FedTB
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Location: St. Charles County, Mo.

Whelen WPS-2806 now sounds like a 2900-series Whelen after repairs

Wed May 22, 2019 1:04 am

I wrote a post on Friday, March 29th about the Whelen WPS-2806 near my house malfunctioning around 4:30 AM, when it activated off and on for about an hour. It was out of service for about a week or so, and the motherboard was sent to Whelen so they could determine what caused the malfunction. Long story short, three Tornado Warnings were issued for our county late this afternoon/early evening and the nearby Whelen 2807 activated three times, and I immediately noticed that it now has the the higher-pitched 2900-series Whelen tone/sound. It was activated in emergency mode volume and not test mode volume (of course!), so it was balls-to-the-wall loud! And it didn't do the three semi-long woops right after it activated before it went into full alert mode, like it did when it still sounded like a 2806. Any explanation for that, as far as why it used to woop three times but now it doesn't?

I'm guessing the sound card was replaced, or it's part of the new motherboard? Some of you are more knowledgable than I am about the electronics, etc., on these sirens so maybe you can explain this in more detail. Thanks!
Last edited by FedTB on Wed May 22, 2019 11:54 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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DJ2226
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Re: Whelen WPS-2807 now sounds like a 2900-series Whelen after repairs

Wed May 22, 2019 2:10 am

Something probably shorted inside the old logic board. Whelen doesn't support the older controllers that the system has in its other sirens, so the only option was to upgrade the front panel, basically replace the guts of the cabinet that were dead with new components. The "front panel upgrade" includes the removal of the panel inside the cabinet that swings out with a newer one, minus the amps to my knowledge. The revision of the logic board part of the controls Whelen uses currently is called the ESC-2030. The older ones in the city have ESC-864's, which Whelen doesn't support any longer. The later version of the prior logic board, the ESC-2020, made after 2007 and the current one peak at 560 Hz in alert tone. That's why it sounds like a newer siren.
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FedTB
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Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:10 pm
Location: St. Charles County, Mo.

Re: Whelen WPS-2807 now sounds like a 2900-series Whelen after repairs

Wed May 22, 2019 3:20 am

Thanks, DJ2226 for the explanation! Much appreciated!

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