The Siren Board

Here is a Federal Model 2 that we took down this morning. The fire dept had said that it had stopped working and they did not know what was wrong with it. After I got it tore down the brushes had been worn down to almost nothing and damaged the commutator. I'm thinking that this commutator is going to have to be replaced or repaired at the least. Also, on the tag it says that this is a "Code E" any ideas to what that may mean?

Here are the pictures:

Wow, it took that one down to the Mica. I have some spare armatures but none of mine are that bar count. They can make another commutator for it, but I don't know how much it's going to run you. I don't think they can undercut that one.

Holy crap. That NC salt air has taken its toll on that one for the past 30 years. ID tag says it was made in '82. One of my 2T's also says "Code E" on the tag. It was made a year after that one.

Good score!

Unfortunately, it seems once a siren is installed that is the last time it will ever be touched. The life of a siren is judged by the length of it motor brushes approach. Very similar to a woman's approach on vehicle routine maintenance. The life of an engine is judged by how long the original oil can keep it lubricated.

Thats one hell of a tower and platform for a model 2. Was there a larger siren there before ?

What town is this? I can tell its somewhere in western NC as that's a Duke Energy power line in the background.

Was there a larger siren there before ?

No, I'm pretty sure that this setup has always been a model 2.

What town is this?

This is near Charlotte at the Cooks VFD. It is basically located between Mountain Island Lake and Charlotte.

Well, we finally got this siren rebuilt and installed today. The armature was bad so we had to order a new one. Then when it arrived we also found out the field was also dead, so we had to order a new one of those also. We finally got the motor put back together and everything is brand new and it runs great. We put in a start button in the station so that it could be used for fire calls if the dept wants to.

Here are some pictures of the new motor parts and the siren re-installed.

Wow! Nice job on the restoration and painting!

idk6000 wrote:

If only the tower got a restoration.