My fire alarm pics

Fire Alarm General Discussion
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This will be the thread where I post all the fire alarm pictures I take, including the ones at my college unless I note about upgrades, which go in a separate thread…

I will start with the David E. Crosby administration building/City Hall Annex, where I worked part-time for back in the summer of 2005. Like I said, they have a Simplex 4208 fire alarm system installed in 1977. The panel is there and in great condition, but I did not take a picture. They have Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates with “FIRE” on the lens, and 4251-30 break-glass pulls. One of the 4050-80 plates has a Simplex 2901-9806 horn in it. Here are some pics from their system…


Outdoor Gamewell box, and next to it is the Simplex annunciator. I’ve seen one like that at the Fine Arts building at Brockton High School.


An Edwards heat detector.


Simplex 4051/4050-80 horn/light and 4251-30 pull and Edwards heat. Note that there is either no glass in the frame on the pull station, or there IS glass but with no lettering.


How unusual is this? A 4251-30 pull station but the glass just reads “BREAK GLASS!” No “BREAK GLASS PULL HANDLE DOWN,” like most of the other pulls have. My theories are that either this was the original installation, or maybe the old glass was broken and this was replacement glass that came out the same time when Simplex introduce the 4099-9002 and its non-addressable variant of the break-glass pulls.

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Wow. Nobody even noticed this thread seemed to exist. I will liven it up a bit with some more pics I took. (I reserved all the college pics for a separate thread now.)

I am starting with the Bat Bus transfer center. I go here en route to my college (I ride the crosstown bus to get there, and I have to stop here halfway into the ride to switch buses). This bus depot was built in 1999, and has a Simplex system.


The parking garage has these metal Sigcom T-bar pulls rebranded by Simplex.


The signals in the parking garage are Wheelock AS horn/strobes. I guess Simplex only does install jobs like this in parking garages.


The panel in the main building is a Simplex 4005. I believe it also controls the parking garage alarms. It looks a lot like the panel at NewAgeServer’s middle school. The pull stations throughout the building are Simplex 2099-9756 T-bars, most of them with Stopper IIs installed over them in early 2008. Above that pull you see in the pic are three Simplex 2098-9806 test stations. I don’t know why they are bunched together like that. Maybe each one controls an individual zone.


The signals in the lobby/waiting area are Simplex 4903-9236 horn/strobes. I can tell they are electronic horns because I saw through the grilles.


This signal is in the mens’ restroom. A Gentex mini-horn/strobe.


Simplex heat detector, also in the mens’ restroom. I think it’s a TrueAlarm-series heat detector.


These smoke detectors can be found throughout most of the building. They’re Simplex 2098-9201 smoke heads on 2098-9211 bases. One hallway where only employees are allowed, and in a police section, they have newer TrueAlarm smokes.


Simplex security system keypad.

Now here are some more pics of the fire alamr system at the main branch public library, which also has a Simplex system, but it’s a Simplex 4010 with a 4003 voice control panel hooked up to it, installed in 2002 when they renovated and added onto the library.


The system was in trouble mode when I was there today. It was also like this two weeks ago, when they were testing the fire alarms.


Look how close together those two Simplex TrueAlert speaker/strobes are! I guess it’s because they aren’t very loud at all, plus Simplex seems to like putting signals just about everywhere whenever they do an installation.


Simplex 2098-9808 indicator next to one of the TrueAlarm smokes (I think the TrueAlarms are 4098-9714 heads on 4098-9792 bases). They are set up like this at a couple of places near the elevators.


Note the 15-candela rating on the strobe. This is what leads me to believe the speaker/strobes are 4903-9350s (I’m willing to bet they are addressable).

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If the signals are addressable, they’ll have a flashing LED (like those on smokes) located at the bottom of the strobe.

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OK, I didn’t see any flashing LEDs on them. So they are probably 4903-9356s.

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One thing that I feel I should point out is this:
Not all older Simplex low-profile detectors are model 2098-9201 on 2098-9211 bases. In fact, NewAgeServer’s base is a specialty relay base. Normally, those relay bases would take a lot more current, so if the building alarm system doesn’t need aux relays for elevator recall, door holders, etc.- why would they use special high current draw relay bases when they have standard, low current bases?

I know of other base model numbers, such as these:
2098-9529: Conventional 2 wire base with integral 135˚F thermistor.
2098-9641: Entry level 2 wire conventional base.
2098-9643: Same as above
2098-9651: " "
2098-9652: " "

which, when you think about it, would most likely be the bases they would use for conventional service smokes, right?

