This post includes mostly fire alarms, so it has been posted in the Other Warning Systems forum. Please do not move it.
NEW! More Updates in post further down! New fire alarms and the Doom Room!
On-Campus Sirens
The Modulator
The Federal Signal Modulator has always been one of the coolest most modern-looking sirens produced. Of course, the tones are terribly low-quality and too high-pitched, but the overall look of the siren is quite cool. Here are some pictures of our school-wide weather warning system:
The picture of Belk Dormitory, where I live. Notice the siren in the upper right hand corner.
A zoomed in picture. Unfortunately the picture is a bit blurry, sorry about that. But anyways, the room I'm living in happens to be to the bottom right of the picture! I hope to be out of the dorm when they test the sirens (been a month with no test, probably will announce it beforehand to warn people in Belk).
A better view of the siren. Now you can see its position relative to the front of the dorm, plus you can see all four modules.
My camera was nice to me this time and focused correctly. This also shows the control boxes and such. The stand was previously used for a Thunderbolt, by the way, that was run by the city. There are still a few T-Bolts hiding around town.
It has not been used once during my stay so far. During a summer football camp there was a hurricane with a tornado on a nearby mountain. Thunder and lightning was everywhere and we were in an open field covered in pads, but still, they never sounded the siren. Of course, the city sirens are inactive (DAMN!!!) so they did not sound, but if they were active they would have sounded for sure. Trust me.
On-Campus Fire Alarms
Belk Dorm
This is the dorm that I live in. Lucky for me, the school wasn't too stingy with the fire alarms here. Check out this setup:
A common setup by the main door. Shows the pull station and the buzzer/strobe combo. These fire alarms were installed much later than when the dorm was built (1962), and most of the school was built before the 1980s, so the newer generation fire alarms all have those tacky metal tubes for wiring.
Close-up on the pull station. One of the newer models, with the simpler design. Not idiot-proof, though, and the fire alarms have sounded many times due to accidental bumps or caught backpacks.
Frontal view of the buzzer/strobe combo. Nothing special here.
Another boring picture of the buzzer/strobe combo. The walls have been repainted after installation, clearly.
The control panel. Same floor as I am, floor 1. Should be in the basement, but its a good signal before an alarm. The alarms are VERY loud, and "if you hear the chime you know its time"... to hurry up and cover your ears.
http://www.wheelockinc.com/technical_su ... s/horn.wav
A recording of the alarms in action. Very short, meant to loop.
Dorm Room Alarm System
Me and my roommate concocted a quite useless, fragile security system for our room. Ingenious, though, so here are some pics:
Just a moldy ceiling stain, no? Wrong! In fact, the crack on the right side holds a mini-sensor that detects people coming in/towards our door. Moving on...
Here is the recieving end. Used to be an old quizzer-style buzzer, now transformed into an alarm. When activated, the buzzer/red light sounds/flashes in march time (0.25 seconds on, 0.25 seconds off).
Class Bells
The bells pictured here happen to be in Belk, but they are the same virtually everywhere. Here you go:
A wonderful view of the bell. This one happens to be directly across the hall from me. Rings every morning at 7:15 AM, too. Geez.
A blurry close-up. Notice the wonderful job the Maintenance crew did with cutting a hole in the wall. You can actually see the wires in there with a flashlight. We were considering cutting them, but with cameras on both ends of the hall that's not a good idea.
Academic Building Fire Alarms
Here come more fire alarms, this time the setup found in the Academic Building. Ironically, there are no fire pull stations indoors (unless pictured below), all are outdoors.
Here we have a typical outdoor setup. The buzzer is the same model as in Belk, but white. The pull station cannot be identified. I really have no idea what model it is. Fortunately it has a cover, even though the fire alarm itself is a 2-step activation...
Another blurry close-up.
Frontal view of the buzzer/strobe combo. This one is a 15/75 candela selectable. I'm assuming its going to be 75 as it is placed outdoors. The ones in Belk are probably 15.
Side view.
Another view. I swear, it felt like I was in love with this thing.
Now, heres where the fun begins. This is the most unusual combination I have ever seen in my life. Check out the other pictures for more...
First, lets take a look at the extinguisher. What the hell is that, you may ask? Well, from the looks of it, its a useless piece of plastic labeled "H HORN". No idea.
A picture of the typical A.B. indoor buzzers. Notice the detail on the strobe to reflect light in all directions. These are located in all indoor halls, plus there is one in every classroom.
This is a real kicker, too. This buzzer is located across the walkway. I don't know if it still works, but it is a really old model. There is one of these in every hall, but none in rooms. Only one, too. Hmm... and where is the pull station, you may ask?
Ah, there it is... wait... yes, thats correct, all it is is a regular wall switch encased in a box with glass. I also love how they have the liberty of giving you a huge wooden stick to break the glass. I placed the stick in front of the glass, and if you tried to break the glass chances are you would tear off the box, too. I'd love to just switch it off in the morning and claim I thought that it was a light switch. I asked the headmaster, he said that this was a short-lived attempt to get fire pull stations on every floor. They moved to real models afterwards.
Well, that's all for now. Check back soon!
