The Siren Board

Is anyone having problems with Federal Signal 508 sirens? I maintain 113 of these, and have had lots of screen and screen hardware issues. Also, rotate/chopper motor current detect cards showing false positives and false negatives (saying the siren is rotating when, in fact, it's not..also showing no rotation when, in fact, it is rotating. Battery charger status switches are failing, showing false failures of the chargers, when the chargers are actually working perfectly.

These problems are irritating, but we have also had more serious problems, such as failure to rotate, due to excessive friction from the main nylon sleeve bearing/bushing. Out of 319 508s, my company has had 9 failures due to these bushings, which requires replacing the siren head with a re-built one. This is quite labor-intensive. Federal Signal is talking about replacing/rebuilding all 319 sirens.

Another very serious problem was discovered when one of our sites (105 508's) tested their sirens during cold conditions (19 degrees F) and 32 of these 105 blew their 200 Amp DC chopper fuses. Are any other 508 users having similar problems?

Hi Hurch, this is a forum for Air Raid Siren hobbyists and not necessarily professionals. While we do have some professionals on the board, none of which I know of own a 508. I'd invite you to contact Federal Signal directly for more assistance (it seems like you've already been in touch).

Poor build quality and a high number of parts never made for a pleasant combination. Unfortunately such problems will persist unless complaints are made and efforts are undertaken to repair the faulty sirens. As you've found in another thread, it appears that these problems are not unique to your system.

I would also recommend continuing to work this out with Federal Signal since they have mentioned rebuilding them as a possible solution.

Speaking strictly from a hobbyist perspective (since I don't own or maintain this particular model) I have noticed the same issues you have previously mentioned in two of the systems in the DFW metroplex that have 508s.

This 508 was recently installed just over a year ago and had rotation issues when I recorded it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TONBE94wz34
I'm not sure if this siren was simply wired incorrectly when it was installed or had a software issue. However, I don't doubt the possibility of issues due to the nylon bushing on the rotator tube given the temperature and humidity extremity in Texas and the close tolerances involved. It is now currently rotating properly, so whatever issues were occurring here have since been corrected.

This 508 was also recently installed when I recorded it. Already it appeared to have issues with it's AC rectifier keeping the batteries charged properly (it's not solar charged).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MHCXXflVAo

Lastly, this is another 508 from the same system as the last one which was also experiencing a drop in voltage over the duration of the test. I'm not sure if it was experiencing the same issues as the last one and has just not lost voltage to the point that the other one has. (Video credit to SirenkiD).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVLCwSSSb74

This doesn't have as much to do with Federal Signal's manufacturing quality IMO. Honestly, I would expect issues like these to occur on any newly designed product that hasn't yet been fully observed and analyzed over considerable periods of time in excessive weather conditions. Hopefully Federal Signal will continue to work with y'all through their limited warranty which should likely cover unforeseen defects such as these.

http://www.alertnotification.net/sites/ ... 0289_1.pdf (Page 2).

Wow...many thanks for the responses. Yes, we are working closely with Federal Signal on the rotation issue, as well as the chopper fuse-blowing issue. We've had our share of unavoidable failures, due to lightning, etc... However, failures to the battery chargers, battery charger status switches, Chopper and Rotate motor current sensors, screen hardware, and DC/DC converters and rotate clutch issues are causing a LOT of problems with these "Maintenance Free" sirens. We used to have about 90 Thunderbolts, a dozen STH-10s (my personal favorite because of their simplicity), and a couple of 2001's, but they were all replaced with 508's. Unfortunately for me, our maintenance staff head count was reduced due to the "reliability" of the 508s. I was just wondering if anyone else was having as much luck with the 508s as I was. Again... thanks for the replies.