Get Air (Mays landing, NJ)
Panel: EST Addressable Panel (Probably a QuickStart of some kind)
Pulls: SIGA-270s
Detectors: SIGA-H2Ds (Added later on)
Signals: Genesis horn/strobes
So, I went on vacation and found these systems:
Marriott’s Ocean Pointe, Riviera Beach, FL
Check-in building:
- 1 Simplex 4903 by the bell desk
- 1 TrueAlert
- Simplex T-Bars
Panel is a 4010
Sailfish, Dolphin, Cobia, and Pompano Bldgs:
Pulls are Simplex T-Bars
Wheelock RSS in the elevator lobby
E50s on all resort levels (including pool bar) and E70s in the parking deck
(Pompano has ET70WP alarms by the gym/pool area)
SpectrAlert Advance speakers in the rooms
Simplex TrueAlarm detectors for elevator recall
(Dolphin has a 4903 in the Activity Center and Marketplace)
Kidde smoke detectors in all rooms
Panel is a Simplex voice-evac panel
Kingfish Bldg:
- Wheelock MT (newer version) in parking deck
- Simplex explosion-proof T-Bars
- TrueAlert strobes in the bathrooms near the gym/pool
Panel is unknown
Palm Beach International Airport:
- Wheelock E70s (Older and newer)
- Ceiling-mounted older Wheelock strobes rebranded by Kidde
- Atlas Sound speakers on the ceiling
- SpectrAlert Advance Speaker/Strobes near TSA in Concourse C and the TSA Concourse C restroom
- Wheelock RSS in applicable areas
Publix Riviera Beach, FL
- Wheelock Exceeders
- Wheelock AS and RSSWP in the parking deck
- ADT BG-12
The Square Downtown West Palm Beach:
- Notifier BG-12
- SpectrAlert Advances
CVS Palm Beach Gardens:
- Fire-Lite BG12s
- SpectrAlert Advances
Marriott’s Oceana Palms, Singer Island, FL (attended a meeting here):
- SpectrAlert Advance remote strobes and speaker/strobes
- Notifier BG-12s
- Notifier FSP-851 detectors
TJ-Maxx, Palm Beach Gardens, FL:
- 1 System Sensor MA/SS by checkout
Port Canaveral: Cruise Terminal 10
Panel: Silent Knight EVS-VCM
Pulls: SK-PULL-DAs
Detectors: SK-PHOTO-Ts, Unknown conventional heat detectors outdoors
Signals: System Sensor SPSWs, SPSWKs, SPSCWs, SPSCWHKs, and SPCWs
Another correction: It looks like the new Lowell High School is also going the Autocall route! It turns out we’ve got an Autocall distributor very local to my area: NSG Life Safety, a division of Norel Service Co. They’re located in West Bridgewater MA, and they moved into a building I drive by on my way home from my workplace! In a way, it’s like we have our own local Simplex. (And yep, they do have a few former Simplex techs on their staff.)
At the time that new Weymouth middle school was built, Bridgewater had a new elementary school built! The Mitchell Elementary School, after their previous building (built in 1996) suffered a roof collapse and had to be completely rebuilt, while they were temporarily housed at Bridgewater Middle School (and I visited there in 2018 as part of a Brockton Rox promotion). The 1996 building had a Simplex system, probably a 4020 or 4100, with 4903 horn/strobes (most likely electromechanical) and at least one TrueAlert horn/strobe.
The new Mitchell school building was completed and opened last year, and it, too, has an Autocall-branded 4100ES mass notification system.
Check out the annunciators, how there are apparently two A4603-9101s. I wonder what purpose each one serves. This school also has white TrueAlert ES speaker/strobes and “ALERT” remote amber strobes. (Mass notification systems are becoming all the rage for newly-built or heavily-renovated schools, as in addition to fire alarm use they can also be used for lockdowns and other emergencies.) In addition to the TrueAlarm detectors, this school also has A4099-9006 dual-action T-bar pull stations (the Weymouth middle school has no pull stations, most likely for security reasons).
While it is unfortunate some recent school tragedies have led to this sort of thing, it’s very interesting seeing public schools take their alarm systems to the next level. While a new elementary school in Easton went with an EST mass notification system, it’s neat to see that there will now be some variation with the new schools they build or extensively renovate in the Greater Boston area, alternating between EST and Autocall (depending on the bid). Also, in a way it’s nice to see Simplex equipment often get used in new schools again (I think of Johnson Controls having Autocall as being like how Edwards/EST had AIP and Faraday had FOS, i.e. brands to sell their fire alarm products to third-party distributors.)
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NSG Life Safety is apparently Autocall’s largest distributor.
This whole thing just makes me wonder… did Simplex do something bad that led to them becoming a lot less popular - perhaps they became a lot less friendly (or maybe just more expensive) when they got bought by Tyco and then JCI? Or did the Dennis Kozlowski scandal give a very bad impression of Simplex’s parent company?
Or was there just more competition?
I wonder if the Watkins family regrets selling the company…
Also, I did come across a video of a school somewhere else in Massachusetts that has the same setup as Mitchell Elementary (and Lowell High), except it’s actually a Simplex system (confirmed after I inquired in the comments) - which is a little surprising.
