Hi, I’m Brian and I’ve been in the alarm industry since late 2001. I started installing residential burg alarms for an “authorized dealer” of a national company. I was trained to solder my switches and install my EOL’s at the actual end of the line, not at the panel… I ended up getting put on a couple commercial fire alarm jobs early on and loved that side of the industry. Since then I’ve preferred dealing with local AHJ’s and state fire marshals over crawling through peoples attics and listening to their life stories… I like how most times fire alarm is held to a higher standard than burg or CCTV and strive to get job done right the first time even if it takes a couple extra minutes. To this day I despise wireless equipment and miss the days of POTS lines. IP dialers are fine if the server actually provides adequate battery backup that meets or exceeds the requirements of the fire alarm. Cell dialers sound good on paper and have gotten better, but are still subject to issues out of our control, and lack the redundancy of good old analog phone lines.
It took me about 4-5 years of fumbling through installs and service to really get a clue, but once the lightbulb turned on I’ve never had to worry about finding work or paying the bills. I’ve done everything from installations, service and inspections. I’ve worked for 6 different companies and prefer the local ma and pa shops over the large national companies. I’m thankful for the mentors I’ve had from master electricians to old school audio techs who taught me how to really read a multi meter.
I took a 5yr hiatus to get into business but missed working with my hands. I decided to return to the industry and am working with a small sprinkler/suppression company that wants to expand into alarm. I finally had to get NICET certification and am happy that I passed all 3 of my exams on my first try. My only real gripe with the business is dealing with bad installs and shoddy service. I just wish everyone would stop taking shortcuts and install their EOL’s at the end of line, actually use isolation relays to keep high voltage separate from power limited low voltage circuits and remember to integrate fire alarms into access control systems that don’t have mechanical means of egress… It’s a great industry and I enjoy stealing service contracts from big box companies that have a revolving door on their techs and treat their clients like cash cows.
Hi all - Max here. I’m a sparky and fire tech from south east Victoria in Australia. Been working mainly on VESDA and Simplex systems for the last 15 years with installs and maintenance. Looking forward to trading info with all of you.
My username is The 4251-13 on here. However, please call me “Crafter” as my name on other platforms are variations of TheCrafter1952. I am a geek who likes fire alarms, block signalling, and aviation, with the last one probably being my only normal interest. Besides that, I collect vintage train toys (talking like 1920s), calculators, coins, and stamps. Not much else to say but glad you stopped to read this.
Some of you may remember me, some of you may not. I am a long time member long before the days of this forum, and instead, back to a previous one (not sure if I can mention the name). If my memory is correct, I first got involved in our hobby circa 2005/2006. I formerly went by azman798 or azman293 on YouTube and other forums.
Last night I stumbled upon this forum from Google searching my old usernames and some old posts came up about flip phones and blackberries. This morning, I decided to post here to re-introduce myself, and see if there are any long timers still around? Roughly between 2005-2009? 2009 is about when I faded away.
I realize this is not the thread to hold these discussions, so feel free to PM me. I’d be happy to reconnect with some of you! I also know some of us kept in touch via social media, glad to see you are doing well if you are one of the few.
Although my collection (all of it) has long met it’s fate and not longer with me, I still am fascinated with fire protection systems and usually observe them everywhere I go. Frankly, it is funny how little has changed in the notification appliance realm. I am sure the FACPs have changed a great deal, however.
No longer a Junior High/High School teenager here, instead, I am an adult who is an educator myself. Life is funny, I am now sometimes that adult helping ease the fears of my own students some of us shared growing up regarding safety drills. I have even had building management experiences coaching staff how to respond in emergencies and conduct drills myself.
Anyways, I will not be as active as I once was but hope to check on here more often. Again, any old timers that are still active please say hi!
Was it you who had the Silent Knight system in like a day care/nursery building? I loved watching those videos.
As for some of the “old guard”, Andrew and Destin occasionally post (though not so much anymore), but all of the really old guard like Dan McCormack and Ben Schumin have long since moved on.
