Okay, let’s get this out of the way real quick - sure, if you only ever want to create fire alarms with the sole purpose of being for the hobbyist market, that’s not entirely unheard of. But let’s think about things for a moment.
The purpose of a fire alarm system is to alert occupants of a building to the presence of a fire, and to initiate evacuation. How this is done is largely up in the air, but it is defined by a few different organizations:
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NFPA, the National Fire Protection Association. They hold committees that, as a consensus, write codes and standards for fire protection and life safety, not just fire alarm. NFPA 72, the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, doesn’t tell you when you should install a fire alarm system, but rather how.
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ICC, the International Code Council. They write the International Building Code and International Fire Code, among others. These codes are designed to provide a level of safety for the building, and dictate which other systems (sprinkler, fire alarm, clean agent, etc) if any are required for your particular building.
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AHJ, which isn’t an organization, but rather an acronym for the Authority Having Jurisdiction, in essence the office, or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard, or for approving equipment, materials, an installation, or a procedure, like a fire marshal. These guys have the final say in what can or cannot go in a building, and are in charge of enforcement of the adopted codes and standards for their particular jurisdiction.
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Listing agencies, like UL or FM, will inspect and test any and all equipment to a particular standard, and if it meets that standard, will receive a listing or approval that basically says the product will perform its duty as intended, when tested under the standard. Both NFPA code and ICC codes require all fire alarm and life safety equipment to be listed by a listing agency. If it isn’t listed, usually by UL or FM, it CANNOT be installed in a building if the building wants to be code-compliant.
So what is the responsibility of fire alarm manufacturers? Their job is to manufacture fire alarm equipment for buildings that do a number of things:
- Meet UL or FM listing. If they do not receive a listing they cannot be used. Period.
- Perform the job they are designed to do. If it is an audible or visual device, it must meet the audibility characteristics of NFPA 72 Chapter 18. If it is a visual device, it must meet the requirements of Chapter 17, and so on. Ultimately, their job is to keep people safe.
- Be worth it to the customer, usually the installation company or dealer who will buy, resell, and then ultimately install the system in the building. This is where cost vs. performance comes in, and this is why you tend to see these “proprietary” systems that have features that are exclusive to some manufacturers.
Why is this last part important? Well, think of it like this. Say you are an installation company, and you want to provide to your clients a system that has a fast response time, can tell you the exact point of alarm, can network with other panels maybe on a campus, and maybe you even want to control individual signals rather than just an entire circuit in a monolith. You’re going to be steered one way or another to a certain manufacturer over another. Simplex, EST, Notifier and Siemens are a bit like Apple in this regard, in that they want you to buy into their product ecosystem and use their exclusive features which may not be supported by everyone, but in exchange you will use their features because maybe another manufacturer doesn’t quite work for the job.
Now, some other counterpoints:
Backwards compatibility for older systems. In what way? Do you mean incompatible SLC protocols? There’s no one standard for them, and every manufacturer will be a little bit different, but from what I’ve seen they’re at least backwards compatible with older versions of the protocol. A modern FlashScan system is still compatible with CLIP, and so forth.
Proprietary software. I mentioned this earlier about product ecosystems, but I should also mention that fire alarm systems are life safety systems and are intentionally designed to not be accessible to the general public. This is for security and is a good thing, much to the chagrin of some people. The fact of the matter is that unless you are a tech, fire alarm equipment is NOT designed for you to mess with!
That someone can’t just download Simplex software off the internet and program their own Simplex system they bought from eBay is because you, the hobbyist, are NOT the target demographic here.
Xenon strobes. Let’s be frank here, this is sort of a non-issue. Xenon strobes are still around, and that they are being phased out in favor of LEDs really comes down to saving power. LEDs draw far less current than xenon and overall provide the same illumination. It’s simply a better way to meet the NFPA 72 requirement for illumination without having to install as many expensive NAC panels. This is just the same as when the industry moved on from incandescent lamps to xenon strobes: more illumination, less current draw. There’s no reason to hold onto an obsolete technology when you have the most up to date.
Strobe synchronization. While it is true that you can’t mix and match, say Wheelock with System Sensor and have them sync together, it’s very unlikely that scenario will occur and if it did, there are ways around it, like that Potter NAC panel that can cross-sync. Ultimately, unless both brands of signal are in the same notification zone/visual area, they don’t really need to be synchronized with each other anyway.
I think that there should be a way for Fire Alarm Enthusiasts to have a say in the design and manufacture in today’s Fire Alarm products. We could change the way of Fire Alarms Entirely, if we worked together.
Why? What product design experience does a demographic that is largely made up of young, relatively inexperienced, amateurs have, that outweighs years upon years of practical in-field experience that major installers, engineers, and technicians have? So that an alarm maybe looks cooler? So that it can sync with a panel you bought on eBay? What does that have to do with the furtherment of the field of life safety? How does it make people safer? Does it benefit the industry, or does it only benefit you?
So sure. Maybe you only want to make devices that are specifically for hobbyist use. Alarms that aren’t designed to be used in a real building. Basically, glorified toys. Sure. But… what if an installer were to see your device, selling for CHEAP! and decide to buy it to install in his building in a pinch? Now, your unlisted, “hobbyist” device is in a real building and it will not provide the same level of protection as if he bought a real alarm and did it right. So now you may be held liable if your unlisted alarm is the reason the fire didn’t get reported or was the cause of the fire!
Think it doesn’t happen? How many times have you seen those cheap Chinese fake BG-12s in buildings?
I think something like this sets a dangerous precedent, because who knows if your company is gonna be maligned by people using your products for what they weren’t intended for?
