sirens

[ares1986]

Hi all,i just picked up a nice federal signal wgw siren. not sure what it came off of,but was wandering if anyone knew what it went on and if they were loud. havent had time to try it out yet ,i bought it to mount on the passenger fender or in the inner fender well on the driver side of my 813. does anyone know were they were mounted on a five ton? if they were even mounted on them at all?

 

[CARNAC]

I know papabear has one on his gun truck. I'm not going to say they never put them on an 813 because someone might come on here and say they had one on their truck in the military. But I will say that the likelihood of one on a M813 is about as likely as you and me winning the lottery at the same time....in all 50 states,,,while standing on our heads...after drinking a case of beer each...surrounded by scantily clad women....and our wives not minding...and......

 

[ares1986]

Lol I know what you mean,I didnt know if they were ever used in a convoy situation with the beacons or as a mp vehicle or some kind of comand car.

 

[swbradley1]

Not to be taking this negative but there was a member close by (same state) who had a siren on his truck. Using it at a rally entirely too many times made him out to be a disrespectful idiot. Sirens are nice on big red things or ambulances, not big green trucks.

(Notice I said "was" a member. He got worse.)

IMHO

 

[RAYZER]

I have a sirene that I restored and mounted on a magnetic base, I stick it on the fender of my deuce when I do parades which is quite often, I have it wired with a push button switch and leads that clip to the battery. I couldn't find any info on it, the plate is missing.
Its a real croud pleaser!

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Sirens were much more likely to be mounted in the military to ambulances, firetrucks, occasionally wreckers and rarely guntrucks. I've seen photos of them on quite a few wreckers in service.

It is your siren and your truck, do as you please. But as SWBradley said, someone that likes a noise maker too much just annoys people, so keep that in mind too please.

 

[ares1986]

The magnetic base is a good idea, Things to think about. My original intent wasn't to annoy people with it at shows or to run around sounding a siren just to hear or my self. I thought it might remind all of those subcompact speed bumps that forget that 23,000 lb vehicle they just pulled out In front of or stopped on a dime infront of can't stop on a dime , just a reminder that once they pull infront of me I'm still behind them

 

[steelandcanvas]

A siren wouldn't be the last thing I'd want to hear being the driver of a rice-burning wheel chock. A Nathan train horn might be effective though.

 

[swbradley1]

Horns are instantaneous whereas sirens take too long to produce a meaningful amount of "nice job for pulling out in front of me idiot" sound.

 

[jdknech]

Also keep in mind that in most states only emergency vehicles can run sirens on public streets... i know around here if you run a siren on a POV, and you are not a police officer, its jail time for impersonating.. (firefighters/EMS here can run lights, but no sirens)

 

[emmado22]

Horns are much better at "yelling at" moron drivers. Also not illegal in most states either. A siren could lead to a very sticky situation.....

 

[ares1986]

Good thing I'm a police officer then, I also aquired a larger air horn just for the get off the phone factor

 

[Triple C]

In my experience producing a sound that surprises people often leads to an immediate use of the brake, the last thing you want when someone pulls out in front of you..... just my two cents.

 

[Suprman]

I have a pa in my truck so I can tell bad drivers just how bad they really are and I do on a regular basis.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I have a pa in my truck so I can tell bad drivers just how bad they really are and I do on a regular basis.

I've often thought of that or have some electronic tech make up a unit that broadcasts short distances over the entire FM radio band...... LOL I'd get myself in trouble.

 

[Recovry4x4]

To each his own on these. I know they are controlled by law here in FL. I had a sack of PA300s that I have given away over the years. After 25 years of riding one, if I never hear another one again, that would be a blessing. Now I might could go for a Nathan P5 if it was affordable.

 

[Tlauden]

Sirens are great for parades (in moderation, they could damage people's hearing easily), but most likely they will get you in big trouble to just use whenever you feel the urge. I would go with horns for the idiot driver situation. The deuce compressor has about 7.5cfm according to some quick searches here. I would add an additional tank with some sort of valve so when you blow the horn your not draining your main tanks needed for braking. It shouldn't take TOO long to fill an additional 10-12 gallons.

As for horn I would go with a set of Nathan's. you can find them used for $400-$800. The "K's" use more air than the "P's". It's arguable that the K's are a little louder but there all attention grabbing. And obviously the 5 chime horns will use more air than the 3 chime setups. On my dodge ram I have a K3H and a 12 gallon tank, that gives me just under a minute of (impressive) blasting time starting at 150psi. At about 60psi they start to die off and at about 8-10 psi there isn't enough pressure to create any noise.

Good luck though with the siren!!

P.S.
Sorry for rambling, I do love my train horns though haha

 

[wreckerman893]

As noted in one of the posts above sirens were often mounted on wreckers to clear the way to an accident or let other drivers know you were towing something. When I rode shotgun on the unit wrecker in Germany the lead mechanic (who was the assigned wrecker driver) would use the siren sparingly since it annoyed the Germans to no end. American sirens have a totally different sound that European warning signals. I always found them to be a lot more annoying than the American old sirens. By the way...the one on the above mentioned wrecker was air powered and was turned on by a chain that led into the cab. You had to be running about 30 MPH to get it to howl effectively.