High-pitched sound from Menard's Power Plant

Yep it's normal. It's the power supply board for the signage. Miller Engineering signs do the same. 

Thank you very much, Marty! I feel a little better knowing the sound is supposed to be there. I'll just tell inquisitive visitors that it's the sound of the "generators."

Time to call the hazmat team! 

See this OGR thread: https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...uilding-noise?page=1

It is "normal" for Menards' design.  It's similar as the whine you'd hear back in the last century when your camera electronic flash would charge up between flashes.  Could Menards have been designed without the whine?  Yes, but would have required more engineering effort and cost.

Can "you" do anything about it?  The linked thread identifies the source of the whine.  As I discussed in the earlier thread, take a wooden stick or whatever and press on the component and you should hear a change.  Then, if "you" are an electronic design engineer you could replace the Menards circuit.  But for the rest of the OGR community, I'd suggest "dripping" some hot-glue on the component in question which might reduce the volume.  Your mileage may vary.

I have several Miller Engineering signs and none of them make any sound.  The one Menards building that I have with a sign does make the noise.  It's annoying and I probably will replace it with a M.E. sign.

Sounding like an electronic flash winding up describes the whine just perfectly! Thank you all for the suggestions regarding the matter. If it's normal for the operation, I'm going to see what might be suitable for sound insulation, something similar to Stan's suggestions.

MartyE posted:

Yep it's normal. It's the power supply board for the signage. Miller Engineering signs do the same. 

John23 posted:

I have several Miller Engineering signs and none of them make any sound.  The one Menards building that I have with a sign does make the noise.  It's annoying and I probably will replace it with a M.E. sign.

IIRC the Menards structure signs are produced by Miller.  I agree w/ MartyE.  I have very many Miller Engineering signs of all sizes and several (but not all) produce that electronic whine especially when the lighting mode is sequential and not steady.  The same "e-whine" noise was also very noticeable at Miller's York booth last month.

I found this interesting and maybe a FYI here... Just read an article where a guy used soft foam to mount his Miller sign controllers on. He said it minimized or eliminated the unwanted noise and high pitched sounds from his Miller signs. The foam looked like 'foam rubber' as we used to call it? 

You used to be able to buy it at craft stores, Like for throw pillow filling, maybe chair cushions etc., but I don't know these days? Or maybe kind of like one of those large car washing sponges. Maybe some of the denser foam could be used as well, maybe it would be even better?

I have not tried this myself, but it sounded like it might be a good idea to try out and should also be easy enough to try.

Keystone posted:

MartyE posted:

Yep it's normal. It's the power supply board for the signage. Miller Engineering signs do the same. 

John23 posted:

I have several Miller Engineering signs and none of them make any sound.  The one Menards building that I have with a sign does make the noise.  It's annoying and I probably will replace it with a M.E. sign.

IIRC the Menards structure signs are produced by Miller.  I agree w/ MartyE.  I have very many Miller Engineering signs of all sizes and several (but not all) produce that electronic whine especially when the lighting mode is sequential and not steady.  The same "e-whine" noise was also very noticeable at Miller's York booth last month.

FWIW the screen on Lionels Legacy handheld does it too. Perfectly normal. I suppose depending on how you look at it.

If one can hear such a high pitched noise maybe its a good thing regarding ones hearing.....or maybe not.

RickO posted:

If one can hear such a high pitched noise maybe its a good thing regarding ones hearing.....or maybe not.

Of course the (VERY!) long term solution is to wait enough years for your hearing to deteriorate sufficiently that you can no longer hear that particular frequency!

But seriously, there is a sound insulation material made of a bituminous rubber used in commercial buildings. So it might even be worth trying encasing the electronics in something like thick mud flap rubber.