The Siren Board

This is a question to those who own thunderbolts. How are you powering your siren? Do you have it using house power, or running off a generator? How much power does it need? I'm planning on owning my own thunderbolt 1003 soon so I would appreciate any form of info on how to power it.

(disclaimer: I do not own a thunderbolt)

The chopper can be run off of either 120 or 240, it is essentially a model 2.
the rotator motor I believe is generally single phase 240, and as for the blower motor that is 3 phase. several people have replaced the blower motor with either a gas motor, or replaced the entire blower assembly with something like a pneumatic bank teller assembly. you can also run it without the blower but it will not sound like a thunderbolt.

Amp wise I'm not sure. someone else would have to chime in.

I do not own a thunderbolt but a close friend does. His is a single phase 1000T. The chopper is single phase 120-240V, the rotator is single phase 240V and the blower is single phase 240V. He runs it off of a 100 amp breaker and uses a RCM and AR timer to run it. Since your getting a 1003, if its a early model, the rotator might be 3 phase. Solenoids run on 240V single phase. Also there is a very slight possibility that the chopper might be 3 phase but it is unlikely. If you have anymore questions, let me know! I can give you the full load amps for each part if you want.

You’ll need to know the phase of the unit in question if you want to run it. Most out there are 3-phase (1003A), so unfortunately the only thing you’ll be able to run will be the chopper…without replacing the rotator and blower motors with single-phase counterparts or purchasing a phase converter; that could add up real quick.

If your lucky to get a single-phase unit (1003B) then the only thing you’d need to worry about is the blower motor. That takes a hefty connection and has a high amp draw at startup. A couple people have substituted the standard blower for jacuzzi pumps or gas motors; so you have some options at your disposal in either case.

Good luck!

Thank you all for the answers. I really appreciate it. However, with more research, and figuring out that an inactive Whelen vortex is nearby, I have dropped the idea of owning a bolt due to the large amount of power needed.

Sounds good, if you need any other questions feel free to ask!

I plan on getting a former military genset to run my old Model 5, which takes 15 kW of 3-phase juice at a minimum. I'd do the same for a Thunderbolt, ensuring that the generator has enough power and outputs 3-phase electricity.

A 30 kW MEP-805 diesel genset would work for my Model 5 and still have room to run bigger stuff if I wanted to. Without seeing the motor name plates on the siren and blower, I don't know if that generator would handle a full Thunderbolt system. My dream is to mount a MEP-805 and my Model 5 on a M103 or M105 trailer and tow it behind my deuce to car shows or air shows!

That said, there is something to appreciate with modern electronics technology being able to run loud sirens on battery backup. Being able to run a T128 or a 2001-130 on car batteries is very attractive to me and wouldn't need as beefy a genset as an MEP-805.