Installed Federal Signal Siren and Speaker... Opinions?

Hey all. I'm new to TW so let my just start off by saying hello! My names Micah and I'm a UC Davis student. Recently bought a 2008 trd white double cab 4x4 tacoma right before christmas (finally got my dream truck...).
I know it's kind of ridiculous.. probably a little bit of a waste of money... but I installed a Federal Signal Siren amp and 100w speaker in the truck! i do have somewhat of a good excuse though because i often work at high adventure sierra camps and this is a good emergency back woods vehicle (at least thats my story and what im sticking too!) Mounted the siren amp in the dash right under an aftermarket pioneer radio, and mounted the speaker right behind the lower grill by attaching it to one of the bumper supports. Was pretty easy. but just though i would throw it out there, see if anyone had any questions on how i did it, or if anyone wanted to see pics too i could post them. Just thought if anyone else was thinking about doing anything like this there is pretty much NOTHING online about it or a write up, and maybe i could give you all some good ideas.
soooo.. any opinions?

 

post up is it a Whyln system?

 

Welcome to TW Micah. Glad you finally got your dream truck Dont know about your state.......but most states require you to have a permit for a siren and or light. Just saying, to cover yourself you might want to check your state law......If you did, then enjoy.

 

if your in NY dont use it while operating your truck on any public road. Only authorized emergency vehicles are allowed to have sirens.

 

would like to see and read on how you did it. might as well do a write up because you know someone else will want to do it or something like it one day...

 

Ok well here’s the write up!

First off let me say that I DO NOT condone a siren being used in an irresponsible way, impersonating a police officer or emergency worker in anyway. It should NOT be used on public roads, only on private property and not all states even allow a siren in your vehicle unless you have a permit.
I am also not responsible for anything that happens to you, your truck, or anything else that happens. This write up is meant to be a guide and nothing else. Do everything at your own risk.

Now lets have some fun!

List of supplies:
• Wire cutters/splicers
• Some extra 14(ish) gauge wire (maybe! I got some but the wire harness that came with the siren actually had enough in it... so unless you want to do some extra wiring stuff then you may not need it.
• Wire connectors
• Siren amp
o Some extra bolts, washers, locking washers, nuts
• Siren speaker
o Mounting bracket (if you purchased one) or…
o Some 10ish inch door hinge support plates, 2 long bolts, washer, locking washers, nuts
• Zip ties (of course)
• Rubber heat shrinking tubing
• Drill and bits
• New radio and wire harness
• Needle nose pliers
• Someone with tiny arms and hands (I’ll explain later)
• Flashlight
• Beer (Lagunitas, Deschutes, Alagash, or something else delicious)

So, that out of the way, here we go.

First, I wanted a new HD radio so I got a Pioneer DEH-33HD (About $140 at BestBuy), and a new dash kit from Taco Tunes (about $30) (Double Din!!!!) For the actual siren I got a Federal Signal SS670 Siren Amplifier (about $150). This is the only one that is small enough to fit into a one din slot. For the actual speaker, I got the Federal Signal AS124 100W High Output Speaker (about $130). Plus some wiring stuff, bolts and brackets (about $10-$20 at Ace Hardware).

By the way, side note… bought the siren amp off of Amazon. Bought the speaker from Chief Supply.com. From my one and only experience with this company, I did not have a great experience. I ordered the speaker, then didn’t hear from then for about two weeks, all the time my order status online was something like “order placed, pending shipment.” So I emailed them and got a generic email back pretty much saying that they didn’t actually have it in stock and that it would take 3 weeks for them to get another, then they would ship it. This was not really cool. Gave them a call to see if anything could be done or they could send me a comparable speaker and pay the difference, and they never bothered to return my call. So I would NOT recommend buying from them.

Lets start:

1. So first I started by taking off the radio cover, don’t be afraid to wedge a butter knife in there and get these off... look on *********.com if you need a walk through.

2. Disassemble everything until you have removed the radio, hazard/clock thing and the metal brackets.

3. I took the metal brackets and drilled two holes in them to match where the two holes in the siren amp are. You will have to do some measuring, make the drilled holes even and estimate (using your new radio) about what depth the siren amp should be at. I personally made the siren amp sit a little farther back so it would not hit the dash cover later.

