John Dorgan - Deceased - 1938 - 2012
March 05,1938 - May 13, 2012
Something came up yesterday that prompted me to write this. About a month ago, I sold a Federal type E siren in 6V to a customer. He was just getting around to mounting it on his restored 1934 Ford, and called with a problem. His complaint was that when he put power to it, it started to wind up very slowly, and than sped up and slowed down. He stated that he could smell smoke and stopped what he was doing immediately. (A good idea). He told me that he originally used a light piece of 16 ga. wire, and that nothing happened with that. He then used a 4 ga. power lead
and that is when he experience the aforementioned problem. I asked him if he had a good ground and he stated that he did. After two more phone calls, I found that his "Good" gorund was a light piece of 16 ga. wire. The siren is being mounted on a powder coated surface which obviously does not make for good grounding through the mount. I suggested that he use an absolute minimum of 10 ga. wire for both the positive lead and the ground and lo and behold, the siren screamed. For those of you not aware of it, the amperage draw of a 6V unit compared to the same unit in 12 ga. is doubled and the requirement for a heavier ga. wire is mandatory. In essence, when installing a siren or warnng light for that matter, a good ground is mandatory. Probably 90% of the problems that folks have when accomplishing this task is a grounding problem. When in doubt, use a pair of jumper cables directly from a charged battery. Be careful when making the final connection as the arc created will pit that shiny new chrome. Make the connection to the battery last. Remember, GROUND-GROUND-GROUND.
John Dorgan
and that is when he experience the aforementioned problem. I asked him if he had a good ground and he stated that he did. After two more phone calls, I found that his "Good" gorund was a light piece of 16 ga. wire. The siren is being mounted on a powder coated surface which obviously does not make for good grounding through the mount. I suggested that he use an absolute minimum of 10 ga. wire for both the positive lead and the ground and lo and behold, the siren screamed. For those of you not aware of it, the amperage draw of a 6V unit compared to the same unit in 12 ga. is doubled and the requirement for a heavier ga. wire is mandatory. In essence, when installing a siren or warnng light for that matter, a good ground is mandatory. Probably 90% of the problems that folks have when accomplishing this task is a grounding problem. When in doubt, use a pair of jumper cables directly from a charged battery. Be careful when making the final connection as the arc created will pit that shiny new chrome. Make the connection to the battery last. Remember, GROUND-GROUND-GROUND.John Dorgan
