I’ve seen a similar mix of devices on a Johnson Controls rebranded 3030 system in my area. The system was installed around the same time. Most of the building has red Advance speaker/strobes, but some areas have white L-Series speaker/strobes.
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I have a few of these flush mount assemblies and about fifty detectors. All of mine are the less potent Americium 241 variety, although they still contain 80 microcuries. That’s at least eighty times more potent than standard 1 microcurie or less detectors.
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Yeah: no wonder Statitrol had more success with their low-radiation ionization detectors even if Cerberus was technically the first maker of them!
The Terrace | Basic Care Community- Bismarck, ND
Sorry I’m posting so much at once lol.
This is an assisted living center that was built in the 90’s. It is meant for lower income residents. Despite this, it is an extremely nice place. Although they haven’t really done any updates in the life of the building, it still feels pretty nice and modern. It has I nice and atmosphere. It was a state-of-the-art building when it was built, and it has held up incredibly well. They also still have the original fire alarm system, which is pretty much unchanged from opening day, aside from a few replacement devices.
Panel: Simplex 4002 (with a two-bay cabinet). It is located in the front entrance.
Notification Appliances: Mostly white Simplex 4903 mechanical horn/strobes (can be seen in some of the photos above). They also have a few red TrueAlert horn/strobes that have replaced failed devices.
Pull Stations: Simplex 2099-9754 pull stations
Detectors: Mostly Simplex 2098-9201 smoke detectors. They have a few replacement TrueAlarms.
This is a sprinklered building.
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1414 East Maple Road (Troy, MI; built in 2002)
Annunciators/panel:
Original system: Unknown, presumably Siemens
Current system: Notifier NFS-3030 with digital voice command, plus separate cabinets for firefighter telephones and circuit boards/amplifiers
Detectors:
Original system: System Sensor 2WTA-B photoelectric units without bases carried over into the current system; they may have been branded as Siemens
Current system: Notifier FSP-851 photoelectric units
Pull stations:
Original system: Unknown, presumably Siemens
Current system: Notifier NBG-12LX units
Notification appliances:
All of the Siemens devices from the original system were carried over and are as follows:
<Siemens S-LP(25/70)-MCS speaker/strobes
<Siemens SE-MC-CW speaker/strobes
<Siemens U-MCS strobes
<Siemens ZR-MC-CW strobes
<Siemens ZR-MC-W strobes
<One Siemens SET-MC-R speaker/strobe, presumably replacing a broken S-LP(25/70)-MCS
J.A. Lanigan Elementary School (Farmington Hills, MI; built in 1965 with a gym wing expansion circa late 1990s)
Annunciators/panel:
Original system: Unknown, presumably a National Time and Signal Corporation (Natsco) 2000-series unit
Current system: Natsco 7000-series unit
Detectors:
<System Sensor 2400-series photoelectric units
<One Notifier NP-100R photoelectric unit replacing a broken 2400
Pull stations:
Original system: Unknown, presumably Natsco 3500Ns or 620Ms
Current system: Natsco 541-S t-bars (rebranded Sigcom units) with one in the gym wing expansion protected by an unknown plastic cover
Notification appliances:
Original system: Natsco 411F horns, all of which remain intact albeit disconnected
Current system:
<Gentex SHG horn/strobes
<Gentex GMX strobes
<Natsco SG-C4HSZ horn/strobes (rebranded Gentex units)
<One red Natsco 4" trouble bell (rebranded Faraday unit), most likely replacing an original P804 unit
Other:
<Natsco P806R class change bells from the original system, all of which are still intact
<One white, surface-mount Natsco 6" class change bell (rebranded Faraday unit) in the gym wing expansion
<It is unknown if this school ever used outdoor class change bells, but there are wall-mount square Dukane speakers which may have replaced them
Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) - C and D Gates
Panel: Siemens Addressable Panel (Likely an MXL)
Pulls: MSI-20Bs
Detectors: DI-X3s (Or ILI-1s) and FP-11s
AVs: UMMT-MCSes
International Music Camp- Dunseith, North Dakota/Boissevain, Manitoba
This is a summer camp that is located in the International Peace Graden on the border of the United States and Canada. I attended this camp in the summer of 2022 (their first year open since the pandemic).
Camp Map:
As you can see in the above map, I have circled each building that has a fire alarm system.
Alme International Arts Centre/Frances Leach Library (Opened in 2008):
Panel: Simplex 4010
Notification Appliances: Simplex TrueAlert SmartSync horn/strobes
Pull Stations: Simplex 4099-9001 addressable pull stations
Detectors: Simplex TrueAlarm addressable smoke detectors
Burdick Center for the Performing Arts (Opened in 1995):
Panel: Probably an EST 6616 or similar
Notification Appliances: EST “Pre-Integrity” 792 series horn/strobes and the remote strobe equivalents
Pull Stations: EST 270-SPO conventional pull stations
Detectors: Edwards 6270B (or similar looking) smoke detectors and Edwards mechanical heat detectors
Wright Hall, Boundy Hall, Feldbrill Hall, Hathaway Hall, Mayer Hall, and Bert Hall (As far as I can tell, all opened in 1994):
These are all similar dorm buildings with almost identical systems.
