Whelen GAMMA2 User Manual

®

ENGINEERING COMPANY INC.

CAUTION

Loud siren noise can cause
hearing damage and/or loss.

Refer to OSHA Section 1910.95 prior
to putting ANY siren into service!

Wear

Protection!

ACTIVATION OF THIS
SIREN MAY DAMAGE
UNPROTECTED EARS!

51 Winthrop Road
Chester, Connecticut 06412-0684
Phone: [phone]

Self-Contained Siren Amplifier

Installation Guide:

Installation Guide:

GAMMA2™

Fax: [phone]
Internet: www.whelen.com
Sales e-mail: [e-mail]
Canadian Sales e-mail: [e-mail]
Customer Service e-mail: [e-mail]

DANGER! Sirens produce extremely loud emergency warning tones! Exposure to these tones without

proper and adequate hearing protection, could cause ear damage and/or hearing loss! The Occupational Safety &
Health Administration (www.osha.gov) provides information necessary to determine safe exposure times in
Occupational Noise Exposure Section 1910.95. Until you have determined the safe exposure times for your
specific application, operators and anyone else in the immediate vicinity should be required to wear an approved
hearing protection device. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THIS RECOMMENDATION COULD CAUSE HEARING LOSS!

Safety First

This document provides all the necessary information to allow your Whelen product to be properly and safely installed.
Before beginning the installation and/or operation of your new product, the installation technician and operator must
read this manual completely. Important information is contained herein that could prevent serious injury or damage.

• Proper installation of this product requires the installer to have a good understanding of automotive electronics,
systems and procedures.

• Failure to use specified installation parts and/or hardware will void the product warranty!

• If mounting this product requires drilling holes, the installer MUST be sure that no vehicle components or other
vital parts could be damaged by the drilling process. Check both sides of the mounting surface before drilling
begins. Also de-burr any holes and remove any metal shards or remnants. Install grommets into all wire
passage holes.

• If this manual states that this product may be mounted with suction cups, magnets, tape or Velcro®, clean the
mounting surface with a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water and dry thoroughly.

• Do not install this product or route any wires in the deployment area of your air bag. Equipment mounted or
located in the air bag deployment area will damage or reduce the effectiveness of the air bag, or become a
projectile that could cause serious personal injury or death. Refer to your vehicle owner’s manual for the air bag
deployment area. The User/Installer assumes full responsibility to determine proper mounting location, based
on providing ultimate safety to all passengers inside the vehicle.

• For this product to operate at optimum efficiency, a good electrical connection to chassis ground must be
made. The recommended procedure requires the product ground wire to be connected directly to the NEGATIVE
(-) battery post.

• If this product uses a remote device to activate or control this product, make sure this control is located in an
area that allows both the vehicle and the control to be operated safely in any driving condition. DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO ACTIVATE OR CONTROL THIS DEVICE IN A HAZARDOUS DRIVING SITUATION.

• It is recommended that these instructions be stored in a safe place and
referred to when performing maintenance and/or reinstallation of this
product.

• FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND
INSTRUCTIONS COULD RESULT IN DAMAGE TO THE PRODUCT OR
VEHICLE AND/OR SERIOUS INJURY TO YOU AND YOUR PASSENGERS!

Automotive: Sirens/Switches

For warranty information regarding this product, visit www.whelen.com/warranty

©2011 Whelen Engineering Company Inc.
Form No.14302A (011713)

Page 1

TABLE 1

Distance in Feet

INS = Insufficient

18

31

15.5

10.5

7.5

16

49

24.5

16.5

12.5

14

78
39
26

19.5

12 10 8
10
20
30
40

Wire Gage / AWG

INS.
INS.

7.5
4

12

6
4
3

19.5

9.5

6.5
5

Current

Draw

(

AMPS

)

Split Lock
Washer

Screw

Ext. Tooth

Lock Washer

LED 1

Indicators:

LED 2 LED 3

Front Panel

This siren offers a unique and distinctive collection of features designed to allow the user to customize the operation of this siren to

16 Position Connector

Fuses & Fuse
Blocks are
customer
supplied.

