Fallen Thunderbolt.....LITERALLY

[Federal Signal fan]

I wonder if there's any bad damage to the AR Timer... Check the first photo.

Joshua

[thunderbolt69]

I wonder if there's any bad damage to the AR Timer... Check the first photo.

Joshua

It appears to be pulled half way off its pole so possibly it suffered some damage.

[Jim_Ferer]

I don't think it would last long, though, because when the head wouldn't rotate the collector ring would burn out before long. The rotator always starts first specifically to save the collector ring.

How would it? Neither of those statements make sense :/

To prevent the contact brushes from arcing on the collector ring when the chopper starts. It's less likely to do so when they are moving on the collector rings vs. being stationary. That's what I took it that Jim was saying.

Thank you, JP, I should have said why. I had heard more than once that the ring can't take current flowing through it at one point for long, and that the rotator starts first before current starts flowing to the chopper. A Tbolt, unless I'm wrong, starts in the order rotator, chopper, blower. I'm sure the time sequence only takes a second or two

[Adam Pollak]

All three motors on the T-Bolt start at the same time. There is no hardware in there to stagger the starting times. The only time-delay device is that holding relay to keep the rotator and blower going during wind-downs.

[CDV777-1]

Thank you, JP, I should have said why. I had heard more than once that the ring can't take current flowing through it at one point for long, and that the rotator starts first before current starts flowing to the chopper. A Tbolt, unless I'm wrong, starts in the order rotator, chopper, blower. I'm sure the time sequence only takes a second or two

That's not the case at all with the collector rings. Those rings are circular 1/2 inch wide by 1/8 thick copper and are contacted by two model 2 motor brushes. The chopper motor only pulls about 5 amps when it's running. That's nothing at all for what those rings can handle. If I remember right the wire going up to the rings themselves is only 14 gauge. The 14 gauge wire would be the weakest link in the circuit inside the chopper/rotator. The only possible problem I can think of with the rings is bad contact by the brushes. If the brushes aren't riding well on the rings things would go bad pretty fast. Of the 6 Thunderbolts I have rebuilt none of them had problems with the rings. The only thing I had to do on some of them was replace the wire because the insulation was old a cracking apart.

[SirenMaster2000]

This is kinda like the time that T-135 fell over.

[SouthDakotaBoy2009]

the way it fell back, it kinda reminds me of a spine bending backwards...ohhh makes my spine (if I had one) hurt!

[500 AT fan]

If anyone wanted to know what the website was, here it is.

http://wpla.net/siren/index.htm

[SouthDakotaBoy2009]

All three motors on the T-Bolt start at the same time. There is no hardware in there to stagger the starting times. The only time-delay device is that holding relay to keep the rotator and blower going during wind-downs.

When coupled with the FC the rotator can start before the rest of the unit does.

The East 1003 in Valley Springs Rotator starts before the blower & the chopper does.
Several 2001's in Sioux Falls do the same thing. Its just a matter of programing the FC

[Thunderboltlover]

All three motors on the T-Bolt start at the same time. There is no hardware in there to stagger the starting times. The only time-delay device is that holding relay to keep the rotator and blower going during wind-downs.

When coupled with the FC the rotator can start before the rest of the unit does.

The East 1003 in Valley Springs Rotator starts before the blower & the chopper does.
Several 2001's in Sioux Falls do the same thing. Its just a matter of programing the FC

The chopper is obviously connected to the chopper port on the FC, and the rotator is connected to the rotator port.

What did Derek connect the blower to?

I assume he wired the AGASTAT time delay relay to the rotator port on the FC and then wired the rotator and blower to the time delay relay, correct?