Explanation of what an AF timer does

[T1000 Charlie]

I have a 1003 Thunderbolt in really good condition all things considered. Have all the siren and the two control boxes, but the timer was never used in the application. There were just two switches in a box on the wall.
Have a pretty good working knowledge of mechanical and electrical so building something isn't too big a deal. I see there are only 2 wires, common excluded, that make 3 functions happen. At first I thought the constant on was power all the time and the standard hi-lo of a thunderbolt was just toggling the power on and off. The solenoids were controlled by the second wire. BUT, after watching one run, it occurred the time to rotate one revolution is the same for all the tones, so the siren does not speed up, slow down, and repeat.
And also noticed they seem to stop in the same spot, so the timer in the panel must cause this. That I get.
And, with the timer panel, do they only cycle for so long with an activation? Or can it be turned on to run constantly until the operator stops it?

Thanks for your help in advance. Really like the forum, have lurked for quite some time. Thanks to all those who care and strive to save history. I've always said the saddest thing in the world is when the only thing left of something is a picture and no working model.

[dilloncarpenter]

All an AF/AR timer is is just a few smaller relays that trigger the motor starter relays for whatever siren it is on. Most commonly, you'll see one paired up with a type of activation (radio, landline, etc) and mounted in the ARCH box. Once the radio got the signal, it triggered the AF/AR relays, which would then trigger the actual siren motor starters. They used little cam wheels that timed the siren for its cycle, usually at three minutes. The alert cam is flat all the way around, while the attack cam is grooved so that as the timer rolls, the siren turns on and off according to however the cam was set. Additionally, there are "test" and "cancel buttons. The test button would turn on the siren for however long it was pressed, and the cancel button does just that. There is also a feature that has the attack function set as priority, so that if the alert button was pressed beforehand, it would switch to the attack cycle as soon as it was pressed. I don't think you can do that going from attack to alert.

I don't know much about the "fire" signal that was used on the AF timers because it varies between each timer it seems. Also I've only owned and worked on AR timers. I hope this information helped though!

[T1000 Charlie]

That's pretty much what I was thinking. The control box is by my best guess a mid seventies model. It looks like the one pictured on the CD museum website labelled as such. Is there a timer in the main control box? That would explain the hi and lo tones. If there is a timer the blower and rotator will continue why the chopper slows down.
Thanks for the help.

[connerdstines]

That's pretty much what I was thinking. The control box is by my best guess a mid seventies model. It looks like the one pictured on the CD museum website labelled as such. Is there a timer in the main control box? That would explain the hi and lo tones. If there is a timer the blower and rotator will continue why the chopper slows down.
Thanks for the help.

There is a flasher relay in the ARCH cabinet that controls the solenoids. It's a motor that spins a metal plate that switches each solenoid on and off. It's in the bottom right of the ARCH cabinet next to the toggle switches labeled "Modulator", "Tone 1" and "Tone 2". These switches allow you control each solenoid manually when the whole thing's wired up and running.

[CDV777-1]

I have a 1003 Thunderbolt in really good condition all things considered. Have all the siren and the two control boxes,

If you have the two correct control boxes for a 1003 you should have an RCM1 (a or b) and an RCM3.
The RCM1 should have (if it's all original) an AGASTAT time delay relay for the blower and rotator. The AGASTAT relay
only controls time delay to those two starters. It doesn't do anything with the hi-lo signal.
The AGASTAT setting can also affect the chopper on/off time in the attack signal as well (long explanation I won't go into here). With a 1003 this
can lead to some out of sync hi-lo signals. I think some of my 1003 videos on youtube show that.
Anyway...
All the RCM3 cabinet does is run the hi-lo solenoids. The RC6 cabinet is used with the 3T22 siren. The reason I mention it is
because the RC6 contains the motor starter and the flasher for the hi-lo solenoids on the 3T22.

All the fire signal section of the AF timer does is turn the RCM3 on and off.
The hi-lo "flasher" in the RCM3 runs the hi-lo solenoids on the 1003. An ARCH cabinet was mentioned above which
doesn't have a hi-lo "flasher" in it. The ARCH is a cabinet with a radio receiver and AR or AF timer.
The reason it's called a "flasher" is because it's the same exact mechanism used in old signs to make the bulbs or neon flash on and off.

If your 1003 was originally wired with no timer and only two manual switches (and assuming that the control boxes you have are a RCM1 and RCM3) one manual switch must have been connected to the "Control" terminal strip of the RCM1 and the other manual switch must have been connected to operated the RCM3 cabinet. At least that's the only way I can figure it must have worked.

[T1000 Charlie]

The control cabinet is the A model and the other is the RCM3.
Saw the flasher in the cabinet that toggles the solenoids and thought "that seems to be the long way around the barn" but at the time of construction it was the most bulletproof method. There was a sticker on inside of one of the enclosure covers that the owners manual (thanks CD Museum) mentioned, but is long gone. But the boxes, contents and CD stickers are in great condition. They were in a machinery room and not exposed to the elements.
So as I understand, the Agastat holds in the blower and rotator when the 'on" circuit is off and the chopper slows. Then the circuit comes back on and restarts the chopper giving the hi lo sound. Isn't that called a delay malfunction relay or something like that? It holds for a preset time, and if reactivated it does not drop out like a contactor. That would explain a lot. You get three functions from two wires. Also explains the different and some odd sounding videos. So to work the siren as intended, it needs a couple of relays to operate the two circuits, a infinite cycle timer to toggle the circuit on and off in roughly a 10 second on, 4 second on and repeat for the hi lo, and a 2 to 3 minute timer to control total time on. Between the on-off time and chopper voltage one could custom tune their siren to taste as it were.
I now understand what all the drum type timer does. Thanks so much! All that remains would be what voltage do you run on the chopper transformer? This one is on 170. What is the on-off time for hi-lo in the original type timer and what did the missing sticker say on the enclosure lid?
That answered will get the project up to speed and enough info to build a control timer.
Thank you again !