Panels: Either Simplex 4001 panels or 4004 panels
Notification Appliances: Simplex 2901-9838 horns on 4903-9105 strobe plates. These are even in the bathrooms. Most of them are mounted on the ceilings with ceiling fire lettering, but the ones in the bathrooms are on the wall with wall lettering. Interestingly, all of the horns are mounted sideways on the strobe plates.
Pull Stations: Simplex 4251-20 conventional pull stations
Detectors: Simplex 2908-9201 conventional smoke detectors on 2098-9211 bases
Side Note: I bet the mechanical horns work similarly to low frequency sounders when it comes to waking people up.
Storm Warning System: In 2022 (actually a few days before I attended the camp), a Federal Signal 2001-130 siren was added on the west side of the Burdick Center. This siren will sound in case of any life threatening weather to warn people to get to the shelter. It is actually a very important siren because the camp has a strict no electronics policy. Because of this, the siren is the only way to know about an emergency situation.
This is a follow-up to the post I made about MCC Omaha FOC building 23. Here are some pictures of the system.
So the directory and bell behind the grill is probably going to get removed in a future renovation, and the school is going to get L series led speaker strobes.
Alright. Will you be salvaging/saving them when that happens though?
I’ll be graduating before the renovations the sign and bell are not going anywhere fast while I’m still at the school. Also I’m salty that the school is making much needed renovations, expansions and upgrades that would have been amazing too have.
Alright: not sure I get that last part but alright. Best of luck!
I think they are saying that they don’t like the fact that their school will be getting its renovations and upgrades after they graduate.
Oh, alright, yeah. Still: at least they should hopefully be in just the right place to save those devices when all of that does happen!
Yesterday, I had lunch with some colleagues at a restaurant near my workplace. The building appears to have a Potter PFC-9000 system, judging from the Potter-branded Mircom annunciator in the main entrance (this system is most likely replacing an Edwards Custom 6500 as the Potter annunciator is mounted over an old Edwards annunciator):
The signals are mainly 6” Edwards 343D Adaptabels. The men’s washroom has a Notifier KMS-6-24A bell paired with a System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance strobe:
The pull stations are Edwards 270-SPOs. Most of the pull stations I saw are of a rather rare variant—they feature the old Edwards logo and have bilingual lettering (despite bilingual 270s being abundant in my area, I’ve seen older versions only a handful of times):
Interestingly, according to another collector, the levers on older bilingual 270s are made of plastic. I had long wondered why the lever on these pull stations is of a darker shade than the body (this isn’t the case with English- or French-only versions). While the difference isn’t particularly obvious in the photo, it is noticeable in person.
I also saw a rather uncommon English-only 270-SPO with unpainted stripes:
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A very interesting system indeed, especially the 270s & the bell & remote strobe combination (surprised more of the latter aren’t seen in Canada given how common bells are in the country, though the same seemingly can’t really be said for strobes so maybe that’s why).
Strobes are far from being rare, but I think that there are two major reasons explaining why these types of setups aren’t more common (I’m generalizing here, so this may not be representative of practices throughout the country):
- Bells were more commonly used in older installations, prior to the adoption of current strobe requirements. Given that these requirements are often not retroactive, many older systems that only use bells remain in service.
- When an older system undergoes a full upgrade, it’s likely easier and cheaper to replace bells with two-wire horn/strobes than to keep existing bells and to add strobes; if the bells are coded, the strobes would need to be on separate circuits.
I typically see bells paired with strobes in buildings that have undergone an expansion or a partial renovation: bells are used in the new or renovated parts to match the signals in the rest of the building, and strobes are added in the new or renovated part to meet current requirements. A local mall, for instance, has an early ‘90s Notifier system with bells (no strobes); when the food court was moved to a new location a few years ago, Notifier KMS bells and System Sensor L-Series strobes were installed in the new food court, but the remainder of the system remained untouched.
In this case, the washroom appears to have been remodelled at some point in the last decade, and I doubt that it originally had a bell. Those signals seem like a particularly important addition as there are two doors between the hallway and the washroom; I can’t imagine that the bells from the hallway would be audible in there.
Mayport Navy Exchange
N/As: Wheelock RSS
Wheelock WST Strobes
Wheelock EHS-DL1
Wheelock NS
System Sensor SpectrAlert Classic (In the furniture section)
Pull Stations: Gamewell Centuries under STI Stopper IIs
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