Longest time a siren has been stuck on?

[jerrylovessirens]

I just thought of this,

What was the longest time anyone can think of that a siren has been stuck on, either attack or alert tones.

I can remember a time (2000, when there was one T-bolt left in the system) here in Fondy that our RM-130s and the one T-bolt got stuck on for a whole 25 minutes in alert!!

[SirenMadness]

The longest recommended time of a siren simultaneously on by its company would be fifteen minutes, thought the motors could co on for somewhere around half an hour, smaller motors performing best longer than larger motors.

[Archon]

In Prairie Du Sac WI's Allertor got hit by lighting once. And shorted the contactor. It would run 15minutes then the motor overload would dump and it would come back on for another 15minutes untill it will overload and get dumped off again for about a hr while the city was trying to find the keys to the shut off switch padlock.

[SirenMadness]

A speaker-based siren would last longer than a mechanical siren, assuming both sirens have the same rating at a standard length away, if the speaker-based siren has a high pitch, as the drivers blaring out a high pitch won't have as much electricity flowing through themselves as the mechanical siren will through its motor.

[kswx29]

About 7 or 8 years ago, it was a regular monday test in Lecompton, KS...but someone didnt like it so they "Shot" at the siren and it keep on going for i would say about a half hour...but then County EM Officals shut it off.

[Spotter/Chaser]

In 1986, the entire siren system in Muncie, Indiana was activated during the night by some type of malfunction. The system continued to sound for the next 90 minutes, according to the local newspaper.

In 1993, one T-135 in Kenosha, Wisconsin was struck by lightning on several occasions over a period of about 6 months. It turned out that the siren had never been properly grounded. Each time it was struck, it sounded on its own for close to one hour in alert mode. The 911 dispatchers could not silence it by encoding the tones normally used to shut off the sirens. The county EM had to go over to the siren, put on some ear protection, climb the tower and manually shut it off.

[Robert Gift]

Amazing.

After the first incident you would think they would ground it.
But, I would expect the installation to be to code and properly grounded.

Could it have been properly grounded but the lightning still caused a problem? Lightning can ovewhelm even proper grounding.

[Robert Gift]

About 7 or 8 years ago, it was a regular monday test in Lecompton, KS...but someone didnt like it so they "Shot" at the siren and it keep on going for i would say about a half hour...but then County EM Officals shut it off.

So, idiot was aiming for the siren and hit the control box on the pole?

Serves the shooter right.
From the hole(s), were they able to discern where the shot originated?

Many years ago, while cleaning a chimney, I found the metal flue had been shot with a .22 cal.
The holes showed that it was from a house across the street.

Denver police said there was no proof when the chimney was shot, therefore who lived at the house at the time.
One of idiot's shots ricocheted - could have killed someone.

Amazing how many idiots shoot into the air in L.A. on New Years.
In Denver, a man was killed by a moron's projectile falling back to earth on July 4th.

[SirenMadness]

The very high voltage of lightning can make polarization channels virtually anywhere in its direct vicinity. I think that the activation of the siren was probably one of the lower-voltage channels going to the wires; the siren or the wires would've possibly been fried if the full lightning hit them.

[Robert Gift]

In Prairie Du Sac WI's Allertor would run 15minutes then the motor overload would dump and it would come back on for another 15minutes untill it will overload and get dumped off again for about a hr ...

Good that these motors have internal thermo-switches.
Interesting that they trip at 15 minutes which is typical siren motor duty cycle.
Then takes an hour to cool enough for the heat switch to close.

Our 2t22 has an internal protection circuit.
If the circuit opens, the relay which closes three-phase power
contacts is de-energized.