I for one would love to have a genuine E-bell on my car (in addition to my Shocker Xls).
Am I right that the RR companies use the Graham White 373? http://www.grahamwhite.com/main/category.php?C1=7
Just imagine rolling through an intersection with that bell going! Toot the horn a few times.
It would be awesome if hornblasters would start to stock them. Wonder what the price would be. I’ve contacted Graham White about a price quote, but haven’t gotten a response yet.
I am interested in purchasing a 373 series E-bell for personal usage. I don’t work for a railway company.
What is the price quote?
Thank you,
Daniel.
I have gotten a response from Graham-White::
Good Morning Daniel,
Thank you for your interest in Graham White products. Attached is a series print of the 373 series E-Bell. We do sell to the public, only on a cash in advance basis; however if you’re interested in using a credit card then I would have to refer you to one of our customer representatives, who can offer that service for you. Since you mentioned that this is for personal use I’m assuming that you’re going to mount it on your truck? You may need to find some way of increasing the voltage to the bell, since it operates on a min of 24 volts.
If you wish to proceed with the cash in advance basis, then please feel free to email me back; however I have attached a copy of our representatives who can meet your credit card needs. Pricing on the E-Bell is between $700-$900.
From: Mark Lane
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 9:01 AM
To: Denny Craighead
Subject: Fw: 373 series bell, price
Denny,
Want to give a call to this guy?
Mark
-So, you pay cash in advance and so you could buy directly from Graham-White, or through a customer representative if you pay via plastic::
1242 Colorado Street Salem, VA 24153 540-387-5600
Thank-you for your interest in Graham-White Manufacturing. Please contact one of the below listed customer representatives to obtain price and delivery of any Graham-White product.
Best Regards,
Denny Craighead
Rail Sales Coordinator
540-387-5600 X258
Link-Up International (Accepts Credit Cards)
Jason Harding
11679 Airway Blvd.
Roanoke, TX 76262
817-490-1595
817-490-0200 Fax
[email]jason@linkupinternational.net[/email]
Illinois Auto Electric Co. (Accepts Credit Cards)
Eldon Wirtz
700 Enterprise St.
Aurora, IL 60504
630-862-3300
630-862-3138 Fax wirtz.eldon@iaeco.net
Tranz Global Solutions
Bob Wheeler
120 B East Broad Street
Falls Church, VA 22046
703-531-0181
703-531-0188 Fax
[email]BobW@tranzglobal.com[/email]
So basically mounting sideways would be fine except for possibly damaging the unit with water… so more investigation would be needed there.
As for voltage vs volume, the rep says that 48v and higher should definitely sound the same. He thinks locomotives power it at 72v.
Now I just need to figure out how to connect power to it and to get a 72v DC-DC converter, or AC-DC converter since I have a big inverter behind the driver’s seat.
I’ll be using this in addition to my Shockers in the “Operation Santa claus” fire truck parade tag-along
edit;
It’s coming from South Carolina by a guy named Tom Aker , taaker@infionline.net. I searched and found that a few people on here already know him from a collector site. Cool.
I heard that somebody from South Carolina invented the sound effect played by the e-bell, I wonder if it’s him…
EDIT:
It is him!! He says that he didn’t record the sound, he gave a bell to Graham White and they recorded the sound… I wish I could get the mp3/wav file and just play it through a P.A. system and wonder if it would sound good.
Well Denny Craighead of Graham-White says that voltage doesn’t matter, it’ll have the same volume. i don’t think he’s an expert and probably didn’t contact an engineer so I’m still not sure. At any rate I’m getting a cheap AC adapter, 30 volts, 2.5 amps. The bell takes up to 2 amps continuous. 60 watts of audio, hmm.
OK, got my E-bell, it’s installed by the rear driver bumper. Held up to the car via 11 175lb tensile strength zip ties. That’s definitely temporary until I figure out a U-bolt or two that will work good.
I’ll give you guys pictures/footage eventually.
From a few sources now, the E-bell doesn’t get louder with more voltage. I haven’t tried it myself at higher voltages but it is plenty loud at 30V. I just used a basic 30 volt 2.5A AC adapter, nothing special.
The echo is unique for sure. EDIT: Echo is very nice since the bell is behind me just like on a lot of locomotives.
EDIT
Short video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3y2qAgV-aQ