Moss Lake page up with videos.

[CDV777-1]

I've put up a preliminary page for the 2 Thunderbolts at Moss Lake.

http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/sirens/mosslake.html

All I have up so far is 2 videos I took yesterday when I went up there.
I was a bit too far away when I did one video but the sound came out ok.
I used my son's crappy little video camera. On the "south" video you can
hear the blower bog down when it's started up. That's the one they are
running with the phase converter. They installed a homemade static
converter and the blower really bogs down if you run it and the chopper is
closed. It doesn't have enough power to lift the relief valve. I guess that's
why phase converter builders say to use a rotary converters with blowers.

The fire chief called me last week about the blower running backwards. I went
up there and shure as he11 it was running backwards. I have no idea how
that happened because it was running the right direction when we hooked
it up. I ended up swapping 2 leads to the motor in the RCM and it's going
the right direction now.
The siren on the north side of the lake had 3 phase power available. The
homeowners group on the north side had an electric company hook up the
thing and install a transformer at the well house where there siren is.
There is only 480 at the well house so that's why they needed a transformer.
That siren runs like a monster. I would like to try to get a single phase blower
and RCM when Dallas starts their removal so we can run the south siren
without a phase converter. The north siren is my restored horn/rotator
with the blower I got from Gainesville in 2005 and the south siren is my restored
blower with the 1000T horn/rotator I got from Gainesville. I hope to have
the rest of the page finished today.

[JasonC]

Your only going to get 2/3 of rated horse power of a motor if you use a static converter on it, so I'm not surprised to see that the motor is straining.

As far as the blower running backwards, is that the one on the static converter? Great videos! That is probably the best sounding single tone T-bolt I've ever heard.

[CDV777-1]

The one on the convertor was running backwards when I went back up
there to look at it. I don't know how it got that way. When we ran the
thing the 1st time I was up there it was fine. There were some connections
down on the blower frame that didn't have wire nuts on them yet and he
had to go back out there an button it up after I left. Maybe he took a couple
of the blower wires loose and got them switched when he put the nuts on them when he went to
finish it. I don't know. It's obviously running the right way now. We took
2 of the relief valve weights off so it will bleed just a smidge of air when
it fires up. It does bleed air while it's running which might reduce the output
just a little but it's better than having the motor load up and bog down.

[JasonC]

The one on the convertor was running backwards when I went back up
there to look at it. I don't know how it got that way. When we ran the
thing the 1st time I was up there it was fine. There were some connections
down on the blower frame that didn't have wire nuts on them yet and he
had to go back out there an button it up after I left. Maybe he took a couple
of the blower wires loose and got them switched when he put the nuts on them when he went to
finish it. I don't know. It's obviously running the right way now. We took
2 of the relief valve weights off so it will bleed just a smidge of air when
it fires up. It does bleed air while it's running which might reduce the output
just a little but it's better than having the motor load up and bog down.

I don't know for sure, but I don't believe static converters can spin a motor in the same direction reliably because of the imperfect phase shift. Let me ask on another board for a solid answer on this.

[JasonC]

I stand corrected. Static converters will spin a motor in the same direction. Makes sense now that I think about it since cap-start single phase motors are the same way.

As long as its running correctly now, that's what counts!

[ThunderboltFreak]

When you walked up to it, did you cover your ears?

[CDV777-1]

When you walked up to it, did you cover your ears?

No.
It's louder out away from it than it is underneath it.

[holler]

Sounds awesome! Love how on the north video you can hear the echo during the attack wail.