It’s an apartment building, No maintenance personnel around, no workers, nothing. I’m just assuming they were working on the system and I couldn’t see the truck.
Tonight I went to a Halloween party at a friend’s apartment building. Their fire alarm system is kind of an unusual one. I believe it was built some time in the '80s. Many of the alarms I saw were older Wheelock 7002 horn/strobes (or 7002Ts with the open grille), but at the main building entrance there was a Wheelock NS horn/strobe, and the party/event area we had the party in had a couple of SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes (I guess it was recently renovated.) All the pulls I saw were Fire-Lite BG-12s, and the smoke detectors were mostly System Sensor i3s, along with at least one 2151 detector. The panel is probably a Fire-Lite model of some sort, set up as a conventional system.
I mention this due to the slight mix of alarm signals; plus 7002s and BG-12s is a unique combination!
I was back there tonight for a Halloween party, and there have been some changes. The fire alarm panel is now a Silent Knight IFP-2000, installed in a stairwell. The Fire-Lite panel was gutted and is now used as a terminal cabinet, with a Silent Knight annunciator next to it. There’s still a Wheelock AS at the main entrance, but all the alarms on the second floor are now Wheelock Exceder horn/strobes, mostly wall-mount HSRs, and one conference room had a ceiling-mount Exceder. One area still had an RSG T-bar pull, there was also an FCI MS-2 pull in the A.A.N.E. office area, and a few Notifier-branded BG-12s. Most of the smoke detectors were now System Sensor i3s, along with at least one 2400-series detector, and I think I saw a newer System Sensor 2151 detector as well.
At the hotel I’m staying at in Amarillo, TX, there’s a Siemens system slowly replacing whatever system was in place before. The original signals were SAE 2DCD horns behind AV-32s, but in much of the building, U-MMT’s are replacing them, and I even saw a ZH lazily slapped on top of an AV-32! I couldn’t get a picture because my phone was dying, but I’ll see if I can snap a pic tomorrow morning.
What’s the AV-32 for? I’m assuming bad weather or some other mass notification warning system.
There were other AV-32s in the building that had 2DCD electromechanical horns in them. I’m guessing the horn behind this AV-32 broke down and they just lazily slapped a ZH over it. Why they didn’t just remove it entirely is beyond me-- the U-MMT’s that were scattered about weren’t lazily mounted…
Probably because if they removed the AV32, there would be a gaping hole in the wall below the Z-series horn strobe. Its tough replacing larger alarms with smaller, more modern models. Everything now is roughly 4"x4" as opposed to the 4"x5" or 4"x6" older appliances.
They make trim plates, though. But I guess this is cheaper.
Hi guys,
Long time no post…
A high school I recently went to has a very interesting system:
I didn’t see the entire school…just the main lobby, gymnasium, and one bathroom.
Panel: EST3
Pull-Stations: EST-SIGA 278
Alarms(that I saw): Wheelock MT-24-WM horn/strobes in the main lobby and gym(under weatherproof covers)
Wheelock WM Single Gang strobes in the bathroom
Smoke Detectors: I didn’t recognize them, they were old and yellowed, and looked like the current fire-lite models on sale today
The bathroom that I went to had an EST heat detector
I went back to my high school and that hallway they split in two that had Commander 3s doesn’t have Commander 3s anymore. Now they have 9838 horns on 4904 strobe plates. Apparently they were place holders for 9838 horns. I didn’t know that they could use discontinued horns in new construction even if the building has them as signals.
New Old Stock probably.
If that’s the case, why didn’t they use them to replace the 2DCDs instead of the Exceeders on those ugly red mounting plates?
Got to love those great looking installs! 10/10 :lol:
The movie theatre near my house had a recent panel upgrade. The theatre, that was owned by Famous Players, then Empire, was bought by Landmarks and got some significant upgrades to the theatres inside, such as being the first theatre in canada to have powered reclining seats in all of the theatres (really comfy btw). Anyways, the panel in there before was an Edwards ESA 2000 I believe. It was replaced with a simplex system, as the panel in the front now is a 4602 annunciator panel. it is still a 2 stage system though.
I recently stayed at a hotel in Miami equipped with an interesting combination of devices. The main lobby and restaurant, which have been renovated, have an extremely common setup that consists of NBG-12 pull stations and ceiling-mount SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobes. However, the rest of the hotel’s system has only been partially upgraded: the original pull stations have been replaced with NBG-12s, but the original signals, Faraday 5640 horns, are still in place. The panel is probably a newer Notifier model, judging by the smoke detectors in the elevator lobbies.
Faraday 5640 Fire Alarm Horn | Picture taken in Miami, FL. | Flickr
Fire Alarm Devices | Notifier NBG-12 pull station and Farada… | Flickr
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Pretty neat! The BG-12 and the Faraday horn looks like such an odd combo.
It is indeed a very unusual combination of alarms. I was surprised to see that the horns had not been upgraded, despite the system being newer. This setup is definitely more interesting than having BG-12s and SpectrAlerts throughout the building!
Keep your eyes peeled. Miami has some great older systems.
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Unfortunately, this was the only interesting setup I spotted while I was there. Other than this system, I only saw an outrageous amount of systems with BG-12s and SpectrAlerts, including one that replaced a nice older Simplex setup I saw when I was in Miami a few years ago.