The Siren Board

Menomonie WI has just installed their first 508! It is located by the airport right next to the Whelen it is replacing.

Why would they replace an electronic siren with a mechanical one?

I like electronic sirens better for three reasons: 1. They have more tones. 2. You can do voice. 3. Low power consumption.

Edited post

The Whelen sirens have DC capabilities too; theirs started failing to activate. They were getting to the age where the controller started getting a bit dodgy. Hate to see a classic Whelen siren go though. That's a nice installation.

The Whelens were upgraded at some point with Federal FC's.

ArrowShooter1003 wrote:Why would they replace an electronic siren with a mechanical one?

Lots of places have replaced electronic sirens with mechanical ones. From what I can tell, mechanical sirens are typically more reliable, and they can have the AC/DC configuration, while electronic sirens are only DC capable.

Nice! Keep us updated! Will add this to the map. Does it have a radio yet or is the Whelen still active?

estokke09 wrote:The Whelens were upgraded at some point with Federal FC's.

You mean UVs? FCs drive mechanical sirens.

carexpertandy wrote:Lots of places have replaced electronic sirens with mechanical ones. From what I can tell, mechanical sirens are typically more reliable, and they can have the AC/DC configuration, while electronic sirens are only DC capable.

Depends on the radio, controller, etc. and the people pulling the maintenance. Reliability on most modern sirens are about the same. I can confirm that our sirens have issues from bad batteries. Some of the 2001-130 in the next county have had battery issues too. Replace them and you're good. In Germany there aren't really any DC mechanical with the exception of the few standing HLS sirens, because they replace everything with electronic sirens. They seem to be holding up well.

No they are defiantly FC's. Small white boxes with a black door knob and an antenna on the top.