Electrical overload!

Steve Loftin

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Area Ambulance Service (aka Le Flore County Emergency Service) was a loosely operated, take-your-chances private service in Poteau, OK. One of their vehicles was this 1975-or-so Wayne/Chevrolet Care-O-Van. Original warning equipment included dual #184 beacons, the usual perimeter/tunnel lighting, and a #PA-20A with dual CP25s. To this A.A.S. added a Twinsonic as well as a Visibar, a North American electronic siren with dual TS-24 speakers, a Q2B, and grille lights. I estimate the draw from the warning lights alone to be 134 amps! Add in front/rear A/C (if/when it worked), headlights, and dual electronic sirens as well as the Q; well, you can imagine the potential for problems!

(SL photo)
 

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Wadley A.S. (Purcell, OK)
1978 Summers/Chevrolet
In addition to 12 flashers, this rig had an 8-bulb Code 3 light bar and
3 Unity 4-bulb beacons. Plus, of course, a 200-watt electronic siren as well as a Q2B. The rotating lights alone on this car pull over 110 amps!

(WAS photo)

Kelley-Hixson F.H. (Beaumont, TX)
1976 Superior 54"
With four #184s and two extra flashers, this girl probably had an electrical load similar to that of Reeb F.H.'s '73. I hope these cars had high-idle switches!

(Bob Knowles photo)
 

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Edmond

Steve,
While going to mortuary school in Edmond, I worked for Baggerley Funeral Home (1971-1974). They had just got out of the Ambulance Service just before that. They still had their 1957 red and white Pontiac Station Wagon which was one of their past ambulances. It had a Q2 mounted on the right front fender and a Bubble light on top. One of the guys still claims he had embedded fingerprints under the edge of the dash where he hung on for dear life!!

I done my embalmer/Funeral Director practicum at Sherman-Demuth in Britton, OK. They had 8 Ambulances, 2 new 1973 hightops, several older combo's (Caddy's) and a suburban ambulance. There were days when I would see all of them out on calls at the same time. The Mortuary school would not let us ride out on the Ambo's, but I snuck a few rides here and there without getting caught. It was fun!!

Mike
 
Steve,
While going to mortuary school in Edmond, I worked for Baggerley Funeral Home (1971-1974). They had just got out of the Ambulance Service just before that. They still had their 1957 red and white Pontiac Station Wagon which was one of their past ambulances. It had a Q2 mounted on the right front fender and a Bubble light on top. One of the guys still claims he had embedded fingerprints under the edge of the dash where he hung on for dear life!!

I done my embalmer/Funeral Director practicum at Sherman-Demuth in Britton, OK. They had 8 Ambulances, 2 new 1973 hightops, several older combo's (Caddy's) and a suburban ambulance. There were days when I would see all of them out on calls at the same time. The Mortuary school would not let us ride out on the Ambo's, but I snuck a few rides here and there without getting caught. It was fun!!

Mike

Sherman-Demuth covered much of the far north side of Oklahoma City for ambulance work. You may remember that Pioneer covered the near north side. These and the other funeral home operations went out of the ambulance business when AmCare took over in 1978.

If you ever get back to the Demuth place, ask to look at their photo album. It is a treasure trove of cars they've owned over the years.
 
Not an ambulance, but...

...probably as noisy a chief's car as there ever was, inside the car as well as outside! The Houston F.D. had several "buggies" (chief's vehicles), like this 1974 Dodge, set up this way. The beacons were Supers and the electronic sirens were Interceptors. I wonder how long the Visibar assembly lasted with all of that weight on it, plus the torque of the siren?

All that's missing is a Grover #1510 "stuttertone" air horn!

(Duane Troxel photo)
 

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The rattle would get so bad that they actually used tennis balls (2) wedged between the bar and the roof to stop some of the vibration. We did this through the late 80's around here. (We were rednecks :thumb:)
 
Hmmm....I'm getting there. 2 MARS lights, 1 Federal 174, 3 tunnel lights, 2 loading lights and 2 spots, plus 2 Grover 1510's and 2 B&M CS8's (although we all know two CS8's use the same power as 1 Q2B :clap: (right Kev?)

gmcpcsref.jpg


At least I have a second battery and a bigger alternator. And I know all that stuff will work together for AT LEAST a quarter mile...
 