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Oh. I just know that there’s a small medical center near the hospital with a Simplex 4001 system from the late 1980s or early 1990s that has 2098-9201 smoke heads on 2098-9211 bases. A few of them are at the hospital, as well as 2098-9202 heads on the -9211 bases. I’ve also seen some of the older 1980s “wiffle-ball” smokes at a church built in 1986 that has a Simplex 2001 system. And there’s a daycare center that has a Simplex 4004 or 4005 system with the 2098-9201 smoke heads, but I am not entirely sure what the bases are.

All other old Simplex systems I’ve seen either have Chemtronics heat detectors, Edwards heat detectors or ESL smoke detectors, and most newer ones I’ve seen have TrueAlarm smokes.

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Don’t mean to be rude or anything, but how do you know that they are 9211 bases? Unless you actually saw the sticker, you really can’t be positive…

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The -9211, which has a two-wire base, has two of those little ovals on the base. The 4-wire version has only one. I couldn’t tell up close, but I’ll get a better look at one of them next time, as well as maybe the ones at that daycare center if I go back there. It’s actually an interesting setup there: they have a Simplex system with a mix of old and new components (I think the panel might be a 4004 or 4005), and it has TrueAlert horn/strobes and 4251-30 pulls, as well as 4251-20 pulls in an addition they built in the 1980s. The original signals were probably 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates, and the addition appeared to originally have 2903 light plates. The old annunciators from when the building was originally built in 1978 are still there.

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Here are pics from the apartments near my college.


EST panel, next to an older-looking panel/annunciator. I think that was a Couch annunciator.


Couch-rebranded Chevron pull. These appear to be the main pulls throughout the two buildings.


Simplex 4263-10 pull rebranded by Couch.

The only signal I saw was either a Wheelock MT or a Gentex SHG/GMS through a window. I think they might have an alarm tone on the PA system, but I am not sure.

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Wow, don’t see coded pulls that often, not to mention I’ve never seen/heard of couch. Interesting, that pull doesn’t have the coding sequence on it. And what’s the key switch for? GA?

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Those are some really nice old pulls. I have actually only seen Couch at the visitor center near Mammoth Hot Springs in yellowstone. I think the couch pull there was something a bit different than a chevron. Also, that rebranded, coded simplex pull is very rare. The only place I’ve seen that is the Harley Hotel in Cincinnati, OH, which I believe has been torn down.

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Here are photos of the system at the Shaw’s Supermarket near my college. The system is the original when the supermarket was built.


The panel is a Simplex 2001. I’ve never seen one like THIS before. But then again, it is the only 2001 panel I have seen in person (other Simplex 2001 systems I’ve seen, including the Davis K-8 school, I have only seen their annunciators so I could tell what system it is).


Simplex 4-inch trouble bell, mounted right above the panel. I think the Simplex 2001 might’ve been the last Simplex panel without a trouble piezo and needed to use an external trouble alarm.


Close-up of the controls in the 2001 panel.


This signal can be found in the frozen food section. It’s a Space Age Electronics VA4 horn/strobe! Note the more extended strobe compared to the ones at my college, and the MFA (Mammoth Fire Alarms) logo on the bottom. This one is obviously replacing one of the signals mentioned below.


This signal can be found in other parts of the supermarket. It’s some kind of SAE horn/strobe setup. IDK what the horn model is, but I saw through the grille on one of them and it appeared to be some kind of electronic horn; the grille looked similar to an old Wheelock electronic horn/strobe. The strobe plate is an SAE V33 (modern version),

There is also a Wheelock MT horn/strobe in a kitchen area, an Edwards 270-SPO pull near an emergency exit and 2098-9808 test stations in several areas. The mens’ room has an SAE remote strobe.

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Aha! Those are the same SAE horn/strobes at both Shaw’s supermarkets near me (Leominster and Clinton) I could never figure out what kind of horn was behind there, it does sort of look like an MT or something.

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Do you have any idea what that one card on the 2001 with the button and red LED was?

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I don’t know much about Simplex 2001 panels. I just know they function in a similar manner to 4002s and 4005s, but are more expandable than those two panels.

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Aren’t fire strobes supposed to have clear lens?

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I think the frosted strobe covers can be ADA compliant.

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I think that whole clear lens thing was made manditory about 15 years ago or so, back in the '80s there were plently of alarms with red lights.

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As long as the translucent lens are colored white, flash at least 60 times a minute and are at least 15 candelas, then yes.

Oh and Firefly, about the red light alarms in the 1980s, the codes allowed exiting ones to stay or be used in new installations at the time, but the only red-light alarm I know that was still in prodution at that time was the SAE AV32. I’ve seen some 1980s-era systems using them, often with either SAE 2DCD horns or Wheelock 34/34T horns. Simplex discontinued the 4050-80 light plate around 1980.

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I’ve seen red remote 2903s before when my mom was in the hospital. They were part of a 2120 system in a section of the hospital with Federal Signal speakers: