The Siren Board

Has anyone ever forced air in the Q to see if it's louder? I was washing my Jeep the other day and spun up the Q with the hose. While sounding I shot some pressurized water in the intake and was supprised to hear the volume increase. Is it safe to make a forced air/blower intake for the Q similar to the operation of a T-Bolt? Would it hurt anything?

Anyone ever tried this?

I also have wondered what ram air would do.
Old sirens had a horn shaped opening which presumably funneled ram air while more efficiently coupling sound energy.
It looks cumbersome and old-fashioned, but I bet it is most efficient.

I hooked a leaf blower up the front of my hand siren and it was definitely louder, especially on the winddown.

You could cut the voltage to a Q so the tone is lower, hook up some sort of blower, and have a mini air raid siren.

holler wrote:I hooked a leaf blower up the front of my hand siren and it was definitely louder, especially on the winddown.

Ya know, holler, that is something about as dumb as I would do!
Thanks for performing that experiment!
Just what I expected.
Would the ram air extend (prolong) the wind-down?
That's my next experiment. Blow air into a stopped Q to see how it will spin up.

Thanks

When driving fire apparatus, the Q is louder to me when the truck is in motion, but does coast down quicker also with no juice applied.

Instead of a blower, how about a two or three stage fan to force air in?

Robert, like mentioned, the Q should slow quicker due to the resistance of the air being greater.

I think I heard a Whelen wanna-b Q today. What a joke! It was very low pitched and not at all affective!

Robert Gift wrote:

holler wrote:I hooked a leaf blower up the front of my hand siren and it was definitely louder, especially on the winddown.

Ya know, holler, that is something about as dumb as I would do!
Thanks for performing that experiment!
Just what I expected.
Would the ram air extend (prolong) the wind-down?
That's my next experiment. Blow air into a stopped Q to see how it will spin up.

Thanks

Well yes, the winddown was longer, it was about like a Thunderbolt, you cut off the blower (or move it out of the airstream) and wind down goes away.

A few days ago I saw a brand new Q2B siren mounted on the bumper of a fire truck which was pulled out for repairs. The rotor was easily eight inches in diameter, bigger than my head! Didn't think they were quite that big, but then they do have a 2hp motor turning them.

I doubt the motor is capable of 2 hp.

I would expect ram air to spin the rotor, therefore prolonging wind-down.
But ram air definitely increases volume output.

I'm hoping to bring my squirrel cage blower to "super charge" the 2t22
and see if it makes a difference.

I would not pipe the air because the 2t22 make suck in more air than the squirrel cage blower is capable of putting out.
But I will blow the air up into the 2t22 bottom intake tube.