4. Install your radio on the top of the double din brackets (I’m assuming you can handle and/or look up how to install a new radio in including dealing with the wiring harness), then finagle your siren into the lower part. This is when you will probably need 1.75 or 2 inch bolts to center the siren in between the brackets, and use the locking washers and nuts to secure it all in there.

4.5. Eventually I would like to bolt on a little piece of metal/ a bracket so I can mount the mic clip next to the siren so there are no holes in the dash.

5. Now that you have the radio and siren unit complete... lets move on to doing all the wires

6. Pop the hood and move towards the firewall. Near the hole that allows the majority of wires through, and move towards 10 o’clock to find a small hole with a rubber plug in it. Remove this plug with your needle nose pliers. Through this hole you will be running:
A. Positive lead
B. Negative lead
C. Speaker positive
D. Speaker negative
E. Horn wire

7. What I found helpful was propping my flashlight so it shined straight into the hole, then I crawled up under the drivers side of the dash and found where I could see the light

7.5. Hint: It will probably depend on what type of siren amp you are using, but both the positive and negative wires that go to the speaker were the same color (brown for me). I don’t know if it matters much, but I went into the amp’s manual and looked at which one was the positive and which was the negative and marked the positive one towards the end of the wire so I could wire it correctly later… you may want to do the same.

8. I then started where the siren amp will be mounted (center of dash) and ran the wires down to the driver’s feet. Then I separated the wires that will go through the firewall and attempted (and not very well) to shove the wires one by one up through the hole. I did this till my girlfriend came outside to see what I was doing and asked her to try and she finished in about two minutes. Smaller hands and arms!!!



9. I then ran the wires to about where they are supposed to go



Note: I didn’t need extra wire, but you might!!!

10. Now, before we wire everything up, lets mount the speaker. I went to Ace hardware... got some 6 or 7 inch bolts that would fit in these two metal brackets (the brackets were near the door hinges and stuff.. and the holes drilled in this bracket perfectly matched the holes already drilled in the speaker. I would measure the dimensions of that beam and then give yourself an extra inch and a half to be on the safe side when it comes to getting your bolts, don’t worry there is plenty of extra room if they are longer than they need to be.

This picture was taking looking strait down right behind the grill


11. I bolted the speaker to the middle of one of the metal brackets, leaving the two outermost holes unused. I then put the speaker on top of the driver side bumper support beam, crawled under the truck, and mounted the other bracket on the underside of the beam. Of course using locking washers and nuts. Make sure this is nice and tight so you don’t loose a $150 speaker while driving down the road! Also be sure to tighten it, but not too much as to flex the brackets.

12. Once your speaker is all set, lets wire it up! I started with connecting the speaker to the amp. Make sure positive goes with positive and negative goes with negative. I first put the shrinking tube down one of the wires, then used wire connectors that clamp down on both wires (like a female-female connection... don’t know their exact name) then slid the shrinking tube over it, and shrank it into place with a lighter to make it water tight.



13. Then I put some Y connector things on the ends of the positive and negative wires, and hooked those up to the battery bolts. And please don’t shock yourself.

14. Didn’t wire in the horn yet... didn’t have time to figure out how to wire it into the horn relay… maybe someone could help me out with this?

15. Then zip tied everything down and got all the wires out of the way.

16. Before reassembling the dash, I plugged the wire harness into the amp to test it out. Needless to say the entire neighborhood then new about my new toy.

17. If everything works out, reassemble your dash in reverse order.



And that’s it!!!!


A few extra things:
With this siren amp, you can hook up your radio too it so in the wiring harness you have two extra wires. I will probably stop at radio shack and connect a headphone jack to these two wires so, may the need ever come up, I can plug my Ipod into the speaker so everyone gets to hear my music.
The siren also comes with a park brake kill. They let you connect a wire to the dome lamp so it can cut out the siren when you open the door. I didn’t want that because I wanted the siren to be able to function even when the engine was off or door was open. I just didn’t want to be limited when I didn’t have to be.

