How does Whelen protect its sirens from lightning strikes?
A. Whelen does a number of things to protect against lightning damage. 1. Clearly, proper grounding is essential in protecting the siren. We recommend a minimum of two separate 4 AWG copper ground wires, one from the electronics cabinet and one for the steel pole top mounting bracket and pole mounted radio antenna. The copper wires act as low resistance paths, which help divert lightning energy away from the siren, to ground. The ground path from the pole top mounting bracket makes a nice lightning rod. 2. All Whelen sirens include a Lightning Arrestor for the AC line voltage. This is a gas discharge type of device that provides a low resistance path, to ground, for high voltage transients. 3. The battery charger, on all Whelen sirens, is equipped with a line filter and transient protection circuit that exceeds IEC801 requirements. All Whelen battery chargers are UL listed. 4. A gas discharge type of device is included in every Whelen siren to protect the electronics, in particular the
