In May 2024, System Sensor introduced a new SS-Series similar to the Select series. Based on the datasheets, these appear to be compatible with existing Fire-Lite and Silent Knight panels, as well as future panels supporting the “SS protocol.” Here are some documents:
I have not found any documentation on SS-Series modules.
Surely this won’t cause any confusion with the old Gamewell SS series, right?
Well isn’t that interesting. I also do believe that that’s System Sensor’s first new detector line in quite some time (not counting the detectors they make for Fire-Lite & Notifier (SD365 & FSP-951) among potentially other brands which they introduced some years back: speaking of which you think this “SS-series” will replace the aforementioned ones given it’s of identical design to them & are compatible with Fire-Lite & SK panels according to the datasheets like you said (though who knows about Notifier).
I think these are almost identical to the Select series, but with the manufacturer code changed for compatibility with the Fire-Lite and Silent Knight panels.
Probably, and it might be a sign of Fire-Lite and Silent Knight merging into System Sensor. I don’t think these devices will be officially compatible with Notifier systems (although they will probably work with the FireWarden panels and NFS-320), since Notifier is proprietary but Fire-Lite and Silent Knight are not.
Also, I assume the newer Fire-Lite and Silent Knight panels do check the manufacturer ID (see this old list from 2014), which makes it unclear how a detector would retrofit to both systems. My guess is that because Fire-Lite panels must initialize the SLC differently from Silent Knight panels to cause the detectors to flash red instead of green, the detector will detect the different initialization pattern and report the Fire-Lite manufacturer in that case. If the SLC is initialized in CLIP mode, then it can also be assumed to be Fire-Lite since Silent Knight never manufactured any CLIP-capable panels as far as I know. However, I don’t know of any way that such a detector could also work with Notifier panels.
Actually had no idea that series had a name/that was the name of that series besides the individual brand ones (SD365, FSP-951, etc.).
I sure hope not, especially since Honeywell’s messed with the brands they own enough already. I’d say otherwise though that having all their brands use the same detectors makes sense from a practicality & business perspective, especially since Honeywell owns System Sensor, a world leader & veteran in automatic detectors (would be a clever thing to do too that few if any other life safety conglomerates do).
As another note, I should mention that System Sensor in India already manufacturers FACPs whose models start with SS (see this datasheet). However, as far as I can tell, all equipment from System Sensor in India are conventional and use European detectors, while addressable systems and detectors are instead sold by Notifier.
Honeywell also recently filtered access to various pages by country on their website, which makes this page refuse to load. However, I still think this is a U.S. series because the country filter has falsely triggered on many pages (such as this page on the FC351), and the SS-Series detector datasheets linked above resemble U.S. datasheets much more closely than the SS FACP datasheet.
I also just found this Fire-Lite manual from April 2023 that mentions the SS-Series, so it may have been introduced slightly earlier.
Looks like I’ve got a lot to add to the docs site!
Good luck with it Zach
I found this document, which indicates that SS detectors are only compatible with newer panels, but SS detectors can be mixed with LiteSpeed/SK detectors on those panels, so I assume the only difference is the use of a new manufacturer ID. It should also be noted that this document does not mention detectors such as the Fire-Lite C365 (CO) and CSD365 (photo/CO), as well as the Silent Knight SK-PHOTO-CO-W and SK-CO-W. These Fire-Lite devices are mentioned on Fire-Lite’s SLC Wiring Manual, while the Silent Knight devices are mentioned on the 6820 manual.
I also recently noticed that the timing of this release was very close to the UL 268 7th edition compliance deadline, which led me to wonder if these detectors will replace the i3/i4 series through the use of an interface module that provides an SLC and activates a conventional zone whenever a device on the SLC activates. The Notifier AIM-200 previously served a similar purpose for the System 5000, and the HFS panels (MS-25, 5600, IFP-25, NSP-25, GIF100) similarly provided small SLCs that would be converted to conventional zones.
I hope not, because even today the i3-series is great (not sure about the i4 but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt going by its “predecessor”).
I don’t think the i3/i4 detectors meet the new UL 268 7th edition requirements. The i3 datasheet appears to be over a decade old, and the i4 datasheet was last modified in 2017. Neither datasheet specifically mentions the 7th edition of UL 268, as opposed to Select series datasheets (and the SS-Series datasheets above) listing 7th edition compliance as one of the first features.
Are you kidding me? All because of new UL requirements the i3-series will have to go away? Shame…(though then again maybe if System Sensor had a more competent/less corrupt parent they would think to simply update the i3 & i4 to meet the new edition, which is certainly what I would do if I could. I guess all I can do is hope that they either meet the new standard after all or that System Sensor updates both product lines to be such (especially since the newer detectors that they’ve made for Honeywell’s other companies like Notifier & Fire-Lite really are not good quality-wise from what I’ve seen, thus it’d be better if the tried-&-true i3 stuck around)
Keep in mind that Fire-Lite still makes conventional panels, so they are almost forced to introduce new conventional detectors. This is probably a lower priority, the same way I have not seen any conventional low frequency sounder bases from any company.
Yeah, but either that or update their existing ones like I said (the latter of which might be cheaper & better in the long run).
How those would work on a conventional system given how they’re usually set up in an addressable system I have no idea (unless each individual one is only activated by the detector that’s on them & maybe all are activated simultaneously via the NAC circuit).
I should mention that there is no evidence of the i3/i4 series actually being discontinued at this point. However, the potential applications are extremely limited (e.g. device replacements, if those are even permitted).
The individual sounder would activate when the detector goes into alarm and all sounders would activate if the NAC’s polarity is reversed. The conventional B401BH(-2) and the addressable B501BH(T)(-2) and B200SR(-LF) all work this way, and the i3 sounder models are similar except combining the NAC and detector power into one circuit that can enter reverse polarity with an RRS-MOD. There was some speculation about low frequency i3/i4 sounders back in 2014 but these were never produced.
Right, yeah.
Yeah, or for use with the few brands that still sell conventional systems like Fire-Lite as you said.
Ah okay.
This is true. I know of some recent i3 installs in my area on some older conventional systems to add coverage to locations.
This older SS-Series datasheet from January 2024 states that SS detectors are also compatible with the IDP protocol.
I suspect that the SS detectors use the Farenhyt brand ID, since according to the datasheet I previously linked, Silent Knight 6000 series panels are compatible with SS series detectors regardless of their firmware version. The original Farenhyt panels did not support the SK protocol, but the Farenhyt Series Black (i.e. IFP-75, IFP-300, and IFP-2100, released around the time of 6000 series) panels support the SK protocol, so it makes sense that the 6000 series panels would be compatible with the IDP protocol.
Also, it appears that the above compatibility document was updated in December 2024 because the old document claimed all 5000 series panels were compatible with SK series devices, while in reality versions 9 and below only supported Hochiki protocol.