I’ll explain the Honeywell brands – how their protocols work.
These are the ones with the two dials – “TENS” and “ONES”. These dials are often referred to as “Decade”.
(photo credit BuyFireAlarmParts)
How the dials work is exactly how they sound. For address 95, you set the TENS to 9 and the ONES to 5.
The way these protocols work though is that there’s two sets of addresses: Detectors and Modules. This is different from other brands that have a single set of addresses that you can mix and match devices on.
CLIP was used first by Notifier, Fire-Lite, and FCI, who were all owned by Pittway at the time.
Later on, a high speed digital version of CLIP was developed by System Sensor and first implemented on Notifier… with FlashScan.
FlashScan is able to poll devices at a much faster rate, is more resistant to interference, etc.
Later on FlashScan was given to Gamewell-FCI and they brand it as Velociti.
The next ones are LiteSpeed, and SK, used by Fire-Lite, and Silent Knight, respectively. They’re all similar to FlashScan but work differently. This protocol is also (confusingly) used with the Notifier “FireWarden” series of panels.
Now for the compatibility…
There is an identification code in brand’s protocol… a Notifier CLIP device won’t work on a Fire-Lite or FCI CLIP system. Some of the smaller panels from other brands do not test for this identification code assigned to each brand. For example, Fire-Lite devices work on a Notifier “Firewarden” series panel, and vice versa. Notifier FlashScan devices work on the FCI 7100 as well.
Glossary:
CLIP: 198 device analog protocol developed by System Sensor.
FlashScan, Velociti, IDP, SK: 318 device high speed digital protocol developed by System Sensor for Notifier, then for Gamewell-FCI and Silent Knight.
LiteSpeed: 198 or 318 device (depends on panel) high speed digital protocol similar to FlashScan but not the same.
HFS: 25 device modified FlashScan protocol used only by the 25-point Silent Knight 5600 and Fire-Lite MS-25.
DCP: 127 device analog protocol developed by Hochiki. Silent Knight uses a similar protocol called SD500 but it is not exactly the same.
XP95: 127 device analog protocol developed by Apollo. Also known as Gamewell XP.
Discovery: 127 device analog protocol developed by Apollo. More sophisticated version of XP95.
MAPNET & MAPNET II: 127 device capacity analog SLC originally developed by Simplex in the 80s and 90s. Replaced with IDNET.
IDNET: 250 device digital SLC developed by Simplex in the 2000s to replace MAPNET II.
TFX: Autocall/Grinnell addressable protocol, developed in the 90s and had a very short life. Replaced by IDNET.
FAST protocol: Identical to CLIP. Used by FAST until they were bought out by EST.
EST Signature: 250 device self-addressing digital protocol used by EST systems. Has a lot of bugs.
FirePrint: 255 device digital protocol used by current Siemens and Faraday systems.
I know of another protocol that was used by Cerberus Pyrotronics before FirePrint but I do not know what it is. Since Gamewell was part of CP at one point, I bet it is the old Apollo protocol that came before XP95… whose name I do not remember.