In addition to the fire alarm information available on this site there is a wealth of information about basic electronics on the web. A good knowledge of electricity and electronics helps a lot in understanding fire alarm systems. Here are two web sites that have good information.
Welcome to the forums! We hope to see more of you around here!
Haven’t really done this yet…so why not? :lol:
Hi All! My name is Steven, I’m from NC, and about to start working on my Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education this fall. Teaching music has been my dream since starting piano lessons in the first grade (August 2005 to be exact). Nearly 12 years later, I am principal bassoonist of my high school’s Wind Ensemble, was Principal Bassoonist of our All-County Honors Band, and was Second Chair Bassoonist, highest ranking from NC, of the 2016-2017 UNC-Wilmington Honor Band’s High School Wind Ensemble. I also served four years as a trumpeter for my high school marching band, and will continue marching band for my entire college career, as my university of choice requires at least two years of marching band for Music Education majors. I also served two semesters as a Tenor vocalist for my high school choir and continue to serve in this capacity in my church choir. Last semester (Fall 2016), I completed a Teacher Cadet internship with my middle school. Now…on to the fire alarm stuff 
.
My passion was sparked by my grandfather, a senior facilities manager for a bank (which shall not be named). Before taking his current position, however, he was the facilities and maintenance manager for a retirement community. This particular site has a HUGE Simplex 4120 system using several 4100 panels, several 4002’s and a surviving 4208 running what is probably the biggest smorgasborg of Simplex signals on Earth. He would let me pull the stations for tests, and then he would let me push the acknowledge, silence, and reset switches on the different panels. It was then I began to notice fire alarms everywhere I went and I now have a small collection of mostly Simplex devices.
Once he took his current job, he allowed me to go to the different branches for tests. I soon learned the ins and outs of the Fire-Lite MS-9200 and the EST QuickStart panels, as the alarm company switched to Fire-Lite from EST in 2006. A couple of branches have Cerberus Pyrotronics System3 panels, and I always thought it was weird for a fire alarm cabinet to be blue :lol:.
I found my love for Cerberus Pyrotronics in middle school, when I had the chance to operate the SXL-EX formerly installed in my middle school. I find this straight-forward, no-bull system to be a breath of fresh air compared to the mess of a Silent Knight IFP-2000 in my high school (the SK wasn’t installed correctly…). Soon, I discovered the IXL system in a local elementary school, and I was hooked. Cerberus Pyrotronics, in my humble opinion, got it right with their entire 1990’s product line (System3, SXL, PXL, IXL, MXL, VoiceCom). The Siemens buy-out almost crashed and burned, and I’m ticked about the System3, PXL, IXL, and MXL discontinuations, but they’re slowly getting back on track with the FireFinder, Cerberus PRO and Desigo lines.
I also feel the need to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone on here! Most people in the fire alarm world I’ve met (except for our local CP-Siemens branch) have viewed me as a stupid teenager. All of you welcomed me to the community as an equal, and my knowledge was appreciated and expanded by the brilliant minds here, collectors and technicians alike.
THANK YOU ALL!!!
Steven
Welcome to the forum!
Hellooooo!
My name is Isaac and I am new to the forums. I’m 16 and I am also a musician. I have written many songs for bands here and preformed at EDM concerts and I have played the piano for many many years. Music is actually how I got into alarms in the first place. My music teacher took my class outside one day in the sixth grade and pulled out a SpectrAlert Advance p2r and demonstrated what it was. I was instantly hooked…so what did I do? I went a bought one along with two Edwards Genesis horn/ strobes. Yesss it was so much fun experimenting with them. My system started in my room with wires all over the floor with batteries and 3 alarms. 5 years later I have about 13 devices throughout my house in electrical backboxes. I am strictly an Notification Appliance person only as I do not own a panel, only NA’s, smoke and heat detectors, and pull stations and one sync module. My FAVORITE company is Edwards just because the Genesis series is soooo nice, but about 24 of my 35 alarms are SpectrAlert products…oh well. I am a bit shy to talk about my hobbie but I did tell my boyfriend (yes boyfriend not girlfriend) about my hobby and he was so impressed and though it was really cool…most people do though. Aside from alarms, you may notice that I will post A LOT of puns because I’m just a naturally punny person. I’m also super dramatic, but never in a way where it will be a nuciance. I am also a HUGHE Selena Gomez fan.
If you EVER have a problem with me, PM me and I will fix it because I’m a nice person like that.
I’m glad to have found so many people into the same thing as me!!!
Hi everyone, I’m Jason.
I used to have a couple of different youtube accounts, since I started monkeying with fire alarms back in 2009. I’ve been using them off and on, and now that I have my own house I can start doing more with them Some of you may remember my youtube account ProwerTronics in the past, I used to have an EST Fireshield and before that I had a Gamewell Flex 402 (rebranded Firelite MS-2). Now I have a Simplex 4010 and I plan on making system test videos shortly! And I will be posting a collection video later today 
A little about me? I’m a 21 year old workaholic. I work at a Clinic as a Certified Medical Assistant, I’m a Med Tech/Shit Leader at an Assisted Living Community, and I also occasionally still work as a concessions supervisor for sporting events at a local university (got the job when I was 15, haven’t had the courage to quit yet 
). I also just bought a house and I’m in the process of renovating it, so I guess free time isn’t something I have much of. But when I do, I like hanging out with friends, going out for a drink, snowshoeing in the winter, going to the beach in the summer, fishing all times of the year.
