Thanks for the explanation! 
On a side note, your updated site looks nice!
My old high school had Simplex 4903-9405 mechanical horn strobes everywhere with simplex T-bar pull stations, I dont know the model number though. I might be getting the panel from my old school. I believe it is a Simplex 4002.
My new school has EST Genesis Horn Strobes, both ceiling and wall mounted. I dont know about anything else yet.
Here’s what my schools had:
Edgewater Public Elementary School (Most of Pre-K, Kindergarten & First Grade)
PANEL
What I believe to either be a Silent Knight, Gamewell, or FCI Panel of some sort.
ALARMS
[*]Simplex 2901-9833 Horns on 2903 Strobe Plates (Buildings 5-9, each art room had one, the speech room had one, the music room had one, several other rooms had one, outside had several, and my Pre-K Room had one, OUCH!)
[*]Wheelock MT-LSMs and MT-WMs (Buildings 1-4, all on high volume continous horn)
[*]What I believe to be a MASS or a GOS (Building 1)
[*]Unknown Remote Strobes (Some restrooms)
PULLS
[*]ESL rebranded ADT 5050s (Building 1, maybe 2-4, were replaced with MS-2’s in late 2002-early 2003)
[*]FCI MS-2s (Buildings 5-9, also replacing ESL Pulls)
SMOKES
[*]Unknown
UPDATE: As of 2008, this system is no more! They probably have a newer FCI system or Notifier’s “Garbage”. I believe they kept the MS-2’s but they could’ve been replaced with BG-12LX’s. The new alarms are Gentex Commanders.
Indian River Elementary (Pre-K for August through October 1999)
PANEL
[*]ESL or some sort of late 1990’s Notifier Panel
ALARMS
[*]Gentex GOS Horn/Strobes (some, if not many classrooms, set on 800 hz Continous)
[*]Gentex GX-90 Horn/Strobes (they probably had these in the speech therapy room and a few places too)
[*]Wheelock AES or EHS (Art room)
[*]Simplex 2901-9838 Horns on 2903 Strobe Plates (outside, cafeteria, a few other places)
[*]New Building either has SpectrAlert’s or Commander’s
PULLS
[*]ESL rebranded ADT 5050’s
[*]A few Simplex 4521-20’s (I think)
SMOKES
[*]Unknown
Spruce Creek Elementary School (Grades 2-5)
PANEL
[*]ThornAutocall, FCI, or Silent Knight of some sort (In 2nd grade, I think they had a Simplex Panel of some sort, but I’m not sure)
ALARMS
[*]Simplex 4051 Horns on 4050-85 Light Plates (for the most part, with White “FIRE” Lettering)
[*]Wheelock MT-LSM’s and MT-WM’s (replacing dead 4051’s and 2901-9806 Horns, MT-LSM’s are also in Media Center)
[*]Wheelock AS Horn/Strobe (replacing 1 4051 in Building 10, where I had 3rd Grade)
[*]Gentex GOS (Outside Multipurpose Room, in Music Room replacing a 4051; set to 2400 Hz Continous)
[*]Gentex Commander2 (in a art classroom and in the portables, a few other places had them too, probably new building)
[*]Simplex 2901-9806 Horns (mostly outside, some were on 2903 Light Plates)
[*]Federal Signal 450D Horns + VALS Strobes (Building 12)
PULLS
[*]Simplex 4521-20’s (Some of 2nd Grade, I think)
[*]FCI MS-2 (3rd-5th, Building 12, Portables)
SMOKES
[*]Unknown
[*]ESL Heat Sensors in Portables
Creekside Middle School
PANEL
[*]Grinnell TFX-400
ALARMS
[*]Gentex Commander2 Horn/Strobes (inside, all set to Code-3 Mechanical, some restrooms and small rooms had just strobes)
[*]Gentex GMS Horn/Strobes (outside, behind weatherproof covers)
PULLS
[*]Grinnell T-Bars
[*]FCI MS-2 replacing one in the gym.
