The Siren Board

Josh(bearlovesox) wrote:

MrPulse wrote:What about adding different sounds such as tones and timings for different regions? I mean it wouldn't hurt to have it being customisable to suit other regions.

If you search for a Swiss air raid siren test for example, those kind of tones? This suggestion is towards if it happens to be electronic (electronic siren) otherwise disregard if it is towards a mechanical siren.

That is a possibility, although with the boards that will support electronic siren head units it will probably be a very standard tone around 500hz, and possibly dual tone. Because of how basic this is, attack will not be an option for those who will purchase a board that supports electronic siren heads at this time.

Now this led me to another suggestion which does sound extremely complicated but maybe a particular daughterboard with these tones for the "European National Standard" card. Haha.

I can look into the possibility of adding an interface that would allow me to come up with some more specific daughter boards as a seperate option to the main control board

To keep the cost low, there should be different tiers of controllers. One that is like a AR timer, no display or fancy lights, just the classic AR timer - can get the job done, then the higher level - more expensive stuff. As for electronic controllers, we still need a amp solution. I mean, I am planning on buying a 3016 driver soon, and I would definitely need a amp to run that

The way I have been trying to lay it out is that everything will go on one board, but if someone doesn't need a specific feature or set of features (wifi for example) we can simply not populate the parts on the board to lower cost by a large margin if all someone would want is the main bare bones system.

As for the amp, do you mean audio amp? If not what's the purpose/requirements? I may be able to get something together.

I'd recommend having at least four user-programmable signals, such as alert, attack, a customizable fire signal, test, and so on. They should have an adjustable cycle length, instead of a fixed three minutes, and the on and off timing on attack and fire should be user-adjustable. For the fire signal, consider a separate output like the AF timer has, so that a separate siren or horn can be used for fire calls.

Daniel wrote:I'd recommend having at least four user-programmable signals, such as alert, attack, a customizable fire signal, test, and so on. They should have an adjustable cycle length, instead of a fixed three minutes, and the on and off timing on attack and fire should be user-adjustable. For the fire signal, consider a separate output like the AF timer has, so that a separate siren or horn can be used for fire calls.

Yes, absolutely. Right now we are going with an alert, attack, manual test, cancel for sure. Perhaps we could place a jumper in the circuit to switch between 3 and 5 minute cycles. Also, the attack will have some sort of user friendly programming via the display and some buttons. There will be a manual test button, and a cancel. As far as fire, while it would be nice to replicate the AF completely I don't know how necessary it would be for an enthusiast. On the other hand, if requested we could always simply add two more relays rated at 240V for bee/boo outputs. All in all this is really just a fun project so that enthusiasts have access to a low cost siren timer/controller and we would not condone actually using the units in an actual life-safety system.

As for outputs and timings, I have it set up currently in a way that will let the user to customize any on/off and cycle timings using a small interface on the board. Each button on the board will be able to be set to whatever combination the user would want.

I would avoid fancy LED lighting schemes and PC-mount tact switches. Use heavy-duty 22mm illuminated switches (either guarded pushbuttons or momentary rotary selectors) which illuminate only when that cycle is active. Build it to last. Here's one I never got around to finishing. Notice the uniform switch size and placement, the unguarded cancel button, and the matching indicators (all made by Idec).

Daniel wrote:I would avoid fancy LED lighting schemes and PC-mount tact switches. Use heavy-duty 22mm illuminated switches (either guarded pushbuttons or momentary rotary selectors) which illuminate only when that cycle is active. Build it to last. Here's one I never got around to finishing. Notice the uniform switch size and placement, the unguarded cancel button, and the matching indicators (all made by Idec).

There will be an output for remote heavy duty or key switches with a locking control box to discourage tampering.

Oh my gosh. All the features are starting to sound like a lot of $$$. I think there should be different tier of controllers, dirt basic, and then up.