Playing with Old Sirens is Fun!

[Reno911]

As a 17 year old, I had yet to mess around with a siren. Decided to try today. Stuffed a cone with a rag and paper towels down the center, then put another towel around the cone inside the shroud to muffle things more. Wired everything up to work and had some fun. Was pretty cool hearing my PA1000 for the first time. My PA200 was malfunctioning though...


Maybe I should hook it up to my TS200 setup and play some christmas music through the PA at 4am on Christmas:haha:

 

[CHIEFOPS]

Are you sure your power supply was only running 12-13 volts? Those wail and yelp cycles sounded too fast, like maybe too much voltage feeding them.

 

[Reno911]

Are you sure your power supply was only running 12-13 volts? Those wail and yelp cycles sounded too fast, like maybe too much voltage feeding them.

Think so. I used my dads battery jump box. I've ran my MX7k for a few minutes and have tested a couple other bars since it's last charge. . It needs to be charged again.


Don't know what's up with my PA200. Could have been the switch wasn't in the position fully (knob was loose)?

 

[rad123]

Maybe I should hook it up to my TS200 setup and play some christmas music through the PA at 4am on Christmas:haha:

I took a old headphone jack and soldered it to my wire harness on my Fed Sig Vision lightbar siren so i could plug it in to my iPhone and play music.

 

[Reno911]

I took a old headphone jack and soldered it to my wire harness on my Fed Sig Vision lightbar siren so i could plug it in to my iPhone and play music.

That's cool. Couldn't I do that with the lead wires on my PA1000 that are supposed to tap into the radio speaker wiring?

 

[rad123]

That's cool. Couldn't I do that with the lead wires on my PA1000 that are supposed to tap into the radio speaker wiring?

Ya, hook it to the radio rebroadcast wires that go to the radio speaker wiring like you said. Only 2 of the 3 wires in the headphone jack will be used. Just make sure you don't wire it wrong. I will try to get a wiring diagram showing which 2 wires on the jack go to the radio wires.

 

[Wailer]

What you have is a PA20A series 2E, not a PA20. The PA20A series 2E was made in the 1970s and has high-pitched wail and yelp tones like the sirens we hear today.


If you want to hear the 1960s PA20A with the low-pitched wail and yelp tones, click on the link below and watch my YouTube video.

 

[Reno911]

Thanks wailer! Very informative video. I'm sure my dad has a couple 60's PA20A's stashed, since he has collected equipment for his 60's CHP cars throughout the years.


I have a question, for a dual 100w speaker setup, can these siren control heads handle that? Or are there special 200w control heads out there? I saw a YouTube video with a "200w" PA300. Not sure if that was what it really was or not.

 

[Wailer]

First, what you have are not control heads. They are actual sirens, complete with siren oscillator circuits, PA amplifiers, and controls all in one unit.


Second, regarding the sirens you mentioned in your first post, the power options are as follows:


PA20A series 2E: 58 watts with one speaker or 100 watts with two speakers.


PA200 and PA1000: 58 watts with one 58 watt speaker, 100 watts with two 58 watt speakers, or 200 watts with two 100 watt speakers.


The PA200 and the PA1000 are the same siren, except that the PA1000 is in a larger chassis cover with a light control panel on top. The PA200 and PA1000 were introduced in 1974, and they have the same siren oscillator circuit as the PA20A series 2E. So if you play with all three of them you'll notice that they all sound the same. If they don't, one of them needs repair.


The PA300 comes in 100 or 200 watt versions. The 200 watt version will operate at the full 200 watts with two 100 watt speakers.

 

[Mustang302]

Very cool video nicely done and so informative..I need to get me a pa20...I have ole whelen 295... :yes: