i’m starting out as a fire alarm collector and i am wondering if anybody has any good recommendations for a control panel to start out with.
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Silent Knight’s SK-5208: conventional, 10 zones (can be expanded to a total of 30), 4 NACs, 4 relays, filtered DC output, add-on expansion boards, Amseco/Potter, Faraday, Gentex, System Sensor & Wheelock sync, & easy to wire & program (you don’t even need the software unless you want to define custom coding options or edit a few other features). Good luck finding one for an affordable price like I did though.
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yeah prices for that panel are high for some reason but maybe i’ll get lucky one day
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Well Keep looking. Maybe one day you could find a panel for a good price. I got a 4006 for $34.
I would personally recommend a Simplex 4001 if you can find one for a good price. Just a simple 4 zone conventional panel that is easy to use, and will easily power older mechanical horns, something that some newer panels struggle to do. It can also handle both 2 and 4 wire smokes, and the ability to change the signal coding with the flip of a switch.
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Keep in mind however that if you don’t have batteries for the 4001 it will output FWR, which will make most alarms sound bad & eventually kill Simplex devices.
I suppose the 4001 is a good panel to start with, but not only will you not likely find it for much cheaper than most other small-medium-size conventional panels, compared to others like the SK-5208 & 4005 it’s got nothing in terms of features.
If you are fine with a basic panel, start with an ms-2 or ms-4 just know it’s fwr and to not go over the nac limit that’s how most people blow up their ms 2 and 4
Too expensive. Checked eBay, and it’s like the same price as an sk5208. Definitely not worth it. Go with the sk5208 (or something similar)
There you go: might as well go with one if a fewer-feature panel like the MS-2/MS-4 is about the same price-wise. I’d also recommend Fire-Lite’s MS-10UD-7; I don’t have any personal experience with this particular panel, unlike the SK-5208, but I have seen that it’s almost like Fire-Lite’s counterpart to the SK-5208 (make sure to go with the “7” model specifically: the “3” model puts out FWR, the “7” model puts out filtered DC (more amps too) Because of this I’d avoid the MS-5UD-3 if I were you (it has fewer zones than the MS-10UD-7 does as well).
ESL 1500 I have one (have not tested it) and it a 1 zone panel