2001-SRNB

[Matt Hackler]

Hey all,

This post sort of goes along with one I did about a Thunderbolt-1000 a few weeks ago. The question is can a 2001 be set to not rotate during a test. The siren I went to during the test last Friday is the only one I've seen not rotate during the tests. The test is about 1:00 minute long. It's the second newest siren in the city, being placed there in the last two years. I was just wandering if it's malfunctioning or if it's supposed to be doing that.

Thanks,
Matt

[Bshinn]

It is a piece of cake to do with a thunderbolt.....the controls are totally different with the 2001.
It's probably not hard to set up, but it may void federal's warranty. They and American Signal are pretty touchy about that stuff.

The one you saw may be malfunctioning...depending upon its age, they used to use belt drive for the rotation up until the year 2001 or so (btw this was the exact same rotation drive assembly used by the T-bolt...just modified where the collector rings mount).
The latest generation of the 2001SRNB uses a direct drive.

Ben S.

[Matt Hackler]

Well the siren was placed there in the last year or two. It's new enough that it has the Large FS logo on the front of the siren. The dirt around the pole is still mounded up and really does not have much growing on it. The next time I go in to the EMA office I'll take a look at the date for it going up. But I've passed by 3 other 2001's since the test Friday and they've all turned since I last saw them. It was kind of interesting, the reciever antenna was shaking all over the place during the test, I've never been that close to a siren when it's tested. I'm going to the newest 2001 this Friday to see what it does during the test.

Matt,

[Nelso90]

The older 2001's, from what I've heard from Nelcom, are pretty prone to belt breakage. That might've been what happened.

[Matt Hackler]

OK guys now another 2001-SRNB problem. I went to another of the 2001's in the city today. The siren started rotating and started sounding for about one or two seconds. If you had not been watching the siren you wouldn't have known it happened. It's like it got the signal to activate but ten decided not to do it, like it changed it's mind. Thankfully I can hear two other 2001's and an SD-10 even with the earplugs in. I'm just wandering if anyone has any idea's, I'm not sure, I think maybe a communication problem. Well tell me what you think. The siren was placed there about 10 months ago, so it should be working perfectly.

Thanks,

[va_nuke_pe]

When they don't want to do a full sounding test, but prove the motors (chopper and rotation) work, they do a growl test. Did you see the siren rotate about 180 degrees and hear the siren sound (low) and wind down in about 10 seconds or so? That's a growl test.

2001SRN-B uses a belt drive (that is notched so that it doesn't slip on the pinion or drive gear). It uses a 6.5 HP chopper motor and a 1/8-HP rotation motor. If it sounded, but didn't rotate, then the choices are: Bad (worn, fallen off or slipping because there isn't enough tension on the tension adjuster), bad tension adjuster, bad rotation motor, or something preventing electricity flow to the rotation motor.

[StonedChipmunk]

When they don't want to do a full sounding test, but prove the motors (chopper and rotation) work, they do a growl test. Did you see the siren rotate about 180 degrees and hear the siren sound (low) and wind down in about 10 seconds or so? That's a growl test.

No, no, no. He means that only one of the sirens growled, while all the others in the city were full blast.

[Matt Hackler]

I've seen the growl test of a 2001 on the board a few weeks ago, and this siren is not doing that. It's not active long enough to be considered a growl test. The siren turned maybe 3" and It started producing sound for about 4 seconds before it deactivated. I could here the other sirens in the distance still ramping up. It just all of a sudden didn't continue with the test. It's very strange.

[StonedChipmunk]

You said 1-2 seconds earlier... so let me take a few guesses:
1.) The radio signal (or telephone signal) got scrambled or something somehow and deactivated the siren early.
2.) Newer sirens have secret detectors that detect if someone is nearby. Hey, it's a good idea... they don't want to get sued for blowing someone's eardrums out...
3.) Something in the siren broke (blew a fuse?)
4.) The power line went down.

Now, if it was 4 seconds...
1.) The sirens might possibly be coded to only sound for certain times. For example, if a siren is surrounded by houses it will be coded for only a few seconds, if it was in the forest it would sound longer.
2.) Something broke later ^.^
3.) Someone somehow decoded the data sent to deactivate the siren and "flipped the switch", so to speak, with a radio transmitter of some sort.
4.) Someone messed with the power.

Now, I know all of these answers are improbable, I'm just giving random answers for fun (hey, one of them may be right.)

And for the non-rotating siren... most likely they either disconnected the rotator motor for some reason (direct the sound to only one location) or the belt broke. And that is only if the siren is an older model. Although you said it was placed there 10 months ago, it may still just be an older model scrapped by another community. You never know.

[Justin]

Newer sirens have secret detectors that detect if someone is nearby. Hey, it's a good idea... they don't want to get sued for blowing someone's eardrums out...

Horse$#1t!
That would be the dumbest idea I have heard! Sirens are designed and marketed to be loud. It would be more feasable to automatically cut off the siren if the control box door was completely open. Even then, a smart techie would shut the mains off before even thinking of working on it.

Matt, have you reported this to the EMA office? I would also be calling FS reps and calling in the Warranty.