SMOKES
[*]Unknown
Spruce Creek High School
PANEL
Notifier NFS-640
ALARMS
[*]Gentex Commander2 and Commander3 Horn/Strobes and Strobes (for the most part, all set to mechanical and coded to code-3 by the panel)
[*]Gentex Speaker/Strobes in the Gym, Cafeteria, & Auditorium (these play a Temporal Whoop tone and some sort of EVAC message)
PULLS
[*]Notifier NBG-12LXs
[*]FCI MS-2’s Portables
SMOKES
[*]Notifier Smokes of some sort
[*]ESL Heat Sensors in the portables
Other Stuff
[*]Cafeteria, Gym, and Auditorium all have RM-1 Microphones for some reason
For your information, a Simplex 4903-9405 has a SmartSync 110cd strobe. If you don’t recall the strobes being in sync, they’re probably 4903-9219s (non-SmartSync, 15cd).
Also, do you remember seeing any shape near the bottom right corner of the strobe?
Here’s what I mean:
Green asterisk or no symbol = 15cd
Blue dot = 30cd
Red triangle = 110cd
I remember you mentioning this system a few times on YouTube! I also recall you mentioning the newer alarms replacing broken horns were slapped onto the 4050-85 and 2903 light plates.
Chances are it used to be a Simplex 4208 or 2001 system until the new panel was installed.
Work was interesting today alarm-wise. This morning, I heard this intermittent beeping noise, but made no connection to it and thought it was something outside. This afternoon, these two tech show up next to my desk and wave this electronic wand-like device at the smoke detector on the ceiling. The wand beeps a few times and guy holding the wand says “Nope, nothing, we gotta go back to the other one.” Shortly after the intermittent beeping noise returns and this time it strikes me that it’s the panel in trouble mode. I use the opportunity to try and find the room where it’s located but to no avail. However, I did see the two guys running wires in a backbox in the hallway where a smoke detector was located. I return to my desk and not too much later, I hear a steady beeping tone, whch of course was the panel in alarm mode. They must have reassembled the detector and tested it, which caused he alarm condition, but they disabled the NACs, so no alarms went off. After that, I hear the trouble tone again and again go on a search for the room, and this time I managed to find it, although I was unable to see the panel. However, walking past the room and looking out the windows, I notice a bunch of flashing lights and emergency vehicles pulling up. Evidentally, they forgot to disconnect the relay that goes to the monitoring station and when they did that test and the panel went into alarm, the monitoring company summoned the emergency services (whoops!). IDK what came out of the situation after that, but I did find the whole situation amusing, AND I now know where the panel is located!
Something similar happened today at the hospital I work at, too. They did silent fire alarm testing for most of the week, but this morning, an announcement came on over the intercom saying that they would be doing audible fire alarm system testing that morning. A little later, as I was cleaning the stairwell between the main lobby and the emergency wing, I suddenly heard a somewhat loud electronic-sounding chime repeating. I opened the doorway to the corridor and sure enough I could also hear some other kind of alarm tone (similar to the 4100/4120 Chime tone, ala the UAlbany voice evac setup, but held out longer and in some kind of temporal code) and I saw the 2903 light plates flashing in 90bpm March Time! The LifeAlarms were rather loud, but I could also faintly hear what sounded like a TrueAlert in Continuous (it was probably either where the panels are located, or maybe coming all the way from the Family Suites wing on the fourth floor), and then when I got into the emergency wing, I saw that was where that unusual temporal Simplex tone was coming from; the 4903-9150 speaker/strobes in that area were also pretty loud! All strobes were synced in this area.
I was surprised the emergency wing’s speaker/strobes did a different alarm tone from the LifeAlarms, because I thought the whole thing would have sounded more consistent! The alarms continued for a few minutes, then they were silent (they stopped sounding right as I left the emergency wing.) Then later when I was dropping something off in the basement, the room where the fire alarm panels are located had the door open, and I could see what looked like a couple of 2001 cabinets and a 4100 with their doors open, along with a 4251-20 pull right at the door with the key in it.
Overall, it was a pretty eventful morning! Now I need to find out why this website isn’t working so I can get the files and create a simulation of the alarm system!
http://calvinet.com/files/simplextones/
Let me know what tones you need and I’ll see if I can send them to you.
