UK Siren Map

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

Hi! I've been doing some more siren stalking and have successfully found some more NEVER REALLY KNOWN ABOUT CS8s!

These are part of the plymouth docks siren.

The first one is located at 50.395670, -4.179739 and is on a pole, protected by a cage.

The second one is located at 50.387799, -4.179328 and is also located on a pole protected by a cage, with some scaffold around it.
You can see this one sounding here https://youtu.be/CklQwiaCFTM?t=59, although it appears that the shutter does not open.

This system appears to be a bit of a mystery, so any info would be appreciated!

Found some videos on the Plymouth sirens being sounded and it is VERY peculiar.
I think there is speculation that some, if not all the sirens are on VFDs or the like and one (or more perhaps) has been set to a different run frequency (Such as 60Hz) giving a siren a more American tone much like an xt22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsZkjExj3ug

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

Exactly, but if the 'generic british sirens' were being run on 60hz, mabye off of a VFD as Larget said then they would sound like american ones


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xo5y71fyEM Here is another video of the sirens. I believe you are right about the sirens running on 60hz.

The siren doesn't have to be on a VFD to sound like a US siren- You can get motors which turn at 3450RPM and run on 50Hz 3 phase power. It could be as simple as that. It's also possible they're running on a higher voltage. After all, this is a dockyard that'll be having at least 30kV supplied to its front door. Nevertheless it's still interesting but we can only speculate until someone like myself drives down there on test day.

EDIT: Listening to both videos there is at least one siren being run on a static phase converter, which is weird because I was fairly certain every dockyard building would have a 400VAC intake. If the sirens are installed on the periometer as well as within the dockyard, it's most likely the perimetric ones are just being fed standard residential 240VAC as the streets back onto the port, hence use of a phase converter. This definitely is the case with the Klaxon GP-12 in Climpy, Scotland. Again, it's still speculation with this Plymouth's sirens, but I see no other reason why at least one siren has a slow wind-up and then 2/3 of the way through it snaps up to full speed.

[SirensOfNewYork]

Found some videos on the Plymouth sirens being sounded and it is VERY peculiar.
I think there is speculation that some, if not all the sirens are on VFDs or the like and one (or more perhaps) has been set to a different run frequency (Such as 60Hz) giving a siren a more American tone much like an xt22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsZkjExj3ug

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

Exactly, but if the 'generic british sirens' were being run on 60hz, mabye off of a VFD as Larget said then they would sound like american ones


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xo5y71fyEM Here is another video of the sirens. I believe you are right about the sirens running on 60hz.

The siren doesn't have to be on a VFD to sound like a US siren- You can get motors which turn at 3450RPM and run on 50Hz 3 phase power. It could be as simple as that. It's also possible they're running on a higher voltage. After all, this is a dockyard that'll be having at least 30kV supplied to its front door. Nevertheless it's still interesting but we can only speculate until someone like myself drives down there on test day.

EDIT: Listening to both videos there is at least one siren being run on a static phase converter, which is weird because I was fairly certain every dockyard building would have a 400VAC intake. If the sirens are installed on the periometer as well as within the dockyard, it's most likely the perimetric ones are just being fed standard residential 240VAC as the streets back onto the port, hence use of a phase converter. This definitely is the case with the Klaxon GP-12 in Climpy, Scotland. Again, it's still speculation with this Plymouth's sirens, but I see no other reason why at least one siren has a slow wind-up and then 2/3 of the way through it snaps up to full speed.

Do you have a video of the one in Climpy?

[LargetOmos]

Found some videos on the Plymouth sirens being sounded and it is VERY peculiar.
I think there is speculation that some, if not all the sirens are on VFDs or the like and one (or more perhaps) has been set to a different run frequency (Such as 60Hz) giving a siren a more American tone much like an xt22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsZkjExj3ug

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

Exactly, but if the 'generic british sirens' were being run on 60hz, mabye off of a VFD as Larget said then they would sound like american ones


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xo5y71fyEM Here is another video of the sirens. I believe you are right about the sirens running on 60hz.

The siren doesn't have to be on a VFD to sound like a US siren- You can get motors which turn at 3450RPM and run on 50Hz 3 phase power. It could be as simple as that. It's also possible they're running on a higher voltage. After all, this is a dockyard that'll be having at least 30kV supplied to its front door. Nevertheless it's still interesting but we can only speculate until someone like myself drives down there on test day.

EDIT: Listening to both videos there is at least one siren being run on a static phase converter, which is weird because I was fairly certain every dockyard building would have a 400VAC intake. If the sirens are installed on the periometer as well as within the dockyard, it's most likely the perimetric ones are just being fed standard residential 240VAC as the streets back onto the port, hence use of a phase converter. This definitely is the case with the Klaxon GP-12 in Climpy, Scotland. Again, it's still speculation with this Plymouth's sirens, but I see no other reason why at least one siren has a slow wind-up and then 2/3 of the way through it snaps up to full speed.

