CD Siren

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ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
We install Sirens for several towns in the area with one of them reporting that occasionally they will start on there own. Not all of them and usually after some POCO line disturbance. Storm or primary line malfunction. I only found out about the problem this spring. We looked at all of them, or so we thought, replaced some blocking diodes that were across DC coils and put in some new SPD on those units.


Today while on a service call in town we heard one of the sirens sounding. To make it short, a squirrel tested the voltage on the primary and blew the fuse. When the POCO replaced the fuse the siren control latched in and ran for a typical 3 minute cycle. This one did not have SPD, lightning arrestor, on it but am not sure that would have helped anyway. Some how it seems the disturbance is pulling in a control circuit and latching in. Some have stayed latched until power is removed via a disconnect. The control is normally through a Radio signal, manual control not automatic.

Any thoughts on where or what I might be using to filter this problem. We can not duplicate it.
 
F

fmtjfw

Senior Member
Location
Fairmont, WV, USA
I build a siren control in the 1960's and had the same problem when the power was restored. It had to do with the pickup times of the various relays and timers.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
ptonsparky said:
Any thoughts on where or what I might be using to filter this problem. We can not duplicate it.
Click to expand...

Keep throwing squirrels at the same point that caused the failure you mentioned before, until you find the right combination. If you run out of squirrels find some stray cats, I've even got some possum and raccoon around here you can have.:cool:
 
Little Bill

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
ptonsparky said:
We install Sirens for several towns in the area with one of them reporting that occasionally they will start on there own. Not all of them and usually after some POCO line disturbance. Storm or primary line malfunction. I only found out about the problem this spring. We looked at all of them, or so we thought, replaced some blocking diodes that were across DC coils and put in some new SPD on those units.


Today while on a service call in town we heard one of the sirens sounding. To make it short, a squirrel tested the voltage on the primary and blew the fuse. When the POCO replaced the fuse the siren control latched in and ran for a typical 3 minute cycle. This one did not have SPD, lightning arrestor, on it but am not sure that would have helped anyway. Some how it seems the disturbance is pulling in a control circuit and latching in. Some have stayed latched until power is removed via a disconnect. The control is normally through a Radio signal, manual control not automatic.

Any thoughts on where or what I might be using to filter this problem. We can not duplicate it.
Click to expand...

Saw the title of the thread and thought a CD was made of a siren and was used for the alarm, then I realized what CD stood for! I don't get out much.:slaphead::roll:
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
We have worked on quite a few in our county. We put a new starter on one in a neighboring community. The guy who had mechanic shop directly under it was not happy. It had been set to low way back when. We usually just hit the run button long enough for them to start with not enough time for 'loud'. Not this old one. Made the eardrums flutter before I could hit stop. No wonder he was POd.
 
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