Back and Forth on my Oscillating Whelen Rota-Beam Commander

The Whelen Rota-beam commander was only made for a few years. The mechanism behind the 205 degree arc has always been a mystery. This video examines the way this light is able to oscillate a full 205 degrees and reasons why it didn't catch on.

[@Sammydx1]

I like having that amber to the rear and the white to the front

[@elightbars]

They were ahead of the times with that ability in this light. Different colors to different sides of the apparatus became a big deal in the 1990s, 30 years later. But at the time "hill lights" addressed the white issue by shining the clear lamp up.

[@J3R3MY-Sigman]

Great job!

[@nealgold8442]

Great video, a wealth of information and history.

[@markdanielczyk944]

Never have I seen this model before. Cool!👍The Federal 174 according to my literature has a 95 degree sweep.

[@elightbars]

Thanks, I couldn't find the 174 number specifically (I have it somewhere). Most oscillating lights were limited to under 100 degrees. I really like the idea of oscillating beacons, but I can see why they were not super popular.

[@markdanielczyk944]

@@elightbars I like them also, but Federal Signal has a bad habit of discontinuing great lights.

[@gckshea]

All very cool approaches manufacturers used, but the amount of engineering and resources used to come up with all the different ways to convert rotation into reciprocation seems counter to simplicity, efficiency, longevity, replacability, and profit. Seems like these designs violate Occum's Razor before the ink dried on the engineer's pallet.

[@jmd1743]

Very cool. Would you please shot it off in the night or dark?

[@elightbars]

Some of the footage is in a dark room, the white and amber bulbs light up the eare enough that it's hard to tell. I will compile a video of just different shots of the light without the other info and try to include some better contrasting conditions.

[@dhewitt2514]

I can obviously appreciate how oscillating mirrors are great at directional warning, however, what are your thoughts on effectiveness in a 360 beacon? Is the kind of double hit pattern the goal?

[@elightbars]

The idea was usually the double hit as you put it, the 174 does a great job with that "pop pop" look. In the Whelen case the ability to aim different colors in just one direction was a big part of it.

[@dhewitt2514]

@@elightbars thank you - really interesting video