1

FUSE

0 AMP

CHASSIS
GROUND

100W

SPEAKER

HORN

RELAY

+12V

TO HORN

BUTTON

BATTERY

VEHICLE

HORN

16 Position Outlet

Rear view

of amplifier

WIRING DIAGRAM

INPUT VOLTAGE
INPUT CURRENT
INPUT FUSE
SPEAKER IMPEDANCE
OPERATING TEMPERATURE
STORAGE TEMPERATURE
HUMIDITY
OUTPUT VOLTAGE
OUTPUT POWER

12.8 VDC ±20%
8 AMPS MAX.

10 AMPS

11 OHMS MIN.

-30° C. TO +60° C.

-40° C. TO +70° C.

99% (NON CONDENSING)

@ 15 VDC @ 11 OHMS 34 V RMS MAX.

@ 15 VDC @ 11 OHMS 105 WATTS MAX.

Fuse

UnusedOutlets: 2-3-5-7-9-10-14&16

WHT/GRN

SIREN
IN USE(+

)

Load

Ground

YELLOW

BLACK

RED15

8

6

1

4

Power

Load

Ground

Power

Scan-Lock

BLK

BLK

WHT

VIO
BRN

BLU

BROWN

BLU

13

suit their individual needs. Features include:

• 100 watts of output power

• Scan-Lock™ siren tone programming

• Hands Free operation

• Compact design

• Harmonically rich composite air horn tones

• Title 13 compliant profiles

• Horn ring control inputs

Mounting:

This siren is designed to be mounted directly onto the dash or other
surface through the use of a bail-strap mounting bracket. The unit may
also be mounted into your vehicle’s console (if so equipped).

WARNING: Mounting this unit will require drilling. It is absolutely
necessary to make sure that no other vehicle components could be
damaged in the process. Check both sides of the mounting surface
before starting. If damage is likely, select a different location.

Bail-strap mount:

1. Position bail strap in selected
mounting location and drill
mounting holes, then secure
the bail strap to the vehicle.

2. Secure the siren to the bail
strap as shown. Tighten the
screws firmly.

Console Mount:

Console manufacturers offer
mounting kits that include all the necessary hardware and brackets
required to mount this unit into their console. The console mount brackets
are secured onto the unit the same way the bail bracket is. Please refer to
the manual included with your console.

4. Connect the WHITE/GREEN wire to the wire that runs from the horn
relay to the horn.

Operation:

Siren in use: This output will become active (+VBAT) whenever a tone is
being produced by the siren.

Wiring:

Siren Input Connector - RED: Power - BLACK: Ground

WARNING: All customer
supplied wires that connect
to the positive terminal of
the battery must be sized to
supply at least 125% of the
maximum operating current
and FUSED
carry that load. DO NOT USE CIRCUIT BREAKERS WITH THIS
PRODUCT!

1. Extend the RED and BLACK wires toward the vehicle battery. To pass
the RED and BLACK wires through, you may have to drill a hole in the
fire wall. Insert a grommet to protect the wires.

2. Route the RED and BLACK wires along the factory harness towards the
battery. Install a fuse block (user supplied) on the end of the RED wire.

Remove fuse from fuse block before connecting wires to battery.

3. Connect fuse block wire to POSITIVE terminal on battery. There must
not be more than 2 feet of wire between fuse block and battery. The
wire between the fuse and battery is “unprotected”, do not allow it to
chafe and short to ground.

4. Connect the BLACK wire to the factory chassis ground.

YELLOW & BROWN - Speaker:

1. Route the YELLOW and BROWN wires toward vehicle siren speaker,
along factory wire harness and through firewall at the same point as the
RED and BLACK wires.

2. Connect the YELLOW wire to the POSITIVE terminal on the SPEAKER
and the BROWN wire to NEGATIVE connection on the speaker.

WHITE/GREEN - Horn Relay:

1. Route WHITE/GREEN wire along factory wire harness and through
firewall at the same point as the RED and BLACK wires.

2. Route WHITE/GREEN wire to vehicle’s horn relay. If possible, follow
the factory wire harness to this relay.

3. Locate the wire that connects the vehicle horn to the horn relay.

at the battery to

PWR button: This button must be activated to enable any of the siren

tones. To activate this button press and release, the button's LED will
indicate a positive activation. To turn the siren off, press and release
again.

STNDBY button: To activate this button press and release, the button's
LED will indicate a positive activation. When this button is activated the
siren will be in a standby mode. No tones will be enabled until another
action is taken by the operator. Activating this button will also shut off an
activated TONE button.

