What do you guys think about Whelens

[holler]

Whelen has improved their sirens a LOT over the past 10 years. The orange drivers and the 2030 logic board were the two biggest improvements. They are fairly reliable sirens, but the older ones are prone to their quirks (2020 board) and the rotator can be somewhat fragile, especially the belt drive models.

They are loud, and the Whelen radio setup works pretty good too. They finally introduced an improved solar charge controller and upgraded the solar panels from 40 watts to 80 which greatly improved battery life.

The best thing is Whelen has an awesome service department. They can repair the majority of the components on the siren, and they don't charge much either.

The ones I service/maintain really don't give that much trouble. We've had logic board issues which were corrected by sending the board back to whelen for a firmware update and the occasional oscillator board failure, and a radio that needed retuning. Other than that they really haven't gave us any trouble.

[BritishCyclone125]

i like/love the danish whelen wps 2900s, what about you guys, do you like the danish whelen wps 2900s?

[WolfSoul]

i like/love the danish whelen wps 2900s, what about you guys, do you like the danish whelen wps 2900s?

Could you give me more info about these danish whelens? I would like to learn more.

[dilloncarpenter]

Whelens are good sirens if you use them properly. There are at least 250 in the OKC metro alone. I don't care for the ones OKC has because they're an older generation and a lot of the drivers in the sirens don't work a lot of the time. So essentially, it's a "the siren works because it's making noise", even though it's not reaching its full potential. I will always like mechanical sirens more for this because there is either all sound output or none. Additionally, most of OKC's sirens still use the old 435Hz controller that sounds like absolute garbage. Couple that with the insane hissing screens on the 2800's and it's not a very clear sound. The 2910's that Norman got will cut through like no other because they are more easily serviced and have that crystal clear sound quality.

In short, it depends on age and how well they are maintained.

[gman 1]

Do they put the orange drivers in the unidirectional models too?

[coastalsyrolover]

Do they put the orange drivers in the unidirectional models too?

Pretty sure they do.

[gman 1]

I guess that would make sense, it's just that they look like they're too bulky to fit inside of the back cover of the horns.

[Valra Bellkeys]

Whelens are good sirens if you use them properly. There are at least 250 in the OKC metro alone. I don't care for the ones OKC has because they're an older generation and a lot of the drivers in the sirens don't work a lot of the time. So essentially, it's a "the siren works because it's making noise", even though it's not reaching its full potential. I will always like mechanical sirens more for this because there is either all sound output or none. Additionally, most of OKC's sirens still use the old 435Hz controller that sounds like absolute garbage. Couple that with the insane hissing screens on the 2800's and it's not a very clear sound. The 2910's that Norman got will cut through like no other because they are more easily serviced and have that crystal clear sound quality.

In short, it depends on age and how well they are maintained.

There are 181 Whelen's in OKC's siren system. This isn't counting Yukon or any other town(none I know of) around OKC with Whelens.

Also, I think the 435 Hz is great IMO(besides the stress it puts on the drivers), the ambient of the sirens sound absolutely fantastic, especially the windup(IMO), and another great thing about 435 Hz is it carry's very far! Sadly, your right about the drivers.. I can't hear them as good from my house(I can still hear them any day) as I used to, I mean they are still very clear and can be heard even indoors, but not as potently and as loudly as they used too years ago..