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I was wondering when you were gonna come back
I’m pretty darn sure that Simplex has gotten worse thanks to the greedy corrupt executives at JCI: even Tyco I’m sure was a better owner of Simplex than them (if you don’t believe me look at JCI merging with Tyco SimplexGrinnell just to avoid paying US taxes, among their many other atrocities).
merging with Tyco SimplexGrinnell just to avoid paying US taxes
Ireland is notorious for being a tax haven… here’s several more examples of this.
It’s still not right any way you look at it: that alone should permanently paint JCI as a scummy company that deserves no customers (& thus deserves not to even exist anymore), but everyone seems to overlook that regardless.
Anyway, we’re getting off-topic from this thread’s, well, topic.
Saks Off 5th, Stamford, CT (former Lord and Taylor:)
Panel: Fire-Lite panel from the 2010s, judging by the reset annunciator date
Annunciator: Fire-Lite ANN-80:
Pulls: Fire-Lite BG-12s
Old Pulls: Fire-Lite BG-6
Alarms: SpectrAlert Advances on the wall and ceiling
Detectors: System Sensor i3 and Fire-Lite detectors
It’s probably not the products that did anything is probably the service that JCI and formerly Tyco had was bad and still is bad. I have heard some horror stories about JCI. I hear that JCI service calls are pretty expensive. The thing with Simplex is to get a Simplex system installed, you have to go through JCI and the panels are proprietary. If Simplex went the route with Notifier, Gamewell FCI and EST, I think Simplex would be more common.
Ron Jon Surf Shop, Cocoa Beach, FL
Panel: Unknown (system likely part of the security system)
Pulls: Fire-Lite BG-12s
Detectors: System Sensor 2400s, at least 2 I3s, and at least 2 Chemtronics heat detectors
Signals: Wheelock 7002Ts and at least one System Sensor P2RL
This post will cover two buildings in Port Chester, New York.
Building 1: Costco Port Chester
Panel: Notifier AFP-400
Pulls: Notifier NBG-12s
Other Pulls: Potter Dual-Action T-Bars blocked off by tape
Signals: Wheelock NS
Wheelock RSS (slowly being replaced with the L-Series)
There is also one lone Advance in the dairy department
There are also a lot of older Notifier and Potter monitor modules around the building
There are some Amseco alarms at the emergency doors
Wing Stop, Port Chester, NY
Panel: Some sort of an Edwards panel (based on the annunciator)
Pulls: Vigilant-rebranded Edwards SIGA-278
N/As: Edwards Genesis and a SpectrAlert Advance for CO2 detection
Detectors: Kidde heat detectors
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I was there in 2020 and they had all 7002t’s and bg-10’s.
It looks like the system at the Costco is being replaced.
However, the Costco in Norwalk has Simplex QuickAlerts and 2099-series T-Bar (older) pull stations. The panel is some sort of a large Simplex panel (maybe a 4100ES?)
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My local preforming arts center has a simplex system (most likely a 4100u) with e70s/e90s and truealarms. The coolest thing is that the hall has silver e70s iirc
Suburban Collection Showplace (Novi) - Per Wikipedia, this exposition center opened in 2005, with a Hyatt Place hotel addition in 2013 and a western hall expansion in 2019. Normally, I would not document a system this modern, but the mix of devices from the building additions, I felt, made it worthy for inclusion.
Annunciators/panels:
<Presumably at least one Gamewell voice-evac for the expo center, model unknown
<Presumably a National Time 900/902 series voice-evac for Hyatt Place
Detectors (all for Hyatt Place; all viewable with Google Street View):
<Gentex 8000/8003 series smoke detectors in elevator lobbies
<Kidde battery-operated smoke detectors in hotel rooms
<National TIme DigiComm smoke detectors in common areas (i.e., hallways) of the hotel
Pull stations:
<Gamewell Century models throughout the expo center
<National Time 540-series t-bars in Hyatt Place (viewable in Google Street View)
Notification appliances:
<Wheelock E90 series speaker/strobes (all white) through the expo halls, with the western addition using variants with larger mounting plates
<One Wheelock ASWP horn/strobe above a sprinkler connection outside an expo center doorway (viewable in Google Street View)
<One System Sensor P2R horn/strobe above a sprinkler connection outside of Hyatt Place (viewable in Google Street View)
<Gentex GX93 mini horns in the Hyatt Place hotel rooms (viewable in Google Street View)
<Gentex SSPKWLP series speaker/strobes in the Hyatt Place common areas (viewable in Google Street View)
Interestingly, none of the Gentex devices appear to be rebranded by National Time.
Stamford Train Station, Stamford, CT:
Panel is a Simplex 4100U or 4100ES
Signals: 4903 horn or speaker strobes
Pulls: 2901-9795s (T- Bars)
Smokes: TrueAlarms
Tron Lightcycle/Run, Magic Kingdom, FL
Panel: EST Addressable panel (likely an EST3X or EST4)
Pulls: SIGA-270s
Detectors: SIGA-PDs (black)
Signals: LED Genesis speaker/strobes (wall mount, black), regular Genesis speaker/strobes (ceiling mount, black), WG4 weatherproof speaker/strobes (red, white in restrooms), and Integrity strobes (red, located in restrooms)
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