And please remember; be responsible with your siren if you get one. I have not used this on public roads or to impersonate and officer or emergency responder, AND YOU SHOULDN’T EITHER. Yes, it is fun, ridiculous, and awesome, but only use it when it is appropriate (like telling Nissan Frontier or Ford Ranger owners they bought the wrong truck with 100W of sweet power… JUST KIDDING… kinda).

-Micah

 

Nice.. This would be fun, but I could see me getting pulled over and when the cops yells with his siren, I'd yell back on mine.

 

I'm in the process of getting a permit to run lights and sirens for the fire dept where I live. Once I get a siren, this will come in handy.

Video?

 

i'd like to see pics of the siren mount and any action vids

 

CA is one of "those states" where it's illegal to operate a siren in a privately owned vehicle. I'm not entirely sure you can even have one installed (even if you're not using it) if you operate on public roads.

Interesting read...
http://forums.officer.com/archive/index.php/t-63209.html

BTW, Fellow Aggie, class of '03.

 

Thanks for that link to the police forum! ya, from my understanding it is not illegal to have it in the vehicle. The real problem would be if I was on a public road and trying to act like an emergency vehicle and running it. And quite frankly i would be too nervous about running it on city streets (especially in a college town with cops everywhere) and i have really no reason too. That and im not an asshole that just wants to go fast and inconvenience everyone else! but ya.. i fill like its a grey area... just have to be smart about it. And go AGS!

 

Yeah without a permit it's illegal. In most states that is.


If it is illegal there they can push a lot on pu confiscate your vehicle and you could face jail time.

Just saying.... I would not have mine without a permit.

If your truck gets searched an they say do you have a permit you say no but. They won't listen.

 

I just got off of a 12 hour shift and am too tired to dig through the California Vehicle Code. I'll post up whatever I find related to this tomorrow.

I was coming into this thread expecting the OP to be like "HURRP! I installed siren to scare peoples on da road!" I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised to see this go the other direction. Thank you.

 

Thanks I really appreciate it! and if you could look through the codes that would be great. i dont really know how to look them up (ive tried) and from what ive researched its just like i was saying before, the use of it on public roads is the illegal part, not the possession. Hoping to stop by the police station tomorrow if i have time and ask the officers there too just to see what they say. but thanks maticuno!
oh and i totally dig your John Muir quote. Really one of my most favorites because i feel the same way.

 

I would not want to be caught with one in my truck. But as long as you're not using it on public roads, the ticket would just be an equipment violation. And no cop is going to be looking around for a siren or anything else unless you're street racing or really pissed him off somehow.

Have fun, just have your fun somewhere there are no cops.

BTW, a coworker stopped to take a piss on the side of the road and had a game warden sneak up behind him He was all camoed out, holding a shotgun on my coworker. No sign of a vehicle anywhere nearby, dude came out of nowhere. My point is that if you're on public land, even in the middle of nowhere, sometimes they can still snag you.

 

This is the closest I could find related to your situation. It's not even a law, just a policy, and is written so poorly that it can be interpreted multiple ways.

California Vehicle Code Section 30: Legislative Policy; Red Lights and Sirens
It is declared as a matter of legislative policy that red lights and sirens on vehicles should be restricted to authorized emergency vehicles engaged in police, fire and lifesaving services; and that other types of vehicles which are engaged in activities which create special hazards upon the highways should be equipped with flashing amber warning lamps.

Interpret that as you like. It is a policy, not a regulation, that lists no punishment. It also lists "red lights AND sirens". Proper legaleese trying to prohibit sirens would have that written as "red lights AND/OR sirens".

I am not a lawyer, so don't regard this as legal advise. There may be local city or county codes that specifically ban sirens/PA's. Also, if you use your setup in any way, shape, or form that could evenly remotely be construed as impersonating an officer or creating a public nuisance, you will be b& IRL.

 

Cool mod, but CLEAN UP THOSE WIRES!!

 

I want a siren, but cant justify how expensive they are. They are good to use in the desert cuz dumbasses like to get real close to the track and your truck, and lets ppl know you're coming through the dirt

 

is this a good deal?:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-AS...47019?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item2ebb3d37eb

 

Black

Grab a carson remote for 100$ and a decent sized flat speaker for 50-100 and your done.