Some may say I have a Simplex problem, but this is my niche. I was testing some of my surplus light plates when I decided to round up all of my Simplex 2903 light plates to do a photo shoot. Needless to say the results are what some of our heavens gates might look like. I could’ve had even more too since I recently missed out on a complete Simplex 2001 system (the devices were given to another collector). Also a disclaimer, I do not buy these for the sake of hoarding them and keeping other collectors from buying them, I got most of these from various system upgrades and other jobs.
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Is that white speaker strobe factory painted?
Most impressive! (including combo-wise) Interesting how they’re not all the same shade of red: wonder if that’s just from age or if Simplex actually changed hues/pigments over the years. Do you know the years of any of them? (as well as how many are lights & how many are strobes, or maybe better yet just the models of all of them: any 2903-9005s in there?)
I have a lot of Simpex devices too despite really hating the current iteration of the company (though that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy their better era, & I do).
Yeah: when you have a lot of the same or similar devices it’s always neat to do such a thing (especially when it comes to comparisons).
Oh yeah…
I’d say you still have plenty regardless (probably more than any other collector just about!).
Yeah: you’re also helping to make sure pieces of life safety history are being preserved too, & I for one thank you for that.
If that’s from the same (& only) set to be sold that I know of, it supposedly is.
Ten of them are strobes, including two 2903-9150 120V strobes, the plate with the yellowed lens is a 2903-9005 dual lamp, the rest are single lamp.
As for the years they’re from, I don’t know when most are from since I didn’t remove them personally. The top two rows though, all but one came from a school built in 1988, as did the 9833 horn on 9001 plate. One of the 9806 horns paired with a first generation 9101 is dated 1981, and the 2001 system I missed out on came from a building built in 1984.
The white speaker came from Simplex Guys collaboration with the University of Tennessee Knoxville, this one was the very first one that was offered for sale.
Ah, neat: sounds like you’ve got at least one of just about every known variant!
Ah, k: wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of them are from sometime in the 80s given that’s mainly when the 2903-series was being sold.
Ah okay, cool! As Modulator asked, was it painted at the factory by Simplex personnel?
Now this is every Enthusiast’s Dream! Even I’m a little jealous that you have 32 Simplex 2903s!
Also that 2903 with the cut grill looks familiar. Did it happen to have a Spectralert Classic mounted to the front?
Yes it did, that was my picture. I also posted about it on r/firealarms on Reddit.
Oh yeah! I’ve seen it many times. And every time I see it I get upset by how it was Beaten up.