TONE button: To activate this button press and release, the button's LED
will indicate a positive activation. When this button is activated the siren
will produce a Wail tone. Activating this button will also shut off an
activated STNDBY button.

MAN button: The MAN button generates a variety of tones, depending on
what mode of operation has been chosen by the user (See “Operations”).

HORN button: The Horn button generates an AIRHORN tone when
pressed, however if one of the Title 13 modes has been chosen,
AIRHORN does not override Wail and Yelp (See “Operations” section).

SW1 and SW2 Rocker Switches: Sw1 and Sw2 are Auxiliary Power
switches with LED indicators to be used at the customers discretion. Each
switch can handle up to 20 Amps at +Vbat. (See “WIRING DIAGRAM”).

Page 2

= Title 13 Compliant

HF TONE LIST

WAIL
YELP
HI/LO
PIERCER
Y249

W

ARBLE

WHOOP
MECHANICAL
PULSED AIRHORN

AIRHORN-HI/LO
ALT. WAIL
ALT YELP
PULSED PIERCER
PULSE YELP/AIRHORN

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

TONE BUTTON PRIMARY TONE LIST

●

●

●

●

●

TONE OFF
WAIL
YELP
HI/LO
PIERCER

Y249
W

ARBLE

WHOOP
MECHANICAL
PULSED AIRHORN

AIRHORN-HI/LO
ALT. WAIL
ALT YELP
PULSED PIERCER
PULSE YELP/AIRHORN

= Title 13 Compliant

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

= Title 13 Compliant

TONE OFF
WAIL
YELP
HI/LO
AIRHORN-HI
AIRHORN-LO

PIERCER
Y249
W

ARBLE

W OOP
MECHANICAL

H

PULSED AIRHORN

Tone Button O

VERRIDETONE LIST

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

AIRHORN-HI/LO
ALT. WAIL
ALT YELP
PULSED PIERCER
PULSE YELP/AIRHORN

●

●

●

●

●

MANUAL Tone List

TONE OFF
WAIL-COAST
WAIL-STOP
MECHANICAL-COAST
MECHANICAL-STOP

HI-WAIL-COAST
HI-WAIL-STOP
AIRHORN-HI
AIRHORN-LO

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

LED 1

LED 2

LED 3 MODE #

ON

OFF

ON

OFF

OFF

ON
ON

OFF

OFF
OFF
OFF

ON

MODE 1
MODE 2
MODE 3
MODE 4

T

ABLE

2

BUTTON

OPERATION

MAN BUTTON OR HORN RING INPUT HORN*

STNDBY
TONE
HORN*

HF-Standby
Wail
Airhorn

HF cycle (Wail, Yelp, Piercer)**
YELP
Airhorn

Airhorn
Airhorn
Airhorn

** HF cycle: tones are activated by a single tap on the MAN button or HORN RING
input. The first tap produces a WAIL tone (a steady rise and fall tone). A second tap
produces a YELP tone (a fast rise and fall tone). A third tap produces a PIERCER tone
(a extremely fast rise and fall tone). The next tap returns the siren to a WAIL tone and
the cycle repeats itself. Two quick successive taps will stop the siren.

* The HORN button produces airhorn as a main tone as well as an override tone.

BUTTON

BUTTON

SWITCH

OPERATION

MAN BUTTON OR HORN RING INPUT

MAN BUTTON OR HORN RING INPUT

MAN BUTTON OR HORN RING INPUT

HORN*

HORN*

HORN*

STNDBY
TONE
HORN*

STNDBY
TONE
HORN*

STNDBY
TONE
HORN*

M -St byanual nd
Wail
Airhorn

O

PERATION

HF nd
Wail
Airhorn

-St by

O

PERATION

Manual-St bynd
Wail
Airhorn

Manual Wail
YELP
Airhorn

HF Cycle (Wail, Yelp, Y249)**
YELP
Airhorn

Manual Wail
YELP
Airhorn

Airhorn
Airhorn
Airhorn

Airhorn***
No Change
Airhorn

Airhorn***
No Change
Airhorn

* The HORN switch produces airhorn as a main tone as well as an override tone.

MODE 1

M

ODE 2

The following tables show the factory default tone settings. See the "tone
programming" section to make desired changes.