Well, I found out some more information about my school’s system today! Next to the annunciator in the main entrance air lock, there is a map of the school with all of the alarm info on it. By looking at it, I found out two things: First, where the FACP is located: turn’s out it’s in the main office, which surprised me because I’ve been in there before, but have never seen it. Next is that I found out the company who installed the current system was Grinnell (before it merged with Simplex). However, I don’t think that SimplexGrinnell has the contract anymore; it’s probably gone to CintAs. I guess a way to find out is to look at the tag on one of the extinguishers, which I’ll make sure to do.
The company that services the extinguishers isn’t necessarily the one that will also service the fire alarm system.
That is true, but I’m willing to bet that it is true in this case.
I’ll try my best to remember what types we have at the University of Arizona…
It’s mostly a mix of Simplex electro-mechanicals and TrueAlerts, with a few SpectrAlerts now and then.
And in certain buildings, we have gray Simplex 6" class-change bells that sound like the kind you hear on TV and in movies all the time!
You mean bells like these?
The school I went to for kindergarten had them too, and they were LOUD. They did sound like that same bell sound like I often hear on TV commercials:
They also had 10-inch bells in the main gym and outside, and they sounded different, but also similar to the usual school bell/fire alarm sounds you usually hear on movies and TV:
Those are the exact ones!
Heh, I wouldn’t be surprised if they also had Simplex 4051 horns there or similar (the electromechanical ones, that is) on the 4050-80 or 2903 light plates
Well, it’s been 6 months since the last drill and my anxiety’s a little “on edge” so I asked my boss if I could be notified in advance. He told me some background info: they DO conduct two drills per year, one in the spring and one in the fall (OSHA only requires one annually but given the building “environment”, they conduct one semi-annually). Unfortunately, in terms of planning, that’s about as far as it goes - they don’t know when they’re having it until the day it happens! My boss explained to me that they USED to know two weeks in advance, but our building is a shared building (one called 10BA, the other called 4BA - I’m in 10 BA), and the alarm system covers both “buildings” (it’s all one structure though). Well, every time the day of the drill would come, 4BA would come to us and give us a reason as to why they won’t be able to have a drill that day (importaint meeting, luncheon, etc.). SO, left with no other options, instead of two weeks notice, when the time comes, the question that gets asked is “Can we do one today?” and if so, then they conduct one. However, he did say he’d be happy to give me as much advance notice as possible as long as I didn’t tell anyone because they like to keep it as much of a “surprise” as possible (only supervisors and call center people know). So, I’m fairly satisfied with that result.
On a related note, http://www.uploads.calvinet.com/uploads/1336534094.jpg these maps are popping up in various places around the building. The description says to just take the nearest exit, but as in my last case, often times you don’t know about the nearest exit. I thought my exit was the door the furthest south of the building, but instead, we were instructed to go out the cafeteria. Right now (my desk has been moved) I think the nearest exit would be to go out the lobby entrance (bottom center in the shown map), but fo all I know, we could just exit out the loading dock (second exit on the top from the left)…
I finally learned today what fire alarm panel my school has:
Its an Edwards 6500! I’m surprised this thing is still even in service, I thought my school board had replaced most of these panels with Mircom FX-2000s. As far as I’m concerned, my school is the only one that still has its original system. I found this panel in a mechanical room, which I was allowed to gain access into. My school was built in 1963, most of the school has been renovated. The mechanical room was like taking a trip back in time, everything in there was original, even the doors were painted with the original beige colour (most of the schools doors/stairs were repainted red, and then blue, as they are today). There was also an Edwards 6" single stroke adaptabel, probably the only one in the school. All in all an interesting find for me today!
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Thought I’d finally post this now that I know what all the buildings have.
Southern Maine Community College: South Portland Campus
The entire campus got a system upgrade at an unspecified time in every building except two…
Most Systems:
Notifier panels (mixed-- AFP-200, NFS-320, System 500, SFP-2404)
NBG-12 pull stations (some L, some LX, depending on the system)
Some buildings have RSG T-Bars
Wheelock NSs and RSSs, with a few Exceders mixed in.
Some buildings have their original pull stations-- the gym has Simplex chevrons, and other buildings have Simplex T-Bars. Obviously these have non-addressable panels.
Oddballs:
Health Science Center – this system was done at a different time, either before or after the mass upgrade.