Welcome back! I certainly recognize those old usernames. As Robert stated, most of those people from back into the day have moved on, but certainly not all and not entirely.
To answer the question from Robert, yes. The SK-5204 system videos with the daycare was me. I am happy you enjoyed them and am sorry to have retired the videos (and my old YouTube account). The videos have since been deleted too. I also had the Simplex 4001 videos in the bedroom too.
I appreciate the welcome and look forward to being around here again.
Hello, I’m new here in the forum. You might remember me as Everythingyoulike8902 on Youtube, I like fire alarms and security alarms, and I always have interest of them!
Redoing my intro as it’s way outdated
I go by KDAlarms, formerly known as Foxy the Wolf (the name makes me cringe now)
I have a couple of alarm devices I got given for free
From the UK
Openly gay
17
Male
Fire alarm enthusiast
Known as KDAlarms on YouTube
Hello, I am CoolSimasGuy, or Cam, but you can also just call me Simas.
I’m new to the the fire panel forums, but I’ve been collecting fire alarms since May 2018.
You guys might remember me as the guy who filmed fire drills at my high school with the Simplex 4050-80s, Simplex 4041s, and Simplex 4903s on YouTube, or the guy who filmed the fire alarm going off at the abandoned building.
I graduated high school in 2019 and hoping to work in the field some day.
Hey y’all, after years of lurking here and even a couple posts, I figure I’d post an introduction for myself.
My name is Tori, and I am an inspections technician in the state of Colorado. As of writing this I have approx. 4.5 years of experience in the field that is not just limited to fire alarm, but expands out to fire sprinkler systems, extinguishers and clean agent suppression, though I’ve had an interest in the fire alarm side for much longer.
I do not really have any official installation experience, as I do prefer inspections, but I do have programming training for Fire Lite and Fike fire systems, though I hope to someday expand this knowledge. As for a collection of devices, I don’t have a large collection, it consists of a couple controls panels and some notification devices, but I do have a system that is a part of my collection that I maintain at home and switch out from time to time as a home demo system.
I am not very active unfortunately as I do have a lot on my plate right now and I tent to not be very social, but I do hope that changes soon.
Hello all, I am Jim, and I collect…electronics…going to just put it broadly.
I have always liked playing with electronics and things like computers, alarms, and anything like that, and learning with my hands, and currently work for a reputably alarm company (not going to say the name for safety sakes but they have been putting commercials out and are blue), but I am thinking of installing my own fire alarm system in my house.
Hope to learn a lot here and any where I can get information from, and hope to show off my tiny collection of two devices so far.
So far I have a MA-12/24
and a BG-12 pull station I believe
greetings, thanks for the welcome, hoping to possibly ask some questions about building my own alarm system (more to play and tinker with and use for learning), I picked up my second call point and a sounder horn, I have (I think??) an FCI Gamwell pull box…but sadly I can’t actually find it and its some where in my house…not going to lie, iis my favorite call point out of the two I have, I also have a simplex T bar one but can’t remember if that is with me now or left at my parents…
Hey all, I’m Ed i am a retired firefighter of 31 years now working as an inspection technician for a Allentown Pa company and also a former fire marshal for my former job with the Department of Veterans affairs. i’m starting my second career with this company and have learned tons from my lead inspector. He has years of experience with all aspects from suppression to install and inspection.
Hello, I’m Mason, and I am a young fire alarm enthusiast and collector, gamer, cartoonist, student, kind-of musician, reader, and writer. I go to a school in Oakland, California and live in Berkeley, California. I started my collection of fire alarms in 2018, but I kind of lost interest until late last year, when I began improving my collection again. When I am not in school, I work out of my playroom.
Hi there. I just noticed this now. My name is Jan I am almost 49 and I have been a member of this forum since early 2017 or it might even be late 2016 sorry about that. I have had alot of trouble logging on until yesterday so I am back and hopefully to stay this time. When I joined this forum I only had 2 alarms in my collection as of today I have almost 30 detectors and alarms most of which are squealer units. I used to be terrified of them as a child but today I love them. Funny how life works. LOL!!! I am also one of the few Canadians here!!!