I'm remembering the old days of riding shotgun in a hightop '69 Superior at night with the normal front/side/rear flashers and dual 184 lights on the roof. The rotating 184 lights would reflect off the store front windows as they turned when we drove by. In fact we always looked at one of the stores about a block away from the garage to make sure we were lit up before we came to the first major intersection.

When the driver stood on the the Q siren switch, the 184's would slow and eventually stop rotating. As he let off, they would slowly start rotating again. On the way back with me in the back with a patient, the interior lights would dim and the A/C fan would slow down when he stood on the siren.

Got to love those Q's though.
 
You've all seen my little Stude Ambulet, with two small flashers and a WL siren-light on it. That's how it came from the Studebaker dealer (I think the dealer added the flashers, they don't seem to be factory). It also had factory fog lights.

But the owner of Nashwauk Ambulance, Frank "Bingo" Blair, liked flashy things. He added a few things to the car as he "didn't feel like it attracted enough attention". (Note to Bingo: you had the only ambulance in town, it attracted plenty of attention just by being there.) Anyway, he replaced the flashers with Trippe rotating beacons - the ball-shaped gizmos over the windsheild. And he added a Q2B siren to the right fender. And a small bar with a single red, sealed beam flasher on the front bumper. And a spotlight. The WL siren-light remained on the roof. And never upgraded the alternator on the little station wagon. Overloaded? You betcha! All this on a 6v system, too!

The guys who drove it said they could definately note the electrical draw (and continuing problems) from all this, so they seldom used the Q siren.

(He also added lots of chrome trim, rear-view mirrors, and much bigger tires.)

Yes, that's Bingo in the picture. You didn't argue with him. He was the town cop, too.
 

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I done my embalmer/Funeral Director practicum at Sherman-Demuth in Britton, OK. They had 8 Ambulances, 2 new 1973 hightops, several older combo's (Caddy's) and a suburban ambulance. There were days when I would see all of them out on calls at the same time. The Mortuary school would not let us ride out on the Ambo's, but I snuck a few rides here and there without getting caught. It was fun!!

Why wouldn't CSU let students make ambulance calls?
 
Seems funny how I never had electrical issues until I hooked this beast up. Perhaps it caused me electrical overload blowing my alternator. Of course with 26 lights (plus mechanical beacon rotating motors) and 3 sirens it just might be at it's limit not including interior lights or headlights.

So far at least, now an issue with newly rebuilt alternator.
 

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Seems funny how I never had electrical issues until I hooked this beast up. Perhaps it caused me electrical overload blowing my alternator. Of course with 26 lights (plus mechanical beacon rotating motors) and 3 sirens it just might be at it's limit not including interior lights or headlights.

The factory alternator's 145-amp rating was achieved at sea level and at 70 degrees. At normal engine operating temperature on a warm day, it would be putting out less than 110 amps at highway speed.

Your current warning light load alone is around 114 amps. Turn on the A/C and use the siren, and you can expect problems - especially at idle or parade speed.
 
Steve,
They said it did not fit in with the "Apprentice Embalmer" Practicum. We were not allowed to ride out on ambulance calls. I made several one man death calls in their ambulances though...........

I guess they thought that we would be stuck out on ambulance calls instead of doing Embalmer duties.........Like I said, I snuck out on a few ambulance runs, and I'm glad I did. The first job I had out of school was in Jetmore, KS, and we ran the ambulance service for Hodgeman County. No training, O2 and a first aid kit.
 
Send the AirHorns to Michigan And I will make sure Your Donation will be put to good use


Russ

Get in line... I asked for them before he even picked the car up, and commented that they were going to be the first things removed. I also suggested to him that he keep them, in case someone wanted to put them back. Now that he has the roof area fully "populated", I don't see that as ever happening, so he should give them to me when I am in Florida for the International Meet.
 
Get in line... I asked for them before he even picked the car up, and commented that they were going to be the first things removed. I also suggested to him that he keep them, in case someone wanted to put them back. Now that he has the roof area fully "populated", I don't see that as ever happening, so he should give them to me when I am in Florida for the International Meet.

And if he did give them to you in Florida how would you get them home? :confused2::confused2:

I know, you have a friend that is driving down and you could give them to him (i.e. me) and of course that would mean that I would have a set of air horns! :D:D
 
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