Fire Alarms in Buildings (2.0)

Interesting. I take it that there were once bigger alarms where the Integrities are, right? (going by the trim plates, possibly Edwards 800-series horn/strobes?)

A portion of Honolulu International Airport has an interesting2-stage voice evac system with 2-stage Johnson Controls BG-10L’s and some kind of Federal Signal speaker strobes

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Johnson Controls-branded BG-10s are definitely rare to see, & those Federal Signal speaker/strobes are definitely rare as well (though the strobe is a VALS, don’t know about the speaker however).

At first I thought nothing of the system (BG-10’s and VALS strobes aren’t that uncommon), but then I saw the speaker grilles and keyswitches on top of the pulls which immediately piqued my curiosity. Also interesting that the pull and key switches are on different monitor modules and not a special one

Oh wow, I didn’t even notice the key switch on top of the pull at first! I believe a two-stage version of the BG-10 is mentioned in the manual, but I had no idea what one looked like. I guess now we know.

I’m kinda surprised it’s not on the front to be honest

That’s quite a unique setup; thanks for sharing the pictures! The two-stage BG-10 is a particularly interesting find; I had no idea those existed and, as you mentioned, the location of the keyswitch is particular.

This setup reminds me of a system I saw at a cruise terminal in Miami a few years ago; it was almost like an early 2000s equivalent to the setup in your pictures. The building had NBG-12LX pull stations (with the older “Notifier Fire Systems” branding) and newer versions of these speaker/strobes; the speakers were the same as the one in your picture, but they were paired with V1971 strobes, if I recall correctly. This system struck me as it’s the only instance where I’ve seen these Federal Signal speaker/strobes (and it was particularly unexpected to see them on a Notifier system).

You know, funny you should say that: I once saw alarms identical to what you described at a convention center. I honestly have no idea who makes the speaker, but given that both of these combos are paired with Federal Signal strobes I’d guess Federal Signal.

Edit: looks a lot like this Federal Signal SPA: FEDERAL SIGNAL MODEL SPA LOUDSPEAKER SPEAKER 5-3/4" Square | eBay

That also sounds like an interesting find, Samuel. And great job, Carson! Always great to know more about the history of these systems

Federal Signal speaker strobes, in the terminal’s Arrivals and Departures.

Another meager share. Office suite I was relocating strobes at a while ago. EST system with EST devices.



IMG_20220223_033141_01

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That’s a rare Edwards/EST Genesis you found, but it has one candela.

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The term is technically “fixed candela”, & I’m pretty sure that only if it’s a 1st-generation Genesis is it fixed-candela (though there might be some 2nd-generation Genesises that are fixed-candela too).

Italian American Banquet & Conference Center (Livonia) - According to the website, this center opened in 1994, and already, it is on its second system. Google Street View imagery taken between April and May 2016 shows what the building’s original system looked like before it was replaced.

Old System:
Originally, the center was built with a National Time system consisting of what looked like an older Honeywell 6160-series annunciator next to an AED machine, 641 pull stations behind STI-1100-series covers, ESL 445CT heat detectors above elevator doors, and National Time’s version of the Faraday 6120-5511 horn/strobes.

New System:
The center did not use National Time for its replacement; instead, it went with Fire-Lite. Now, the system consists of an ANN-80-R annunciator at the main entrance, Fire-Lite branded BG-12LX pull stations, and System Sensor P2R and PC2R (plus one P2RK) horn/strobes. Interestingly, the ESL detectors from the old system were retained.

Just a note: the 445CT is a smoke detector with an additional heat sensor, not just a heat detector. Neat systems though.

Of course, they replaced it with Honeywell and System Sensor products. Sometimes, I wonder how the other brands even make it into the laps of some clients, most of them want the absolute cheapest bid. I’m shocked I even come across Simplex and Edwards productions out in the the field. I must apologize if this statement comes off as close minded, I’m not 100% sure how jobs get quoted and how the electrical contractor decides which panel to use.

I understand that grand majority of systems are the Honeywell brands with the System Sensor devices because those are the absolute cheapest you can go in terms of a reliable commercial fire system. There are tons of Simplex 4010, 4100, and EST QuickStarts and such out in Florida, they’re not rare, but Honeywell’s most common where I work.

Honeywell probably gets the majority of contracts because they have a brand for every application: Notifier for the big buildings, Silent Knight & Gamewell-FCI for the medium buildings, & Fire-Lite for the small buildings, not to mention System Sensor for notification appliances & smoke detectors. Johnson Controls & Carrier Global meanwhile only have one brand each: Simplex & Edwards/EST respectively.

Well. Gamewell FCI is meant for high end as well.

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What can I say, I don’t know everything about the companies that make up the fire protection industry.

Clients want the best performance… that they can get. Everyone is on a budget these days and just because Simplex or Siemens or EST may have offerings doesn’t necessarily mean they are the best option.

The electrical contractor sometimes doesn’t make the choice, sometimes it’s the designer’s, engineer’s, or owner’s choice. For a lot of buildings, they are done in a design-bid-build format, where the alarm system is designed by a design firm, who will then submit that design to be bid on by alarm installers. The designer may not necessarily specify a manufacturer, but if there’s a bid between Installers X, Y, and Z, who are Notifier, Simplex, and EST respectively, if Installer X wins the lowest bid, then the system will be Notifier.

Sometimes the owner will list in their specifications a preferred manufacturer. The most notable I can think of is the Department of Defense, who will almost always spec out Monaco for any DoD or armed forces facility. This is because of Monaco’s radio, point-to-point transmitter, which can also transmit specific device information. Most monitoring companies can’t do this, but Monaco’s equipment can.