Thats all about me!
I know that this is late, but welcome to the forum!
Hello,
My name is Bruce. I have been a technician since the early 80s. I have been doing audio - video - data - structured cabling. I am a complete newbie to fire alarms. The license holder at our company is suggesting we expand in to burglar alarms and fire alarms. I am the first one at our company to get through the BASA - FASA initial training. I am here to soak in as much Fire Alarm tech stuff as I can… Thanks for being here !!
Welcome to the forums, Bruce! We’re glad to have you here.
Hey guys. I know I’m really late in the game as far as the fire panel forums go; however, I am Life Safety Signaling Design on youtube and I’ve been a youtuber since 2013. I’m really big into fire alarm systems to the point where I decided to construct my own control panel for my hobby system. I will be making numerous changes in the future though. I have other hobbies as well such as playing music and baseball. For those who wish to check out my channel or who have in the past, I will be uploading system test 20 sometime between December and April but I will be regularly doing mini system tests until that point.
Hey!
My username is pull_in_case_of_fire, after the text on the Edwards 270-SPO pull station. I’ve been a fire alarm enthusiast since December 2012, and my favorite fire alarm Youtuber is the admin on this site, NewAgeServerAlarm. I have helped my middle school principal pull the alarm for 3 fire drills, and I’m looking forward to having a good time on the forums!
PS I don’t know almost all of you, cause I’m new.
I’m Joel Hunt, and have been following the Fire Alarm community since 2006. I’m thinking of starting a collection since I like safety equipment.
Guess I forgot to introduce myself too so here goes nothing:
So, my name is Alexis Trinquet, I’ve had interest in fire alarms since 2008 (I discovered this board around 2012 if I remember correctly). I’ve been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 3 years, which is a bit why I have interest in Fire Alarms, elevators and tornado sirens.
After seeing one of Andrew’s System Test videos, it sort of piqued my curiosity, and while looking for fire alarms on google Images I found one image that was from this board. That’s somewhat how I discovered this board
Guess that’s it then :mrgreen: I don’t have anything more to say.
I am new user. I am Oscar Atlas from Pennsylvania, United States.
Welp. Mine is also very late.
My name is Tristan, and I am a Salt Lake City, Utah Native. Haven’t moved out of my home town at all. I don’t quite remember how I got into the hobby. I think I was watching a siren video, then a Simplex fire alarm video popped up. As you can probably tell, i’m 14. I don’t speak much on here. So yea.
Hi folks!
I stumbled across this forum while looking for information on Simplex fire alarms.
Since last December, I’ve been employed with the most wonderful job of electronics maintenance mechanic for the local school system. Responsibilities include clocks, local sound systems, door bells, burglar alarms, fire alarms, intercoms, and phone systems. I’m absolutely fascinated with 58th minute clocks. Other techs abhor rebuilding them. I find rebuilding them relaxing. Unlike most people on this site, I don’t care much for fire alarms, mainly because of the noise. I’ll explain.
I’ve always had sensitive hearing. I’ve worked in radio, and worn many hats at a recording studio such as tape editor and mastering engineer. I still do remote recording and editing, so my ears don’t need to be taking abuse.
I like playing piano, both with my own two hands and with perforated paper rolls. In my teens, I (sort of) played guitar. In the same time period, I played organ at church. At the time, I had no organ of my own on which to practice. A few years ago, the price was right for a three manual, full pedal board digital organ. Unfortunately, I don’t have much left over time to play it!
While the other techs at work are very knowledgeable on fire alarms, and they appreciate having a sound guy around, I hope to learn from this forum and to make new friends along the way!
I’m just another kid. 15, high school, like fire alarms. I like IT/computers, specifically IT systems administration. I have a job/internship doing IT support/backend work for a local company. I actually just bought a MS-9200UD and some other stuff so wish me luck!
Thank you so much for having me here. I was hoping to do some renovation and install a fire alarm too. This forum is really helping me do that… Glad to be here. And everyone out there, you are rocking guys…
Hello, hello!
I’m relatively new to this forum, but I have been into (and collecting) fire alarms since 2010 (when I was about 9; I’m now 16). It’s always been a interest to me. I just recently opened my YouTube channel, “fireandalarm1234” (I named my channel after a name I suggested about 5 years ago (2012), or earlier than that). Before, I would just set the alarms off in my room and sometimes record them (but I never actually put them on YouTube). Now, I’m on YouTube, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do since 2012 :). I went on a 2 year hiatus from fire alarms (starting in 2015 and then till December of 2017). At that time, I didn’t know whether to return to fire alarms or not. But, HERE I AM :). I have returned, and I’m gonna try to make it last while I can.
Anyway, I hope to make my stay last for a while (meet people and possibly make friends, fire alarms, etc.). Thanks,
- Alex (fireandalarm1234 / thefirealarm9)
Hi everyone, I have recently joined this forum.