Wireless SLC devices on Gamewell-FCI systems (E3 and S3 Series)
Thoughts? Questions?
Video: http://youtu.be/MOMhXeeluOI
Have any AHJs approved this type of setup?
How about cough UL cough cough
Perfect for the tech that loves to chase “low battery” supervisory signals! But seriously, never been a fan of anything wireless in the alarms industry. It always seems to look good on paper but as soon as you implement this into the field you inevitability run into problems. There are only a few occasions where I could think of where wireless devices would be appropriate - a temporary situation where the time running wire would be cost prohibitive, a historically sensitive area where chasing a wire would cause damage and there is no other path available, or where you would have a detached structure and running a wire would be virtually impossible. I would say that 99.8% of the time, you can get a wire there, when you can’t, conduit works. But with so much radio frequency traffic out there today - think about an average office building: Wifi, cell phones, wireless landlines, Bluetooth, 2-way radios, lighting ballasts, RF remotes (automotive remotes for example) - throwing another thing out there competing for space is just asking for trouble. But that’s just my opinion on wireless.
AHJs are still on the fence with wireless technology. I think they have been burned by previous attempts in the commercial fire space.
But for the fire marshall’s/AHJs we demo’d the system were VERY impressed due to the multi-path communication and double confirmation on alarm/troubles.
We have UL 268 approvals.
Your option is very similar to many of the people I talked to. Agree wireless is used for certain applications: Temporary fire protection, historical, hard to wire, and quick retrofit installs. For new installs I still think hard-wire will still thrive because it just works.
Regarding interference, we have a reserved frequency band that should not interfere with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Radios, etc. We actually ran a 2 month long test at the worse case building: A hospital. With all the active wireless devices, the system didnt hiccup once.
There’s no hiding though, this industry is going wireless. The manufactures and the codes are being adopted to support more wireless fire products.
I’ve heard all about this at work but with the Notifier version instead.
Notifier’s version of SWIFT behaves differently and actually a bit better than Gamewell and Fire-Lite’s versions though.
Notifier’s SWIFT system goes directly to the FACP and displays like any other addressable point, rather than needing a UI driver module and an annunciator.
I think this is a neat idea, especially with the “Class A mesh” design and the built in redundancies. This is one of the better functioning wireless systems I have seen… compared with CWSI and Honeywell 5800.
What I think would be good is if the FCC allocated a frequency range specifically for wireless life safety systems and created a set of regulations so it can only be used for that.
Bingo.
Right now we use 902-908Mhz frequencies which isn’t too populated. You do have some walkie-talkies, older clock systems, some RFID readers that might provide interface if the system didnt have constant frequency hopping.