HF cycle: tones are activated by a single tap on the MAN button or HORN RING
input. The first tap produces a WAIL tone (a steady rise and fall tone). A second tap
produces a YELP tone (a fast rise and fall tone). A third tap produces a Y249 tone (a
extremely fast rise and fall tone). The next tap returns the siren to a WAIL tone and
the cycle repeats itself. Two quick successive taps will stop the siren.

**

Title 13 mode prevents Airhorn to override Wail and Yelp but will allow Airhorn

when in Standby

*** ,

.***

* The HORN button produces airhorn as a main tone as well as an override tone.

MODE 3 /TITLE 13***

* The HORN switch produces airhorn as a main tone as well as an override tone.

Title 13 mode prevents Airhorn to override Wail and Yelp but will allow Airhorn

when in Standby

*** ,

*** .

MODE 4/TITLE 13***

Operations:

TONE OFF AIR HORN-HI AIR HORN-LO

AIRHORN tone list

●● ●

Siren Tone Programing Procedures
Programming the Siren:

WARNING: Never try to program the siren while it is wired to the
vehicle. A low level audio device is built into the siren so siren tones
can be heard during programming.

There are two important operational characteristics of the siren that can be
reconfigured; Mode of Operation and Tone Selection. The Scan-Lock™
button is used to place the unit in configuration mode as well as to select
the desired changes. The Scan-Lock™ button is located as shown and
can be activated with a pen or similar object. Three LEDs (See front panel)
provide a visual indication of the currently selected mode of operation
during the configuration process. The configuration procedure used to
configure the Mode of Operation is different from the one used to
configure Tone Selection. The procedure for each is outlined below.

Tone Programming:

To change the over-ride tone for the TONE button (for all MODES):

Activate the siren by
pressing the TONE
button. Press and
hold the HORN
RING or the MAN
button. Press and
release the Scan­Lock™ switch. Each
time the Scan-Lock™ switch is pressed and re-leased, the next available

tone will be broadcast. When the desired tone is present, it will
automatically be saved as the override tone for that control switch.
Release the HORN RING or the MAN switch.

To change the primary tone for the TONE button (for all MODES):

Activate the siren
by pressing the
TONE button.
Press and release
the Scan-Lock™
switch. Each time
the Scan-Lock™
switch is pressed
and released, the next available tone will be broadcast. When the desired
tone is generated, it is automatically saved for that control switch position.

To change a tone in the hands free cycle (for MODE 1 & 3): Place the
siren in HF standby,
by Activating the
STNDBY button.
Using the HORN
RING or the MAN
button, advance to
the tone that you
wish to change. Press and release the Scan-Lock™ switch. Each time the
Scan- Lock™ switch is pressed and released, the next available tone will
be broadcast. When the desired tone is generated, it will automatically be
saved for that hands-free cycle position.

To change the tone for the manual cycle (for MODE 2 & 4): Place the
siren in MANUAL standby, by
Activating the STNDBY button.
Press and hold the HORN RING
or the MAN button. Press and
release the Scan-Lock™ switch.
Each time the Scan-Lock™
switch is pressed and re-leased,
the next available tone will be
broadcast. When the desired tone is present, it will automatically be saved
as the MANUAL tone. Re-lease the HORN RING or the MAN switch.

To change the tone for the HORN button (for all MODES): Press and
hold the AIRHORN button.
Press and release the Scan­Lock™ switch. Each time the
Scan-Lock™ switch is pressed
and released, the next available tone will be broadcast. When the desired
tone is present, it will automatically be saved as the AIRHORN tone.
Release the AIRHORN switch.

Mode Programming:

There are four modes of operation built
into this siren. Mode 1 is the factory
default mode, to change the “mode of
operation” follow the instructions
below. This section will outline how to
select the “mode of operation”.

1. Turn off the PWR button.

2. Press and hold the Scan-Lock™ button. Press and release the PWR
button.

3. Release Scan-Lock™ button. The unit is now in Configuration Mode.

4. Using the Scan-Lock™ button, cycle through the four different modes
of operation. The currently selected mode can be identified by the
LED indicators. Refer to Table 2 for LED display information.

5. When the desired mode of operation has been selected, press and
release the PWR button to exit the configuration mode.

Page 3