As most of you know Hamilton County Ohio (Cincinnati) purchased 137 sirens in 2010 and took ANS 4 years to have them installed. In April 2016 Werden Electric received the bid for maintenance of the 137 new sirens and the 64 old battery operated sirens (32 Federal, 32 ASC older types). From April to July I have personally visited/maintained over 50 of these sirens new and old. One of the first sirens I had problems with was the siren at Perry St. in Mt Healthy and the problem was the slip ring and brushes, and brush holder burnt up. Being under warranty I called ASC and they said it was officially hit by lightning and therefore not under warranty. OK I bought this story, but was skeptical. The next couple months I had three more "slip ring, brush holder" problems so my investigation of the other failures yielded a startling fact that can only be explained as a manufacturer defect.the distance between the brush holder and the slip ring is anywhere from 7/16 inch to a little less than 3/4 inch. Calling the brush manufacturer they demand only an 1/8 inch distance between the holder and slip ring. I took some measurements of:
Brush and spring 2.62 inches
Holder from cap to holder edge 2.00 inches
Space to slip ring from holder .4375 (min)
Therefore as you can see the brush which pulls 135 amps is only .182 inches of tension and wear of a brush before it malfunctions. These sirens were made in 2010 and I have seen others prior to this date have the same problem. I have asked ASC to send a crew down here to rebuild the assembly as they are under warranty. I would also think this could be a national/international recall of the T-128 siren.