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How to Make a Siren

A siren is a sound unit that can produce a variety of loud warning signals. One of the easiest sirens to make is a "dub" siren. This siren is more musical in nature than standard emergency sirens and is often used for musical or movie sound effects. The production of the siren requires basic knowledge of electrical circuits and soldering. If you have never built an electrical circuit before, this process may be challenging and take several attempts before the siren will work properly.

Things You'll Need

8 sound keychain board
Battery holder, 3-volt
Screwdriver
Soldering gun
Output jack
Soundboard
1M potentiometer
AA batteries
Small plastic box
Drill
2 small knobs
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Instructions

- 1
  Connect the keychain board to the battery compartment with a screwdriver. Do not use any batteries during this process to prevent shorts.
- 2
  Solder the output jack to the soundboard. Connect one wire to the transistor buffer and one to the positive terminal.
- 3
  Pop the pitch resist off of the soundboard and replace it with the 1M potentiometer. Solder one outer tap to the resistor legs and the other tap to the ground connector on the soundboard.
- 4
  Solder the eight wires connected to the battery to the soundboard's button-connection traces. Ensure there is a clean space between each wire connection to prevent the solder from permanently connecting the wires.
- 5
  Add the batteries to the battery holder and test the connections. Make any soldering adjustments necessary to get the siren to work correctly. Remove the batteries.
- 6
  Drill two holes into the top of the plastic box. Place the push button, rotary switch and potentiometer inside the box. Solder the trigger button to the rotary switch and ground wire. Solder the mute button to the ground wire and output jack. Solder the potentiometer to the ground wire.
- 7
  Place the batteries into the battery housing and test the sound. When you are sure the siren works correctly, affix all of the components in place with hot glue. Place the knobs on top of the box, connecting them to the sound components. Use the switches to operate the siren.

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