The Siren Board

Earlier this week, my grandpa was recording some birds and stuff for me, and his neighbors' bergler alarm went off. These people have had this electro-mechanical siren hooked up to their bergler alarm since at least the early 1980's. This thing is loud, and it sounds sort of like a Q, but it winds down too fast. It sounds like it has an 8 port rotor. I'm not sure if it runs on AC or DC power, but if it's AC, it could be one of those smaller Model A style Sentries like the one someone, I think it was Holler, had for sale a while back. Here's the recording.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/2/3/1 ... 0siren.mp3

The guy bought the siren at a junk store. He has since died, but his son still lives there, but he doesn't know much about the siren. What ever this thing is, I like it. It's loud enough to hear clearly with all the doors and windows closed at my grandparents' house, and it's an attension grabbing sound. I remember hearing it for the first time when I was three or four years old, back in 1982 or 1983.

That sounds like either an Ademco burglar alarm siren or a Sentry Model F-2.

I'll have to ask the guy if it runs on 12 volts DC, or 120 volts AC. Am I correct in saying that if it's 120 volts, it's the Sentry, and if it's 12 volts, it's the Ademco?

One interesting fact that the guy who originally installed this siren told me when I was a kid, is that he hooked a timer up to it, so that if it were to keep sounding, it would sound in Attack. The guy's son did confirm that back in 2008. I've never heard it sound long enough to do that though. He installed an electro-mechanical bell inside the house, which is also connected to the timer.

I once had an eight port, 120 volt Ademco siren that sounded just like this one.

Daniel wrote:I once had an eight port, 120 volt Ademco siren that sounded just like this one.

That's probably what it is. I checked out some videos of the Sentry F-2, and the wind-down is faster than on this siren. My grandpa told me yesterday that he remembers the original installer of this siren telling him that the siren does run on 120 volts AC. After he told me this, I also remembered the same thing.

Next time I get the chance, I'll ask the guy's son if he'll run it longer, so that I can get a longer recording of it. It will be difficult to get a picture of it, because it is installed in the eves of the house, and it is hard to get to. Since the house is on a hill, and given the volume of the siren, you can probably hear it at least a quarter of a mile away.