#whelen engineering

Whelen has four main divisions:

Automotive: Provides lightbars, strobe kits, siren boxes, and other public warning systems mounted on or within vehicles as well as audio broadcast systems.

Industrial: Provides audio broadcast and warning systems for industrial plants.

Aviation: Provides aircraft and airport directional lighting.

Mass Notification: Provides hardware for mass notification such as omnidirectional sirens and student alert systems with voice broadcast capability.

Whelen Motorsports is a subsidiary of Whelen and is partnered with NASCAR as the “Officially Licensed Warning Lights of NASCAR”. Whelen sponsors and promotes three NASCAR regional touring series. Through its motorsports subsidiary, Whelen also manufactures lighting for off-road applications.

History

Whelen Engineering began in 1952 when George W. Whelen invented the first rotating anti-collision beacon for aircraft in his garage in Deep River, Connecticut. In 1956, Whelen developed the aircraft beacon into a magnetic mounted beacon for use by police, fire and emergency vehicles. It was even used to turn hearses into ambulances.

In 1963, Whelen brought strobe technology to aircraft lighting, and subsequently emergency vehicle lighting as well.

In the 1970’s Whelen continued developing products for the aviation industry, but also expanded its product line to include more automotive and safety lighting devices. During this period of growth in Whelen’s automotive lighting line, Whelen also introduced the first enclosed strobe crossbar. In the 1980’s, Whelen introduced the low-profile Edge lightbar, which remains an industry standard today.

As demand for Whelen products grew in the 1990’s, Whelen began injection molding and manufacturing a wide range of products at its Charlestown, New Hampshire facility. The facility began manufacturing products from single beacons and power supplies to lightbars and complete lighting systems. In the year 2000, Whelen introduced the Liberty™, the first all LED lightbar.

Resulting from its decades long process of growth, Whelen now has two main facilities: one in Chester, Connecticut and one in Charlestown, New Hampshire. In addition, Whelen has a facility in Coventry, England through a partnership it has with a company there.

Products

Whelen strives to use the latest LED technology in their lights. Whelen also manufactures as much of its light and warning components as possible in the US, even things like brackets and plastics. Whelen’s lights also feature hard-coated lenses, which makes them unique in the warning light industry. Hard coating helps make their lights resistant to UV light, scratching and dust. Because of the hard coating process, the lights will also last much longer before becoming milky or hazing.

Whelen’s patented Linear LED technology for lightbars feature a straight line of LEDs in a parabolic reflector. This keeps the the light from spreading to too high of a vertical angle, thereby providing good light intensity from any viewing angle around a vehicle.

Designing and testing with SAE standards in mind, Whelen owns its own labs for testing. There, the products are tested according to SAE requirements. Testing is done for resistance to factors like moisture, dust, salt corrosion, vibration and heat warpage.

It’s long history of innovation, emphasis on making products in the USA, and quality of service has made Whelen a popular choice for warning light and audio products.

Shop for Whelen products at awdirect.com.

For more information, contact AW Direct’s Technical Service Specialists Monday through Friday at 1-800-243-3194.

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