Moorpark, CA T-bolt tested today; last Fri of month @ noon

[ThunderboltFreak]

FINALLY, weeks after I promised; here's the video of the T-bolt blower. I was gone to Canada and Alaska for 10 days , so by the time I got home last Sunday, I figured I'd film the blower today with my "Last Friday of the month" test so as to have the whole siren running.... Audio is BAD since I put the camera fairly close to show the blower. If any YouTube issues, please post and I will repost the video on Photobucket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvDhLvoF1Dk

Charles

THANKS MAN!!!!!!! Awesome video! Yes the blower does spin slower than expected, or maybe it really is spinning fast but it looks like its spinning slow. Thanks again for the video. By the way looks like you where close to the siren while activating it. Had to be loud.

[JasonC]

That's an awesome video! I have always wanted to see what the blower looked like in action. The belt spins slower then i imaged it would.

The motor spins at 1725+rpm. You just cant tell in the compressed YouTube video. Trust me, its fast enough (the older, larger blowers were slower though).

[kswx29]

Thanks Jason, but i forgot to ask, does the blower slow down during the wind down? It kinda looks like it in that video.

[kx250rider]

Thanks for all the compliments

I think that the belt-flopping and speed issues are digital effects from my MPEG camera, and also worse from Youtube. The belts do flap a bit, as they may be loose. The blower cuts out a little before the end of the wind-down of the chopper, and that time cutoff is adjustable. It stops fairly quickly after the relay cuts the power to the blower. So it doesn't really wind down.

The blower is spinning MUCH faster than the video shows. I might experiment with another camera and try again in August for a video.

I was sitting about 15 feet away from the siren, but I don't run the rotator and I keep the horn aimed away from the house and out across the valley. So the only people to get the full wrath are the fruit pickers in the fields below, and there's a California Highway Patrol truck inspection stop on Hwy 118 just beyond the fields. They definitely can hear it loud & clear... One of the first times I did my "test", one of fruit pickers stopped his truck and jumped out and ran around in a circle . Maybe he thought it was going to be an I.N.S. raid? Some day, I'll have to stop by and ask one of the cops at the truck inspection stop if he's heard the siren, and does he have any idea what it is or where it's coming from... Maybe I won't.

Charles

[FS T-Bolt]

Hey maybe sometime in the future you could test the rotator and film that?

[Gil]

Pretty neat video, man 8) Blower spins a lot faster than i thought it would!

[Robert Gift]

Thanks Charles.

I've always wanted to see that. (Well at least for the past 1.5 years when I my illness, I mean interest, in air raid sirens began in February, 2006.)

Do you first turn on the blower, then turn on the chopper?
On my slow dial-up computer, it appeared they both turned on simultaneously and turned off together.

Or is the blower pully slowing and speeding according to air exiting the Roots blower? (Speeding up when chopper is faster and allowing more air to exit/slowing when chopper is slower allowing less air flow. - Opposite a turbine fan which speeds up when air flow is restricted.)

I assume motor is turning much faster than appears but shutter speed
(scan rate) makes it appear much slower.

[kx250rider]

I'll get a video of the rotator... Last time I promised a time, I failed to produce. So I'll just say "ASAP"...

The whole system starts up simultaneously, and runs full power until you stop the Control Relay. Then, the chopper power is cut off, but the blower keeps running for about 6 seconds to keep full sound while the chopper slows down. I've been messing with the timing of the blower delay to try to get it just right, but it's still in need of more fine-setting. The blower does spin a lot faster than the camera looks. I don't think the blower speed is affected by the chopper speed, because there's a blowoff valve in the blower that spills any excess air while the Roots runs at constant speed.

Charles

[StonedChipmunk]

Some day, I'll have to stop by and ask one of the cops at the truck inspection stop if he's heard the siren, and does he have any idea what it is or where it's coming from...

Yeah, that'd probably be a stupid idea - not only are they wondering where it is coming from (and they don't like it, I can assure you), they probably would beat your arse if they found out it was you!

[C. Bryant]

Stoned Chipmunk makes a good pont , perhaps the best thing to
due for Charles is to get the local P.D. Dispatch and Car to Car *
frequencys and listen in for 15 minutes at least after a T-bolt [ t-bolts ? ]
test. Then affirm if the Cop call is worth making
Hopefully system
wont get shut off , after all a monthly T-bolt test is rare in So. Calif.

* No one may call PD ,911, wondering what the sounding was about
but what you hear over a car to car frequency
may be of intrest and may let you know they PD & FD are aware.

Might be a retired Cop or Fireman in the area from Downey , West
Covina , Buena Park, Santa Monica etc . Its shure to bring back The
Last Friday of the Month to them.