Electrical overload!

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

You forgot the word.......FREE!!
 
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

He could put them in his carry on bag (like someone else I know that had combination spotlights/flashhers in his carry on bag LOL)


Russ
 
amp overload

we ran 2 altenators on ours. you could order them at summers. we bought 4 e250 hightops in 76 and they ran 140 amp. alt. they all had intercepters and 4 4way beacons as well as 8 flashers and never had a problem until i took a q2 we had and insalled it . burned up altenators like crazy. in 78 we bought a modulance with van e350 chassis and it came with 2 alt. it ran 1 interceptor and a q2 and we never had any problems and it had 6 a ways 8 sealed beam flashers as well as loding and ditch lites and 2 sealed beamd on cowl. probaly my favorite ambulance i ever drove. it rode like a logwagon but you could see it and hear it a mile away. when we bought wheeled coaches in 79 all 3 had 2 alt. and they all had q2s and a lightbars and when 10-97 at the hospital you could actually turn your unit off and it would start everytime. god i miss those days.ive got pictures of these units and i will post them after im allowd and i figure out this new scanner i just bought. also just found 62 and 63 chevy station wagon amb. photos and 73 pont consort? swb we bought new in 73. it would fly 455. ramling... see ya
 
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.

...as seen here in Midland, TX:
 

Attachments

  • 197x-Dodge-Bn603-DT.jpg
    197x-Dodge-Bn603-DT.jpg
    47.3 KB · Views: 419
Exterior wiring on the Dodge

Any reason they ran the wires outside on the A pillar? Did they want to be able to do a fast disconnect? I've never seen this before!
 
Any reason they ran the wires outside on the A pillar? Did they want to be able to do a fast disconnect? I've never seen this before!

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?

That bar has clamps that attach to the drip rails, so the mounting bracket feet can be used only as support. Assuming the feet aren't bolted to the roof, this would've been a "no holes" installation and thereby easy to move from car to car.

With that much weight on the bar, the feet should've been bolted through the roof and to a large steel reinforcement plate beneath.
 
I've been in the fire truck business for 25+ years, and remember all too well the nightmares of overloaded incandescent emergency lighting systems and electromechanical sirens. Modern LED lights have essentially eliminated the lighting draw issues, but I realize that they are not age-appropriate for most of our vehicles.

High idle switches can still be found in use, but an easy trick is to run a smaller than stock alternator pulley to spin it faster at idle, giving greater output at idle. I do this with every International/Navistar chassis that I order. I use a 2.4" diameter pulley on a Leece Neville 240 amp alternator- works great.
 
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)

Easterling F.H. in Odessa had a pair of these, but they weren't quite as elaborate. Steve has pix of another unusual Easterling ambulance: a hightop short Olds ambulance. Easterling's two Care-O-Vans went to a private service when Easterling got out of it and they were later to sold to someone in Mexico.

BTW, Steve. someone has posted this on the elightbars board today.
 
This is where I'm headed...

Hope to add the four Model 14's as soon as it warms up a bit. Have them pre-wired and in the garage ready to go just like old days.

Corner beacons...it's the Acadian Way!
 

Attachments

  • 4 Beacon Pontiac Acadian.jpg
    4 Beacon Pontiac Acadian.jpg
    97.1 KB · Views: 420
...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)

Do you know what dept. this one is from, Steve? The late Duane Troxel shot a lot of pix around Lubbock, but LFD never had anything like this one.
 
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...

Can we see pix of this setup, Todd?
 
hfd

Do you know what dept. this one is from, Steve? The late Duane Troxel shot a lot of pix around Lubbock, but LFD never had anything like this one.

skip, Houston fire dept. chiefs car driven by a chauffer as all hpd capt.s had a chauffer and q2 interceptor and twin beacons. 440 ci police interceptor with hd everything. know these cars very well. had a ex chiefs car in 73 and it would fly. ran out of gear about 130 but got there real quick. all station chiefs and captains had these cars. 2 batteries also. ordered that way from Chrysler. 2 tennis balls between the light bar and roof for stability. I know of only one that came off a car and it fell of on the freeway at a high rate of speed.
 
skip, Houston fire dept. chiefs car driven by a chauffer as all hpd capt.s had a chauffer and q2 interceptor and twin beacons. 440 ci police interceptor with hd everything. know these cars very well. had a ex chiefs car in 73 and it would fly. ran out of gear about 130 but got there real quick. all station chiefs and captains had these cars. 2 batteries also. ordered that way from Chrysler. 2 tennis balls between the light bar and roof for stability. I know of only one that came off a car and it fell of on the freeway at a high rate of speed.

I noticed after I had posted the question that Steve had mentioned Houston. Another senior moment, you know! I would've liked to have seen Lubbock run something like that. One of the first times I ever visited the Lubbock FD was my senior year and I went to Lubbock to check out Texas Tech. I was able to stop by the then-central fire station: that was in April of 1963. They were putting a new batt. chief's car together. It was a red Chevy sedan and back then the only emergency equipment was a single red 174 beacon with a 66G siren behind the beacon. When I went to Lubbock to stay in 1968, the batt. chief's cars were red Plymouth wagons with the same 174 beacons, but had four red Dietz lollipops and twin CP25 speakers powered by Interceptors. In '72 the District 1 batt. chief had a Chevy wagon with a VisiBar with clear domes and red/blue bulbs along with twin CP25s and an Interceptor. District 2 had a Plymouth wagon with a Unity-type bar with the old 174 in the center, twin lollipops and speakers. I've been away from Lubbock since '91 so I don't know what their chiefs run nowadays. I've never seen a Q on LFD equipment, so there's no telling!
 
Back
Top