First of let me say hello and what a great idea for a forum. Been in the industry almost 20 years and never knew this site was here.
My question is; would the IDNET be usable on a system where they have multiple nodes on a network? Specifically 4100-5111 panel. They are currently using conventional zone cards with the old wiring and 2 wire smokes after a retrofit done many years ago. They IDNET is jumped class A as usual but currently no devices on any panel. Trying to add a few devices for an elevator mod and have a node right by the machine room. I did not look for voltage on the terminals yet as I didn’t think it was a problem. Several techs said no problem but someone said that it can’t happen. Caught in a pickle here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Many times over my years at Simplex we installed a 4100 in a hard wired retrofit and then added new addressable devices. It was done with 4100 Classic and 4100+ with Mapnet and 4100U using IDNet. The 4100ES can do the same thing.
There is one situation that I know of that prohibits adding IDNet devices. If the panel has a BMUX card communicating with 2120 transponders IDNet devices are prohibited. In that situation the programmer does not allow adding devices to the IDNet channel. Conversely, if the panel has even one IDNet device the BMUX card cannot be added. However, if there is a 2120 CDT operating Mapnet devices connected to the BMUX card, additions can be made to the CDT.
You mentioned this is a network system. Care has to be exercised when adding IDNet devices and sharing those points with a lower level panel like a 4100+. There are IDNet devices and point states that the older panel does not understand. The workarounds are install a CPU upgrade kit in the older panel or pass those point states using pseudo points.