I had a request from Fahrenheit4051 on YouTube to post this picture. This horn/strobe is still in place at my church, although I have never gotten to hear it go off. I need to find out about getting involved with a fire alarm test one of these days. I might end up making a new topic of all the alarms at my church, since it’s such a unique system.
Thanks! Yeah, this is a really weird signal. Not only is the strobe mounted on top, but it’s completely different from any other Faraday strobe from that generation. Could it be an incandescent light?
I apologize for bumping this topic. I could have sworn I replied in October, but I guess I didn’t or it didn’t go through.
Simplex 2903-9101, that is a good theory. I never thought of that, but I suppose it’s somewhat likely, although I’m still going to guess it’s a strobe.
Luckily, I should know for sure pretty soon. I sat down with a friend of mine who is pretty high up there in determining what goes on in the church, and said she’ll make sure to talk to the facilities director, who I will be getting to know pretty soon, and seeing when the next system test will be so I can assist and get a good video.
Also, we came up with the idea together for our church’s first ever fire drill to be conducted in the spring. We are going to do this since we recently merged with a different church who moved into our building, and everyone needs to know what to do when the horns and strobes are set off and what the evacuation plan is.
If you’re interested, I just got a full system tour of the church up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eCIbc4sJVI
Oh man, I was hoping you were going to say that the system there was getting upgraded soon. :lol: I got all excited there for a moment! That’s such a neat horn strobe. That, along with the 5506 are really rare and outside of this forum I’ve never seen any reference to them.
I figured I’d upload a photo of one I saw at a parking garage. There was an STI push station below it, so I think it was used as a general signaling alarm.
Whoever painted it didn’t really do a good job!
1 Like
Firefly: Nope! I wish, haha. But as of right now there are no plans to upgrade the system, even though it probably needs it. At least we should get to see it in action next year. If any plans are in place to ever replace it, I’ll definitely be sure to try to get everything. And yes, those two models are, I’m guessing, some of the rarest fire alarms out there. I really never realized these 5505’s are that rare until I posted that topic a couple years ago.
Destin: Thanks for sharing! Yeah, the lack of “FIRE” lettering would probably support the general signalling theory as well. You can really see in this photo, just by cutting off the top, all this is is a Simplex 2901-9833/Faraday equivalent horn with a 7002-style strobe on top. I wonder if the horn skips when the strobe flashes just like on the Wheelocks, but I guess we’ll find out soon.
1 Like
Faraday also made a different version of that device using a 5940 horn and one of those 5505-style strobes. The model number for this device appears to be 5504.
The picture is from a past eBay auction.
[quote]
I wonder if the horn skips when the strobe flashes just like on the Wheelocks, but I guess we'll find out soon.
[/quote]
Unless all four of those wires are for the horn (which is possible), I’d say no.
Gahh! How did I miss this stuff?!
…I’d say the same myself…
I have this model it says 5504 on the bottom and takes in 21 - 28 volts DC.
1 Like
Woah. Where’d you find that? That’s on the top of my bucket list
1 Like
That was probably a lucky eBay find
1 Like
Congrats! I do believe you’re the first enthusiast (that we know of at least) to own one!
1 Like
No. I got it from an antique store.
I got it from an antique store in Wisconsin
Oh wow!!! I would love to find something that rare at a antique shop
Where? I need to go to that store.