Tips for Choosing a Siren
Flashing strobe lights may enhance awareness and maintain safety of emergency vehicles; but a good working siren is indispensable. It can reach motorists who are distracted, and allow them to heed the emergency vehicle's approach. Powerful alerts afford other drivers loud and distinctive warning of what type of emergency response is happening, which is useful particularly for unmarked cars. Installing a good system requires careful research of a user's needs and vehicle requirements, though with so many brands and varieties of them on the market, users are sure to fill their needs at a good price, and with a number of accessories.
Today's electronic emergency siren derives from the sound of the old mechanical, or pneumatic sirens, which used rotating disks with holes to modulate air pressure; this produced the familiar changing pitch, as air compressed or rarified within the bulky, heavy cylinder apparatus. Modern devices, however, utilize amplifiers, modulators and oscillators that not only reproduce the traditional sound, but produce any number of additional tones. These include the Wail, Hi-Lo, Yelp, Hyper-Yelp, and Air Horn. The tones can be altered by simple control switches in automatic or user-controlled patterns. The resulting alert issues at an attention-grabbing 110 – 130 decibels.
Sound at Your Fingertips
Sometimes a siren may be augmented with flashing light patterns from a vehicle's light bars or strobes. Some of these devices are controlled by a handheld remote, with big, backlit buttons that are easy to see, and more importantly, feel. This controller allows the driver to activate and choose among various signal patterns, as well as interrupt automatic patterns with selected tones at the repeated or prolonged press of a button. Switches also might control related accessories, such as releasing electric gun locks or activating alley lights. These controllers may feature a built-in microphone for amplified public announcements. This handy feature may automatically override any sound events to allow the driver to be heard. The entire kit may be easily connected by hand between outputs, fuses, mic cables and interconnecting cables.
Safe and Legal Use
In countries like the United States, unauthorized users may not install a siren on their vehicle, but are limited to P.A. systems and electric air horns. These devices serve to improve safety and awareness of emergency vehicles on the road, to get attention as immediately as possible, at the optimum loudness without doing hearing damage to anyone in earshot, including the driver. Only official vehicles such as those belonging to police, fire, ambulance, or other emergency first responders are authorized for use of the technology.
Some things to keep in mind when choosing a siren:
- Is the speaker compatible with the siren?
- Can the unit be installed in the space allowed?
- How loud, and how clear is the tone? How much distance does it cover?
- How durable is the unit? Is it protected against moisture and corrosion?
- Does it require special mounting accessories or connectors?
- How many speakers are required to operate the unit? Is there a speaker wattage minimum?
