I want to hook up 1 to many air raid sirens on the outside of my home to a weather radio.
Background: I've lived 50 years in an area rural to Austin, TX, where we just had like 5 tornadoes in a 2 hour period. I hadn't seen a sum of 5 tornadoes in the 49 years before the other day, much less had them buzzing by my house. We happened to be watching the TV, then had a friend call us less than 5 minutes before the tornado passed by. We're in what amounts to a pasture encircled on all sides by open land 1,000+ feet in every direction. There is a busy, loud ass highway 1,400 feet from us. I want an outdoor warning system to be heard by everyone within a radius of 1,000 - 1,500 feet from us. Regarding electronics, I'm a virtual dullard, knowing almost zero words from the electronics lexicon.
I have purchased a weather alert radio,Midland WR120B, which has a 1/8 inch (3.5mm) phone plug into which one plugs devices such as flashing lights and pillow shakers. I found this forum post which says 12v of electricity gets turned on when there is an alert. The relevant text is below. I've found this relay which looks like while exposed to a 12V charge, will push 110 V to something else. I've found air raid sirens like this, this, and this. The weather alert radio will continue to alert until someone touches a button on its display. I assume that it will also stop after some length of time or when the weather alert / warning has ended. I've learned that these air raid sirens are basically blower fans and if run full tilt can and will overheat. Further, I have observed that a constant loud noise gets less attention than a noise which waxes and wanes. Therefore, I'm looking for electrical components which will separately or in concert : slow down the motor or switch the motor on and off in a regular fashion, dare I say frequency, so that the siren gets as loud as it is gonna get, then spin down ( the sound dying down as well ), then spin back up ( the sound increasing as well ). The nerd in me thinks that since the sound is directional, it would be cool ( or perhaps even necessary to cover the entire area of the circle ) if the siren itself also rotated on its vertical axis. That would require another motor to rotate the platform upon which the siren is mounted. I think the same type of component sought might be needed there too, so as to adjust the rate of rotation like a switch on a floor fan - high, medium, low. So ... If you want to come to my place to solder all this up, then I'm game ( cause I can't solder for anything ), but otherwise, I would settle for answers to these topics / questions:
- The name of an electrical component which will on its own speed up and slow down a motor?
- The name of another electrical component which will allow me to adjust the speed of another motor?
- How the heck could I keep from twisting up the power cord to the siren while the platform under it rotates? Electric cord reels have such a component, but again, I don't know what to call it.
Also, I am open to literally any advice on this project other than "don't do it".
Forum Post
Connecting the External Alert Output to an External Device
You may need to turn on or turn off another device when an alert is
received. The WR-100 provides a switch closure to signal other
devices at the EXT. ALERT jack when the monitor receives an alert.
The output is compatible with home automation devices from suppliers
like X-10 and others. Connect the positive lead of the interface to the
tip of the 1/8 inch (3.5mm) phone plug and the negative lead to the body
of the plug.
A DC powered device using 12 Volts or less and requiring less than
200mA of current can be switched directly using the EXT. ALERT jack.
Observe the polarity of the jack so that the negative side of the external
power source is connected to the body of the 1/8 inch (3.5mm) phone
plug and the device is connected to the positive source and to the tip of
the phone plug.
The internal switch is closed when an alert is received. Pressing any
button on the front of the monitor will open the switch.
