From the files of: Oh my god this really happened

[RyanJamesDean98]

Our ATIs here in Wichita are already falling apart...

How so?

Drivers are failing and they were installed by what seems to be children.

[rdfox]

Seems odd that I've not heard any horror stories about the rotating ATIs that Battle Creek, MI, has. I wonder how they manage to keep them working without trouble.

(The Battle Creek system isn't all-ATI; it's actually rather an interesting mix, with at least two SD-10s, three Thunderbolt 1000Ts--at least two of them 4/5-port--a Thunderbeam, two EOWS-12s, and some Model 3/5/7s out in Bedford Township, plus rotating ATIs in the areas that have experienced significant recent growth and, apparently, replacing two failed sirens in the older part of town. What's more, other than those two replacements, you can pretty well track the city's growth pattern by looking at the age of the sirens... evidently, the Calhoun County EMA doesn't believe in replacing perfectly good old sirens just to have new ones, so long as they still function.)

[DJ2226]

Seems odd that I've not heard any horror stories about the rotating ATIs that Battle Creek, MI, has. I wonder how they manage to keep them working without trouble.

I think the older ATI sirens used Atlas drivers. I don't think anybody on here has seen the insides of them.
What do the ATIs sound like, and what type do they use (2 or 4 horns)?

(The Battle Creek system isn't all-ATI; it's actually rather an interesting mix, with at least two SD-10s, three Thunderbolt 1000Ts--at least two of them 4/5-port--a Thunderbeam, two EOWS-12s, and some Model 3/5/7s out in Bedford Township, plus rotating ATIs in the areas that have experienced significant recent growth and, apparently, replacing two failed sirens in the older part of town. What's more, other than those two replacements, you can pretty well track the city's growth pattern by looking at the age of the sirens... evidently, the Calhoun County EMA doesn't believe in replacing perfectly good old sirens just to have new ones, so long as they still function.)

I like the way that EMA thinks.

[rdfox]

I've not gotten to see them in person--I moved out of Battle Creek almost ten years ago, and haven't even visited the city in over seven--but the ones I saw on Google Maps Street View appear to be two-horn types.

Some of them *might* have been installed before I moved out of town, but where I lived from '92 until I left town was way out on the fringes of coverage of one or two of the ones at the southern edge of town. (The water tank SE of Beckley and Capital, and the I-94 eastbound rest area, specifically.) There were a number of times I was outside at test time and never heard anything--though I wasn't a big siren fan yet. (I honestly thought that all sirens looked like either the Thunderbolt or the EOWS-612; I'd never *seen* an omnidirectional, to my knowledge. Only knew those two, even, because the 1000T on the Transamerica tower downtown was quite obvious and I'd gotten caught downtown during a test before, and they installed one of the 612s outside my elementary school while I was attending it. We were expecting class to be interrupted when they did the post-installation test one day, and all expected to get our ears blown off... we all figured something was wrong with it when it did Westminster Chimes instead!)

And I like that way of thinking, too. If it breaks in a way that isn't a simple fix, sure, replace it with something new, makes sense. But as long as it's still serviceable, why spend the money on replacing it? (Possible exception: I could see replacing a perfectly functional Model 2 with something louder, rather than adding more sirens to deal with expansion...)

[kagome122885]

I'm guessing those sirens aren't even going to last 10 years. What a piece of junk...

[Reedsiren1]

I'm guessing those sirens aren't even going to last 10 years. What a piece of junk...

Does anyone know how long Battle Creek has had theirs?

[SirenMadness]

I'm surprised we haven't heard of any complaint cases coming from the numerous cities who seem quite happy to have them in Southern Ontario.

[Reedsiren1]

I'm surprised we haven't heard of any complaint cases coming from the numerous cities who seem quite happy to have them in Southern Ontario.

Yeah, and one including Sarnia which replaced their rare Alertronic 1600's with ATI HPSS16's.

[SirenMadness]

Their Alertronics were way past their useful life. Going with Whelen would have been a much better choice over buying the ATI junk, but I've yet to hear of any problems with Sarnia's ATIs. Knock on wood.

[Reedsiren1]

Their Alertronics were way past their useful life.

Yeah I guess you are right. The Alertronics malfunctioned a lot. They should have gotten Whelens over ATI trash.