The chances of a siren being installed with a different motor than usual seems unlikely (to me anyway). Perhaps it's being run on a higher voltage but I would imagine if it's making that much difference to the RPM, it would be damaging.

Also, the siren with the slow wind up is consistently slow. Not sure if you were talking about the GP12 in Climpy or the siren in Plymouth but the one in Plymouth doesn't have a jump in windup speed (from the videos I've heard)

[SirensOfNewYork]

I think he might of meant the ravenstruther one, not sure though.

I've seen that video. In the description or comments, can't remember, someone said it was underpowered or something.

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

If there was a xt22 it would sound like a generic British siren because of it being on 50hz. It also sounds like on of those tri-tone Gents sirens.

Exactly, but if the 'generic british sirens' were being run on 60hz, mabye off of a VFD as Larget said then they would sound like american ones


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xo5y71fyEM Here is another video of the sirens. I believe you are right about the sirens running on 60hz.

The siren doesn't have to be on a VFD to sound like a US siren- You can get motors which turn at 3450RPM and run on 50Hz 3 phase power. It could be as simple as that. It's also possible they're running on a higher voltage. After all, this is a dockyard that'll be having at least 30kV supplied to its front door. Nevertheless it's still interesting but we can only speculate until someone like myself drives down there on test day.

EDIT: Listening to both videos there is at least one siren being run on a static phase converter, which is weird because I was fairly certain every dockyard building would have a 400VAC intake. If the sirens are installed on the periometer as well as within the dockyard, it's most likely the perimetric ones are just being fed standard residential 240VAC as the streets back onto the port, hence use of a phase converter. This definitely is the case with the Klaxon GP-12 in Climpy, Scotland. Again, it's still speculation with this Plymouth's sirens, but I see no other reason why at least one siren has a slow wind-up and then 2/3 of the way through it snaps up to full speed.

The chances of a siren being installed with a different motor than usual seems unlikely (to me anyway). Perhaps it's being run on a higher voltage but I would imagine if it's making that much difference to the RPM, it would be damaging.

Also, the siren with the slow wind up is consistently slow. Not sure if you were talking about the GP12 in Climpy or the siren in Plymouth but the one in Plymouth doesn't have a jump in windup speed (from the videos I've heard)

I forget which one it was, apart from the fact it's a Castairs siren and is the only GP-12 in the system and is on a phase converter. To me the siren which is consistently slow in Plymouth sounded like that.

With regards to a potential motor swap- it's most likely its running on an imported VFD or something like that. Cool to have it running at US speeds nonetheless.

While looking at other videos of the weekly tests there were a few locations put in the comments, but I can't pinpoint where all of them are. Depending on how busy I am, I might look a bit more.

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

Right- most of the locations have been added to the map, but the Plymouth dockyard system is proving a tough nut to crack- I really do dislike mapping dockyards and the like because they're not in grids, the sirens are the same colour as the buildings et cetera ad nauseum. Portsmouth took a good to years for me to find all the sirens so it isn't too pleasant a place to map. If I find anything- I'll add it, but anything easier will take precidence over this.

[SirensOfNewYork]

Actually, I think this is already on the map, and it's not a Klaxon ES, I'm pretty sure. I think it's an ES2 (Is that right?) A141 (ES2 is the manufacturer)

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

I found another one. This one's another klaxon electronic but it was mechanical at one point. 54.570304, -0.897330

As far as I know it's for flooding but I don't know anything other than that

I think you must be thinking of the one in portland. This one's in skinningrove, however it is also for flooding and also used to be mechanical which is why you might be getting confused

Great- on it goes.

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

Also, I found a few that were missing from the Grimsby Siren Map,

53.566571, -0.103675
53.560248, -0.108498
53.559171, -0.044516

(Yes I have no life. It's lockdown though so I think that's a good enough excuse )

All those locations already exist on the map:

Y Tho.PNG (111.14 KiB) Viewed 68495 times

[kjt_2020]

My new UK Warning siren map that ive been working on for a few months now.
Including all types of warning sirens/Air raid sirens around the UK!

Will update weekly with new sirens and information.

If anyone has any siren locations in the UK that they would like to tell me about and add id be very thankful.

This is my first update to this map. I have added the following:

The Todmorden/Hebden Bridge Flood warning system along with photos & information.

The Norfolk Flood Warning System with old photos of the sirens before they were removed.

The Carstairs State Hospital escape sirens with photos & information.

The Broadmoor Hospital escape sirens with old photos before they were removed.

The New Broadmoor escape siren.

Added indivdual layers depending on the type of sirens. (Example: German made sirens added to the "German made" layer)


https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing