JohnMarcson
Administrator
Whelen responder and val-u-bar lightbars
- Thread starter JohnMarcson
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JohnMarcson
Administrator
Whelen and Austin responder minibars (and a full size valubar) through out the years from my collection
SBFD-E-9
Member
Great collection John. I've never seen a split dome for the older Responder. I hope to have a Respond-A-Strobe in my collection.
Dan
Dan
JohnMarcson
Administrator
SBFD-E-9 said:
I just picked this up at Camp Safety in Cincinnati recently. The owner has a slightly nicer one just like it in his collection.
tsquale
Lifetime VIP Donor
dmathieu
Lifetime VIP Donor
patrol530
Member
JennyCop
Member
Those are very nice, what a great collection! It's neat to see how the Responder and its rotators have changed over the years.
emtanderson51
Member
looks great John. The Stow MA fire dept ambulance had 2 of those split R/C Responders on the back of the box. Very cool to see 1 20 years later! I think I counted 4 revisions of the bar and 3 or the respond-a-strobe version. Impressive...
JohnMarcson
Administrator
There are five main rotator types pictured some having a few editions. Responder bars used first the responder dash light then the advantedge lightbar rotators (and flush mount advantedge rotators briefly in between).
They are shown in the link below, although I didn't mention the multiple minor variations within the different rotator types.
http://elightbars.org/forums/f18/know-your-rotator-versions-types-29805/#post246968
Here is an example of a minor variation within one type of rotator (closed reflector top). Another example (not pictured) is the counterweight metal tab added to back the last edition of the advantedge style rotator.
View attachment 59542
View attachment 59543
They are shown in the link below, although I didn't mention the multiple minor variations within the different rotator types.
http://elightbars.org/forums/f18/know-your-rotator-versions-types-29805/#post246968
Here is an example of a minor variation within one type of rotator (closed reflector top). Another example (not pictured) is the counterweight metal tab added to back the last edition of the advantedge style rotator.
View attachment 59542
View attachment 59543
WhelenCollector007
Member
kitn1mcc
Member
dmathieu
Lifetime VIP Donor
grfd711
Member
Quite nice. I like the Val-u-bar. Always thought they weren't that great when I was younger until I seen a local deputy who had a four rotator version on his patrol car in use.
ford-dealer
Member
kitn1mcc
Member
JohnMarcson
Administrator
emtanderson51
Member
Hey John,
Check out the end of this video. You will see 2 of the split dome versions on the back of the Chaulk (Pre-AMR) box truck. That is Newton P-1. The van is Newton A-1. I was on that truck on and off from 2008-10.
Check out the end of this video. You will see 2 of the split dome versions on the back of the Chaulk (Pre-AMR) box truck. That is Newton P-1. The van is Newton A-1. I was on that truck on and off from 2008-10.
DalmatProd
Member
dmathieu said:
Is this a 1st version Respond-A Strobe? How rare are they? Is it normal for the dome to be warped at the center where it attaches to the base?
In the first post of this thread, I see that different versions of the Responder mini bars have domes with different shapes. I see both types of domes on bars with old style rotators and new style rotators...is that due to some being Austin and some being Whelen?
Last edited by a moderator:
JohnMarcson
Administrator
Tristar said:
Whelen changed the responder many times. They borrowed rotators from the advantedge and other rotators. They also offered many models. Your bar is factory original, the center strobe is a self contained par 36 unit they also used in the 80h bars.
JohnMarcson said:
John - thank you...
-Is it a 1st version Respond-a-Strobe?
-Is it normal for the dome to be warped at the center where it attaches to the base?
Thank you.
JohnMarcson
Administrator
chrismartin1701
Member
i just picked up a first gen Respond-a-Strobe yesterday. havent decided if i wanna keep it or sell it yet
JohnMarcson said:
I bought one of the earlier mini-Responders in the early '80s to use on a Chevy station wagon ambulance we'd bought that had come slick-topped. I didn't want to drill holes in the roof, so on went the Responder. We had red grille lights and a 28 underhood.
Tristar said:
I just picked up the Respond-A-Strobe shown in the photo in my previous post...it's in great condition...it looks like it just came out of the box! In any case, I have a question: The original owner had it hooked up to a toggle swith, and both sides of the power cable appear to be copper; I have no way of determining which side is + or -. Does it matter which way it's hooked up?
dmathieu
Lifetime VIP Donor
Tristar said:
YES YES YES!!!!!
Do not hook up until sure!!!!
Polarity sensitive!!!! You could fry the strobe power supply!
Remove the dome, and you should be able to determine + & -.
dmathieu said:
Thank you! The seller hooked it up to his battery both ways (I think) for a couple of seconds, and it ran. I hope he didn't damage it. When I remove the dome, how do I determine which wire is + and -?
dmathieu
Lifetime VIP Donor
Tristar said:
Look for a + and - on the strobe PS PC board, and follow it down the wire. Hopefully he didn't blow it when he tried it. It can be instantaneous.
dmathieu said:
OK, thank you very much! I'm not sure that he hooked it up both ways...he had talked about doing it. It didn't fry right then and there, so hopefully it's OK. I really appreciate the help!
dmathieu said:
I know that this will sound dumb, but I'm not the smartest when it comes to electricity. I can't tell anything from the PS PC board, but I think (dangerous word when talking about me and electricity!) I determined + and -. The 12V cord is attached to a terminal block, and one side (left) has pinkish/white wires coming off of it, and the other (right) has grayish wires coming off of it. Is it safe to say that the pink wires are + and the grayish wires are -?
I called Whelen, and have identified the + and -. I hooked up the light, and wow!!! Very impressive! I was going to see if it was more effective with the rotators facing the same way or 180 degrees from each other, but they rotate at slightly different speeds, so they wont stay in sync. Still, for its age and size, it's one hell of a light.
JohnMarcson
Administrator
Tristar said:
Unfortunatly modern (independent) rotators don't synch. In Europe some bars have their rotators synched with a belt or rod running between them.
JohnMarcson said:
Something you would've liked, John, was my '63 Consort ambulance. It came with a pair of 17s on the front corners, and they were synched (I'm not sure how they did it) where they spun in opposite directions, crisscrossing in the middle. Both were red when I got the car, and I made the right beacon blue. It came with a pair of DoRay lollipops behind the grille. I moved them up to the roof next to the beacons, making the left one blue and the rt. one red, and put a pair of the big 6" red Unity lights on the bumper.
Not all that fancy, but it looked nice. The car was a beige color originally, and initially I ran my B&M S8B on the rt. fender, where another siren had originally been. But in 1972 (I got the car in '71) I put my first-ever Q on the roof between the beacons and lollipops and had the car painted white-over-red. Made the mistake in '74 or so of selling the car to a college kid. If I had known then what I do now..especially with groups like PCS and PCI, I would've hung on to it.
JohnMarcson
Administrator
Filters and domes updated. These are all actual bars (some duplicates), there are no "same bar different filters" pics here. I also have a few parts bars lying around (not pictured). The first bar is actually a full sized valu-bar, not a responder mini bar, but it's the same domes and rotators. The fourth bar from the bottom (amber gen 1 dome, different rotator) is an example of the replacement rotators that were offered for these smaller bars after the newer larger domes came out.
Duster
Member
Love the Respond-a-Strobes...but being from California, I want to get one and change the strobe out for a halogen and make it Cali-legal!! 
Duster said:Love the Respond-a-Strobes...but being from California, I want to get one and change the strobe out for a halogen and make it Cali-legal!!
I didn't realize that strobes weren't allowed out your way. Interesting!
RES347CUE
Member