I saw a video of a 4904-9139 with a simplex branded Faraday mtl (or similar device) on it. I have since lost and cannot find the video. The set up was very similar to the devices in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuLFMtJ1fZc). The differences are that the horns had simplex branding on them, the strobe plate being vertical and the horn tone was used. Later, I will attempt to create a visual representation to help show what I’m describing.
I believe I’ve read somewhere that Simplex did rebrand some of Faraday’s multi-tone devices at one time (probably because they didn’t make any of their own at the time & also because they already had a partnership with Faraday for their electromechanical horns): heck I think there’s actually at least one model of 4903-series horn/strobe that uses the horn circuitry from a Faraday multi-tone horn/strobe! (forget the model if there is indeed such a thing however) Not sure I’ve ever seen a Simplex-branded version of one of those multi-tone horns specifically though! (even if it uses almost the same cover plate as a 2901-9838)
Ok I have found the video
Well isn’t that quite the interesting combo! Wonder how it came about/to be.
There is no information on what these horns are capable of, as well as why they were produced. Simplex at that point was most likely making their own horns, unless the 4901-9819 was intended to be used on the
Simplex 4903-9101 (or similar) strobe/light plate
I ws mainly referring to how/why that combo came to be in that particular building, but yeah: be interesting to know why Simplex apparently needed multi-tone-capable NAs too.
Probably the same tones as Faraday/FOS/Cerberus Pyrotronics-branded versions I’d imagine.
As far as I know Simplex has almost never made their own signals: their first, when they acquired IBM’s fire alarm division back in 1958 (which is how they got into the fire alarm business to begin with), were likely made by either IBM/Benjamin Electric (if I had to guess the latter is the original maker, but Simplex probably also used whatever IBM-branded stock they had on hand too) or Faraday, then from a supposedly-unknown date to around 1998 (the latter year because Siemens’ acquistion of Cerberus Pyrotronics who had themselves bought Faraday likely invalidated the deal Faraday & Simplex had worked out somehow) supposedly all of Simplex’s electromechanical horns were made for them by Faraday, & then from then unti l now I believe Hochiki’s been Simplex’s OEM for most of their signals (not 100% sure on any of this though so feel free to correct me. Most of what I said seems like the most likely explanation however).
I believe around the 1990s, simplex had manufacturers like Hochiki make parts of the smoke detectors and faraday made parts of the horns. Instead of using off the shelf re-branded products like they were doing. I think it was up until the very late 90s when quick alert, the modern true alarms were produced. However, I have found data sheets with conflicting dates; a 4903 dated to 2014 (https://www.lifesafetycom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/4903-0017.pdf). I have also seen 4903s in the foundation series product catalog (Simplex-Foundation-Series-Product-Catalog.pdf)
No, I believe this is how it went: Faraday made Simplex’s electromechanical horns while Hochiki at first made Simplex’s smoke detectors & then later on also took over signal production once Faraday could no longer do so (all of which were simple/direct rebrands with the Simplex name & logo (as well as a label) applied in place of the original manufacturer’s, though I believe Simplex no longer able to have Faraday make electromechanical horns for them is the reason they stopped selling them around the late 90s or so: Hochiki has only ever made electronic NAs for Simplex I think).
The sources I’ve seen say that the TrueAlert line was launched in 2000 as the QuickAlert series, implying that a very quick rebranding effort was done the same year after another company already using the “QuickAlert” name threatened to sue Simplex (if I remember correctly at least. I’m glad they went with “TrueAlert” because of that though: “QuickAlert” sounds like what someone in this community would call their homemade alarm or refer to TrueAlerts as to avoid copyright infringement)
Simplex still makes both 4903 & 4904-series signals today, mainly for the purposes of replacing existing ones. None of the 4903-series horn/strobes are electromechanical due to no longer having a deal with Faraday though (well, that & the fact that electromechanical horns are pretty much obsolete nowdays, at least in fire alarm service).
I don’t think that’s an MTL (Faraday 5380 series), since the MTL sounds the same as the U-MMT (see this tone demo). It might be an MT (Faraday 5370 series), which does not appear to have any tone demos online, or a 5350/5360, which is referenced in some Faraday panel manuals such as this.
Also, how did the person recording the video know the model number for this horn? I have not seen this horn mentioned anywhere else.
Do you know which company this was?
No, but I’ve seen other people say that the reason for the rename was because another company sued Simplex as they already had the name “QuickAlert” trademarked. Here’s one such topic that says such, & here’s another.
According to this topic the TrueAlert line was launched as the QuickAlert line in 1999 & was renamed to “TrueAlert” in 2001, so I guess what I initially said was not correct.