12v bell for alarm

[autumnbreeze27]

I was on a friends power boat the other day, and he had a raw water alarm that would ring what sounded like a fire bell. It reminded me of an old ship with a engine room telegraph. Our engine alarm is a high pitch warbling siren that drives us and the dog nuts. I know, I know, it's supposed to.

I was thinking about moving that siren to the secondary bilge pump as a high water alarm, and putting in a 12v alarm bell for the engine.

Anybody have any experience putting one on their boat? Any recommendations? Or is it a bad idea?

[deblen]

Alarm Bell Fire Warning Alert 12 Volt 12VDC 6 Inch NEW Free US Shipping | eBay

An example fire bell.
You might look into home alarm system audible alerts also.

[Sailorman Ed]

or this one: Fire Alarm Bell, 12 V, 6" - Outdoor Fire Alarm - Amazon.com

[chouliha]

We have been using the "Sonalert" type alarms for many years. They are small, use very little power, multiple volume levels and multiple sounds. We have one type for the AIS alarm, one for water flow alarm on the engine and another for bilge alarms. Most if the engine alarms tie into one small panel with you guessed it another type Sonalert alarm.

http://www.mallory-sonalert.com

Btw the AIS alarm is a chimp like a door bell so it doesn't scare the bejesus out of the off watch

Cheers


Chuck


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[chouliha]

chirp not chimp oh I love this auto correct!!


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Sailorman Ed]

chouliha, which model did you get? I looked earlier but did not find any monkey sounds listed. I did like the idea of the 10 sec delay

[HopCar]

Take a look at Aqualarm. They make the flow sensor you'll need and also sell the big bell.
Automatic Sys Monitor : AQUALARM, Warning Systems For Land And Sea

[rwidman]

A DC powered "bell" relies on mechanical contacts to operate. Not all that reliable on a boat. I would be looking into the Sonalert and similar devices for reliability. There are dozens of variations available.

[autumnbreeze27]

I've seen the 6" red fire alarm bells all over the internet, but there seems to be a large difference in quality and price, so was looking for anybody who has bought a cheapy one.

Here's a little one from grainger, i'm curious how well it's made and how loud it is. The price is right.
http://www.grainger.com/product/Bell-1FD16?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/1FD16_AS01?$smthumb$

[Lake-Effect]

I have a firebell I fished out of a dumpster, that came from a school. It's got a moving plunger in a solenoid that leaps out to strike the bell when 12v is applied.

It's heavy, loud, and would probably corrode into failure on a sea-going boat.

Small piezo sounders are more common and more robust, but annoying. If you're really keen to have realistic sounds in a solid-state package, there are a number of audio playback chips that can be used to play any sound through a waterproof speaker.

Think of how good the cellphone ringtones sound these days.