2 classic ATI controllers I acquired.

[Valra Bellkeys]

Recently I acquired a Federal Signal MC, and along with that, the guts of two classic ATI controllers. The ATI controllers are from Baytown, Texas. From what I can tell, the controllers(or at least the amplifier sets) are 24V. They each have 4 400W amplifiers, 1 of them has a single amplifier labeled "HPSS 20009" and the other has 2 labeled the same way, the rest being unlabeled. The only difference I could find between the 2 different amps was a simple component which was of a different style. While searching old posts on ARS, I found a very similar looking amplifier from an old ebay listing that looked very similar on the front but was marked "HPSS 20036" and was 1600W. My controllers ran those funky DSA-look-alikes. I do not have the cabinet and I just have the amplifier set and the main board. Unfortunately, I do not know how to properly wire them up and hook them. I have 2 12V batteries that supply a steady 24.4V. However I already blew 2 fuses trying one of the main boards on 12V(I was told that I may as well) on the power port. No documentation for these sirens exist, thus no manuals, at least in hands of siren enthusiasts. ATI was of no help either, I simply got a response email from them with (HORRIBLE) grammar stating that they do not support old sirens anymore. So I am at a standstill with these controllers, not knowing how to power the main board.

Close up of the center of the main board.

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Picture of the entire control board (a few ports are cropped off, the power in port is on the very upper right).

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The marking inside of the amp set.

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Broad picture of the inside of the amp set with 2 amps removed.

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Inside of the unlabeled amp.

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Inside of the amp labeled "HPSS 20009".

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The 2 different amps side by side.

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Picture of the entire amp set.

ATI8.jpg (170.71 KiB) Viewed 5417 times

[Valra Bellkeys]

Here is 2 good threads that discusses these old ATI controllers.
https://www.airraidsirens.net/forums/vi ... hp?t=15232
And
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15184

Uncommonsense posted a picture of the HPSS 20036 amp from an eBay listing that I mentioned in the original post. The seem to have the same modular amp connections as my 400W amps. It really leaves a lot of questions. Did the same modular controllers that support the 400W amps accept the 1600W amps? Wouldn't make much sense though unless you literally wired 8 drivers in series to connect it to the board, the have all 64 theoretical drivers, assuming all 4 amp slots are filled with those 1600W amps. Perhaps they only used a single one of these for a given siren. All my rambling goes to show how little we know about them, which is a shsme because these old ATI controllers aren't rudimentary technology - they are programmable, can do voice and tones, I assume they support 2 way. These controllers I have are very interesting, but nobody knows anything about it, or how to use it.

[Model L]

interesting design.
you would think it would run off of the same volatage as the rest of the controller, but it doesnt.

[nvanw27]

With ATI, it's anyone's guess as to how anything works.

[Valra Bellkeys]

interesting design.
you would think it would run off of the same volatage as the rest of the controller, but it doesnt.

I haven't actually tested it on 24V yet, but the fact the fuse immediately blew on 12V concerns me. Possibly a bad board?

[Hacksaw]

It almost looks like the 2 black electrolytic capacitors on the upper left, on the last photo, are bulging & leaking. Either would mean that they are bad. They are to the right of TP-14, and, left of the grey ribbon cable. One of the seems to be C11. Note that these types of capacitors do age & go bad.

[Darley Champion]

It almost looks like the 2 black electrolytic capacitors on the upper left, on the last photo, are bulging & leaking. Either would mean that they are bad. They are to the right of TP-14, and, left of the grey ribbon cable. One of the seems to be C11. Note that these types of capacitors do age & go bad.

These don't look like capacitors, more like inductor coils with some kind of thermoshrink wrap arround 'em

[Model L]

on the amp board there are 2 fuses. check these as well.

[Valra Bellkeys]

I know it has been awhile since I posted here, but this is due for a bump. A few months back, I finally got access to 24V and tested the board. They appear to turn on, but I can't get them to do any sort of functions. I get lights, but the buttons on it do nothing. also haven't devised away to power both the boards AND the amplifiers at the same time, but this does show that the main boards do indeed run off 24V. I'll likely do some more testing in the future with it properly connected with the amps.

On a side note, if you plug it into the amps, even while the amps aren't powered via the ribbon cable, some of the lights do come on.

Back to the HPSS 20036 amp above, I had obtained a picture of a complete controller that utilizes that specific amplifier. It is essentially the same brain as mine, and instead of using an array of 4 amps, it just uses that single 1600W amplifier, with room for another.