Whelan Strobe Troubleshooting...

[zatatime]

Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
light? It is on a Piper Cherokee and is the "beacon" of the airplane.
I had an extra bulb I don't know the status of and swapped it out, but
still didn't get any emission. I'm thinking that its probably the
unit, but I don't know how to prove it since it isn't a continuous
power light.

There are 3 wires on the clip. A white, black, and red. I think the
red is what gives the pulse to the strobe and the black is ground of
course. The white has a sticker on it that says 13V so my assumption
is that that should be continuous power. Is my assumption correct?
If it is I know its the unit because I don't get any reading on the
meter when I connect to the black and white wires.

Is there somewhere I can look to get additional information? Any help
would be appreciated. At 350 dollars I'd like to be sure I'm
replacing the correct part and don't just need the 75 dollar bulb.

TIA for any responses.
z

[Ross Richardson]

I had a similar problem and returned it to Whelan. They repaired the
power supply and returned it to me. Much cheaper than a new one and the
turn around was pretty quick. I called ahead to talk to service.

Ross

zatatime wrote:
>
> Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
> light? It is on a Piper Cherokee and is the "beacon" of the airplane.
> I had an extra bulb I don't know the status of and swapped it out, but
> still didn't get any emission. I'm thinking that its probably the
> unit, but I don't know how to prove it since it isn't a continuous
> power light.
>
> There are 3 wires on the clip. A white, black, and red. I think the
> red is what gives the pulse to the strobe and the black is ground of
> course. The white has a sticker on it that says 13V so my assumption
> is that that should be continuous power. Is my assumption correct?
> If it is I know its the unit because I don't get any reading on the
> meter when I connect to the black and white wires.
>
> Is there somewhere I can look to get additional information? Any help
> would be appreciated. At 350 dollars I'd like to be sure I'm
> replacing the correct part and don't just need the 75 dollar bulb.
>
> TIA for any responses.
> z

[Jay Masino]

zatatime > wrote:
> Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
> light?

When power is applied to the power supply, you should hear a faint
whistle. If you don't hear the whistle, you probably have a bad power
supply (or you need to get your hearing checked :) ).

--- Jay



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

[zatatime]

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 11:42:29 -0500, Ross Richardson
> wrote:

>I had a similar problem and returned it to Whelan. They repaired the
>power supply and returned it to me. Much cheaper than a new one and the
>turn around was pretty quick. I called ahead to talk to service.
>
>Ross

Thanks. I got a quote of $150 to rebuild. They said about a week to
turn it around, so it looks like that's the right answer.

Thanks for the help.

z

[zatatime]

On 07 Jul 2004 17:18:02 GMT, (Jay Masino)
wrote:

>zatatime > wrote:
>> Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
>> light?
>
>When power is applied to the power supply, you should hear a faint
>whistle. If you don't hear the whistle, you probably have a bad power
>supply (or you need to get your hearing checked :) ).
>
>--- Jay


Thanks. I don't hear that which is why I was think the bulb may be
good. I'll send it in and see what happens.

z

[EDR]

In article >, Jay Masino
> wrote:

> zatatime > wrote:
> > Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
> > light?
>
> When power is applied to the power supply, you should hear a faint
> whistle. If you don't hear the whistle, you probably have a bad power
> supply (or you need to get your hearing checked :) ).

Or a bad capacitor.

[John]

I do not remember the colors but of the three wires to the flash lamp:


wire A (red?) +450 VDC
wire B (black?) Ground
wire C (white?) 200 volt pulse to flash lamp trigger transformer

If you do not have over 400 volts DC to chassis on one wire the power
supply is bad.
There is enough 450 volt energy in the storage cap to kill you so be
careful.

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 15:35:08 GMT, zatatime
> wrote:

>Does anyone know how to go about trouble shooting a Whelan strobe
>light? It is on a Piper Cherokee and is the "beacon" of the airplane.
>I had an extra bulb I don't know the status of and swapped it out, but
>still didn't get any emission. I'm thinking that its probably the
>unit, but I don't know how to prove it since it isn't a continuous
>power light.
>
>There are 3 wires on the clip. A white, black, and red. I think the
>red is what gives the pulse to the strobe and the black is ground of
>course. The white has a sticker on it that says 13V so my assumption
>is that that should be continuous power. Is my assumption correct?
>If it is I know its the unit because I don't get any reading on the
>meter when I connect to the black and white wires.
>
>Is there somewhere I can look to get additional information? Any help
>would be appreciated. At 350 dollars I'd like to be sure I'm
>replacing the correct part and don't just need the 75 dollar bulb.
>
>TIA for any responses.
>z

[JFLEISC]

>
>There are 3 wires on the clip. A white, black, and red.

The Whelan web site has lots of wiring diagrams that might help. There are also
schematics of their flash "units" (which probably are wired the same) in their
automotive section.

Jim

[zatatime]

On 08 Jul 2004 22:48:22 GMT, (JFLEISC) wrote:

>>
>>There are 3 wires on the clip. A white, black, and red.
>
>The Whelan web site has lots of wiring diagrams that might help. There are also
>schematics of their flash "units" (which probably are wired the same) in their
>automotive section.
>
>Jim


Call me stupid, but I couldn't find it with google. Could you post
the link?

TIA.
z

[zatatime]

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 05:30:51 GMT, (John) wrote:

>I do not remember the colors but of the three wires to the flash lamp:
>
>
>wire A (red?) +450 VDC
>wire B (black?) Ground
>wire C (white?) 200 volt pulse to flash lamp trigger transformer
>
>If you do not have over 400 volts DC to chassis on one wire the power
>supply is bad.
>There is enough 450 volt energy in the storage cap to kill you so be
>careful.


Thanks. I knew the power was substatial. I'm gonna send it in and
see what they say. Seems like 25 - 150 dollars for the fix if
something is wrong. If nothing is wrong, no charge, except for a new
bulb.

Appreciate the specs.

z

[David D Cowell]

Try searching for Whelen instead of Whelan
http://www.whelen.com
--
David D Cowell
Wildcat Computers, Inc.
http://www.wildcatcomputers.net
800-686-4685
"zatatime" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 05:30:51 GMT, (John) wrote:
>
> >I do not remember the colors but of the three wires to the flash lamp:
> >
> >
> >wire A (red?) +450 VDC
> >wire B (black?) Ground
> >wire C (white?) 200 volt pulse to flash lamp trigger transformer
> >
> >If you do not have over 400 volts DC to chassis on one wire the power
> >supply is bad.
> >There is enough 450 volt energy in the storage cap to kill you so be
> >careful.
>
>
> Thanks. I knew the power was substatial. I'm gonna send it in and
> see what they say. Seems like 25 - 150 dollars for the fix if
> something is wrong. If nothing is wrong, no charge, except for a new
> bulb.
>
> Appreciate the specs.
>
> z

[zatatime]

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 07:33:53 -0500, "David D Cowell"
> wrote:

>Try searching for Whelen instead of Whelan
>http://www.whelen.com


Well that sure did helped.

Thanks!
z