light outputs?

Thanks
 

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
After struggling for weeks to get my 3D printer to print a 5 hour print of flexible plastic, I've finally sorted out my roof mounting and it's on. All I need to do is add some feet to stop it tilting forwards/backwards.

I only had to drill a hole behind an existing gromet cover so barely any body modification to make it fit.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make this happen.

20200408_093024.jpg
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20200408_094219.jpg
20200408_094452.jpg
 
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Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
You could have gone with a magnet mount, I use 4 90 pound pull rubber coated magnets on my mini edge for 360 pounds of holding power and at 90 mph it has yet to move, only time I got her to move was when a drunk driver tboned me and my bar changed position from the impact. But nice job on that setup!
 
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boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
I generally do things with what I have available where permitted. Magnets didn't even cross my mind. I didn't do any research into the how, only this thread to help get it working. The 2 options I had in my head were directly mounted to the roof or how it is now. I did not want to drill into the roof and as it is, it's easily removable when the roof cross bars are needed.

The only issue I can think of using magnets would be that the lower height would put the rear lenses behind my roof cross bars. Currently it stands above everything. If there ever is a next time, I'll be sure to consider magnets.
 

Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
Make sure they are the rubber coated 90 pound pulls metal will scratch your roof and too light will make it fly off the roof.
 

boxburn

New Member
Feb 15, 2020
12
United Kingdom
I'm back again but only to add more to the lightbar. My mounting stabilisation solution was to create 2 bars that latched into another roof rail. It's very easy to remove but very stable when mounted.

20200416_171304.jpg

My next addition is a set of reverse lights/general light courtesy of a pick and pull scrap yard. By a stroke of luck, when I stripped them down to just the LED circuitry and the heatsink, it slid in and perfectly. Loose enough to slide across but snug enough to stay in place.

20201107_201816.jpg

Now all I need is a clear lens to fit in the place of my black piece which I'm struggling to find in the UK, or even elsewhere at 8 1/2" / 215mm long. I'd even be happy to find 2 lens' to fit with a divider between the two. For the time being I'm planning on cutting out the face section of my black piece and sticking some clear plastic over.
 

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