Whelen Liberty LFL Help Please

ronaconda

Member
Mar 7, 2018
35
Salt Lake City, Utah
Played around with a Liberty LFL last weekend (model SW8BBRR) with the Universal WeCan Controller and got nothing out of the lightbar. Confirmed that I had power where there should have been power and ground where there needed to be ground; grey to grey, green to green, and shield to black/white. Also had to +12v to the function that I wanted to control but got absolutely nothing. According to the controller install instructions, there shouldn't have been any flash patterns that needed to be programmed. What could I have possibly done wrong? I have included pics of the lightbar sticker and the WeCan Controller. It was my understanding that the controller should work that particular lightbar. Was I misunderstood? Any advice.

Some background...this lightbar will be part of my collection in my garage only and is not being used for a particular build. The lightbar I bought from a guy that purchased a decommissioned FIPU that still had the bar installed sans controller. The controller I purchased off of ebay; came in its Whelen packaging with the 2 wire harnesses for the controller.

Thanks in advance...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
 

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Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
And you connected to the usb port on the laptop to the wecan software to verify the controller was default programmed not specific to some other bar first??
 

tsquale

Lifetime VIP Donor
Oct 12, 2010
10,511
Minnesota, USA
I did not. Guess I shoulda did more homework on the universal controller...and go get the cable and software.
The software you can get online from Whelen free. The cable is the one most older printers use, so I borrowed one from the office haha Hopefully that's all that ends up being the issue for you
 

ronaconda

Member
Mar 7, 2018
35
Salt Lake City, Utah
Alrighty...here's an update...and bottom line I am probably doing something wrong.

Ended up downloading all three versions of the Whelen programming programs; started with the WeCan 7 and got a pop-up that Whelen Command was the update so I got the Command, installed it and started playing with it. Picked WeCan controller out of the list of controllers but could not find my version of the Liberty in the lightbar choices. So I went back and downloaded and installed WeCan 7.

Just with the Whelen Command, chose the WeCan controller but could not find my version of the Liberty lightbar in the choices available. Went back to the Whelen website for other options and noticed a button offering older downloads...downloaded WeCan 5.

Thought I hit the jackpot with the WeCan 5 because my Liberty lightbar was there!!! Built my bar, had a bunch of the inputs programmed, went to click the 'program' button and got a notice that WeCan 5 doesn't support that version of the controller. WTF!?!?! Its a choice in the controller setup but it will neither program nor extract from the WeCan controller. Went back to 7 and factory reset both controllers that I now have and still get the same notices in WeCan 5. Really, really want this bar working.

So is there something painfully obvious to you guys that have programmed these that I am missing??? Any help from you guys would be very, very much appreciated!!!
 

tsquale

Lifetime VIP Donor
Oct 12, 2010
10,511
Minnesota, USA
@ronaconda I'm glad you updated as I JUST went through this with the Suffolk County Freedom that I posted on here. Here was what I figured out and got it to work.

First, in WeCan 5 I had to "build" my lightbar with the correct options it has on it, colors, etc. Then SAVE that configuration by going to "File" then "Export Configuration". It should name it something similar to Lightbar Export.wwcn

Then open up WeCan 7. On the main opening screen, after closing out the notice it is out of date, click the green button that says "Open an existing configuration". Then select that file you exported from WeCan 5. It should open that correctly.

You then can set up the patterns as you want on WeCan 7. When you are done, use the green down arrow to transfer it to the WeCan module.

Hope that helps!
 
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ronaconda

Member
Mar 7, 2018
35
Salt Lake City, Utah
@ronaconda I'm glad you updated as I JUST went through this with the Suffolk County Freedom that I posted on here. Here was what I figured out and got it to work.

First, in WeCan 5 I had to "build" my lightbar with the correct options it has on it, colors, etc. Then SAVE that configuration by going to "File" then "Export Configuration". It should name it something similar to Lightbar Export.wwcn

Then open up WeCan 7. On the main opening screen, after closing out the notice it is out of date, click the green button that says "Open an existing configuration". Then select that file you exported from WeCan 5. It should open that correctly.

You then can set up the patterns as you want on WeCan 7. When you are done, use the green down arrow to transfer it to the WeCan module.

Hope that helps!

I will give this a try and let you know what happens!!!

Thank you!!!
 
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