How often are the 9806 and the 4904 paired together?

Fire Alarm General Discussion
1

I know that Ben has a picture on the site of these paired up, but how often are they used together? And what other lights/strobes are the 9806 paired up with? I already know the 2901, but I’m curious about others.

2

Here are two videos of 4903-9101 + 2901-9806 combos -

I remember seeing another video that also had this type of signal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this in person. In the gym of my old middle school, there was one -9806 on a 4050-80 light plate (which was burnt out).

Funny thing - the gym also had 4903 + 2902 speaker strobes. But the horn was so loud that it drowned out the message. Obviously, whoever did the installation wasn’t thinking clearly.

3

Our Holiday Inn used to have the 9806+9101 combo, but they switched to a Gamewell-FCI | Honeywell Building Technologies Gamewell 7100 panel w/ SpectrAlert Advance and BG-12s.

Also Hormel Corporate also had them before they had their building expansion and then upgraded to a Notifier ONYX DVC panel. I actually got several components from the old Simplex system ( a couple of the 9806+9101s, smokes and a SpectrAlert Advance strobe). a guy was selling them on eBay.

I’ve also seen -9838s on -9101s.

4

Yeah, -9838’s are what I usually see paired with the 4903-9101. In some of these installations, the larger rooms have 2902-9713 speakers on the same plates.

5

I’ve seen a couple places with -9838s on 4903-9001 LIGHT plates! For a brief time in the early 90s, they still used light plates in a few new installations, despite strobes now being required by the ADA at that time. One system I saw was at a college in a rival town (that’s ironically doing away with their sparse Simplex systems in favor of Siemens junk), the dining commons building built in 1991 had these horn/lights (Simplex 4002 system, pulls were break-glass 4251-30s, and a renovated area had 4903 rectangular speaker/strobes and a 4003 voice control panel.)
Only place I’ve seen the strobe version (aside from the one in my collection) is the Silver City Galleria Mall in Taunton, MA. The mall was built in 1991, and the horns are, once again, 2901-9838s (system is a Simplex 4100 set up as a conventional panel, with “LOCAL FIRE ALARM” 4251 T-bar pulls, 2098-9201 photoelectric smoke detectors and at least one TrueAlarm.) The 4903+9838 horn/strobes can be found in the main mall areas, food court and office areas, and at least one store. (A number of smaller stores have no alarm devices, any other bigger stores tied into the Simplex system have TrueAlert horn/strobes.)

As for the 2901-9806, I’m guessing Simplex continued to sell it into the early 90s, as I believe a few other companies like ESL and FCI continued to use the Vibratone 450 as well. Surprised Simplex hasn’t started rebranding the Vibratone 450 again as an electromechanical DC horn option, but would they still call it the 2901-9806?
Usually I see -9806s installed on 2903 light or strobe plates, though my city’s public school office does have a couple of them on 4050-80s (Simplex 4207 system). They’re probably not original, as the system was installed in 1977 and the rest of the horns are 4051s.

6

Federal Signal doesn’t manufacture the 450 for fire alarm service anymore, just general signaling service as a DC option to supplement their 350 VibraTone line. Its unlikely that any fire alarm alarm company will bring back electromechanical horns due to their drawbacks compared to electronic signals, so they will most likely only continue for general signaling service.

Edit: After checking their website, Federal Signal has actually discontinued the 450 series entirely in favor of an electronic alternative.

7

They still list it on their website.

http://www.federalsignal-indust.com/products/audible-devices

8

Oops, that was the 350. They did discontinue the 450.

9

I see. Anybody else ever see this combo? I know it can be put together, but has it ever been used in installations? I’m interested in that because most of the time, they are paired with 2903’s, but so are the 9833’s. It seems like the 9838s are the only ones that got new plates made for them (the 4904 as well as its vertical counterparts)

10

I recall 2901-9838 horns being used with 2903 visual plates as well. That was a common setup in the late 80s, IIRC.

11

I get that, but has anybody else seen the 9806 and the 4904 paired together in a system?

12

Or they could be -9102 light plates…
Simplex Light Plate Question] (NOTE: The topic linked here is 2 years old, so I wouldn’t recommend bumping that topic.)

13

They are from two different series of alarms, by the time the 4904 was introduced the 9806 was no longer used. It is probably a very uncommon combination of devices. However, if it was truly a retrofit application, meaning the 9806’s were preexisting and a 4904 plate was added to provide ADA strobe compliance, it is certainly possible.