i haven't, although, anything too fast will likely not be as noticeable, it becomes more like a duty-cycle effect.

Me neither. But I stayed for the whole thing. Think of it as a Bonfire rest.

@@VintageCollections second loaf! And finally have more than two working correctly in sequence !!

i've certainly come to appreciate this version of it a lot more. I've made a re-usable "break ring" to further improve function.

In this particular case, it's setup as the later 812. I'm still waiting for someone who owns the surface-version of that horn to peek at the internals, but we have a good hunch it's about correct. If you want to see it setup in it's original form as a 129 - check the video I did with the autocall t-pull. I'd need the 12v version of this to be 100% correct, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the horn i have with the 12v version of that mechanism to fix this, so I'm still on the hunt for a parts horn. Once I find that, I'll build one of these in each style.

@@LXXero I always thought the 129 was flush mount and the 512/812 was the surface unit--you should ask Old School Fire Alarms if he knows anything about them

​@@neohistoryfan1014 I've actually seen the flush grill with either number on it, but the mechanism did appear to be different, the 812 I saw, had a newer label and a different mechanism.

I would bet that is the case for the edwards - it's very similar to the edwards mini-horns in that regard, which also came in AC or DC versions, just like these, and were also used as a white-label device inside of tons of other products, smokes, nac devices, etc.

right?!...its...odd.

Yup. This was all discovered by doing research on the patents of the firecom 8500. I had some idea it was intercom related, but with the help of two other people and some further tracing of steps, this is the results of what we found.

I would preface that with a warning: this isn't a great beginner's project, as the CMOS chip that handles triggering the tones is very sensitive, and both I and another person I've helped with this, have had to replace said chip due to failures. That said, if you'd still like to give this a shot, take a look at the instruction manual for the bogen tg-4c module - they still make this version of the module today & they are usually available on eBay used for around $40-80.

this likely depends on how much it's wound up!

The original impulse generator was a spinning-motorized device that looked a bit like a car alternator / magneto type thing, and likely didn’t click this way, only the transmitter would have, but short of finding the original I am simulating the impulses with a relay, thus the clicking (that isn’t from the Howe itself). All said, you end up with at least 3 things clicking when an actual code is firing….

@@LXXero that is so cool and very unique so it’s basically kind of like code wheel to a fire alarm panel, except it has to pulse on and off in order for it to work just like a single stroke bell

@@firealarm2903 yup, it’s exactly like a single stroke bell in that regard, each transmitter moves one click per stroke of the solenoid. it’s possibly the earliest form of a fire alarm sync protocol, if you think about it! It just wasn’t used for strobes or horns but rather the code wheels on the pulls themselves would be in sync, that same step-by-step movement allowed them to interleave code rounds and get codes sent in faster from multiple stations, versus normal coded stations, which had to complete their full set of 4 rounds before handoff to the next. it’s an intriguing concept, and quite a feat to have pulled this off almost entirely electromechanically.

@@LXXero that’s pretty cool how this thing operated electro mechanically for the earliest form of Sync protocols. if I had one of these, I’d hook it up to a 2001 panel and have it set to 90 bpm March time since these things work up to a maximum of 100 bpm for these transmitters

It sounds like someone sending Morse code in a mad panic, I do wonder if this is closer to proper speed…

i definitely need to start doing stuff like that more regularly, normally the code number is printed on that badge, but it seemed as if the label was damaged on this one. however, that got me thinking, the material behind the break-the-glass mechanism is VERY suspect of this....its this brown/cardboard-like material, almost like early circuit board, and it definitely looked as if it'd been stained by something, but i had assumed maybe water damage, now, you are making me wonder, was it supposed to be glowing behind that glass? i need to dive deeper on this.

@LXXero while I'm not knowledgeable as others on the use of radioisotopic lume within devices like these, an emergency device, particularly one like this which has a few key factors going for it, those being Mid-Century, or at least late Mid-Century, an emergency device and being in or designed in part for areas which may darken often (i.e. an outside callbox or in a shaded overhang) as well as it being something that isn't often loitered near, just trips my radar as a potentially radioactive or partially radioactive item. I've seen radium lume tape from a submarine in Sweden and enough radium to set off a dense GM tube IN a Soviet geiger counter itself, so I have seen radiation in lots of things, and emergency device applications will always fit the bill as something to at least consider the potential radioactivity of.

I mostly demonstrate old fire bells and horns; this bell is perhaps an outlier in that it's not specifically for fire. I believe it was made by bell systems.

@@MacombSignals27 good question I’m thinking like around 100ish but I’d have probably test it in depth, for stuff with gaps in-between like codes, you can go a little faster, because it will drag behind each hit but still fire them, and the gaps give some chance to reset, but if it’s too fast, like triggering entirely mid-swing, then it’s probably just gonna do nothing, since the thing that the solenoid pulls on would be in motion still and it won’t have anything to trip.