Gamewell-FCI Addressable FACP
Gamewell/Apollo XP95 Addressable Smoke Detectors
Gamewell Century Addressable Pull Stations
Wheelock ASs and RSSs
There’s also some relays by the panel to shunt trip and monitor a masterbox installed on the front of the building.
Spring Point Residence Hall – this building was built in 2008
Siemens Addressable FACP & Annunciator (saw both–FACP is next to the elevator on the bottom floor)
U-MMT and U-MCS signals
Siemens addressable photoelectric smoke detectors; the ones in the rooms have sounder bases.
Siemens MSI-20B addressable pull stations
Former systems (from what I have been able to gather)
Campus Center:
Simplex 2001 with 2903+2901-9833s (NSs installed on top of 2903 plates, 9833 seen on a waterproof backbox outside the building) and Simplex 4251-20 Pull Stations
HUB Gym:
Simplex 4208 or 4207, Simplex chevrons and 4251 T-Bars, and (guessing) either 4050s or 4051s, because the new NSs are installed on top of their flush mount plates.
CEC:
Totally unknown. New panel is installed on top of old panel (which has been blanked). NSs are installed on red retrofit plates that appear to be homemade from plexiglass painted red.
Science / New Media buildings:
This one would have been neat to see if it were still installed 
. 1975 Edwards System!!! First time I’d ever seen even the remains of one. New panel is installed on top of old panel, covering up what it was. You can still see the Edwards logo though. Assuming 270-SPOs. 360-L “FIRE HORN” horns, still installed. New NSs are retrofitted on wiremold next to each one. New Media had 270-SPOs and flush mount AdaptaHorns (NSs are mounted on top of the AdaptaHorn flush mount plates)
Manufacturing:
NSs “slapped” onto Space Age AV32 light plates. BG-12 pulls mounted… SIX FEET FROM THE FLOOR (at eye level for me)
Construction:
4051+4050-80 light plates, 4251-20s. Only other place I have seen 4050-80 plates.
Technology Center:
MASS horn/strobes (there is a MASS horn on the ceiling in one hallway still) and BG-10s (New BG-12s are on SB-10 backboxes; one backbox has faded paint from being in the sun.
Hospitality Center:
Simplex 2099-9756 pull stations. Probably 4903s, because I bet they would have kept modern Wheelock signals, or TrueAlerts.
Southern Maine Community College-- Bath Center
The college actually rents 1/4 of this building; someone else owns it.
Addressable Notifier FACP, replacing probably a large Simplex 2001 (Could tell by the ANN-80 annunciator)
Wheelock RSSs installed “here and there” and one NS
Simplex 2903+2901-9833 and Simplex 2903+2901-9806 signals!!
Simplex 4251-20 pull stations. On the bottom floor they are installed on huge retrofit plates. They must have had coded stations at one point.
System Sensor non-addressable smoke detectors
Interesting: They installed an addressable panel on a conventional system so I guess they installed a monitor module at the beginning of each zone, right next to the panel.
Whew, where did that “wave” of my once-obsessed interest in alarms come from? I normally don’t post stuff like this, lol.
Well, a year and 2 days after I first heard the suppression system go off, EVERYTHING went off today!
At 7:45 I pull into the building parking lot and there’s a SimplexGrinnell truck parked near the main employee entrance (the entrance closest to where both the FACP and server room where the suppression system is installed is). 10 minutes later at my workstation a building-wide e-mail gets sent out from the facility coordinator stating that they will be testing the fire suppression system in the server room and as a required part of the test, the server room alarms (http://www.uploads.calvinet.com/uploads/1317704263.jpg the MT and MB-G6 bell) will be briefly tested as well and that there is no need to evacuate when this happens. About 15 minutes later, the coordinator swings by to tell me in person and said that it’s probably be another 30-60 minutes before anything went off. At about 8:30, I asked my claims processing trainer (who knows about my alarm anxiety) if we could shut the door to the room (there was two, one being open). He hesitantly said yes, but asked why I wanted to, and I gestured in the direction of the server room with my thumb and he replied “Oh, ok yeah go ahead.”. At about 8:45 an alarm finally goes off, but it wasn’t the suppression system alarm - it was the BUILDING fire alarm (the SpectrAlerts). My first reaction was to state out loud for those who didn’t see the e-mail “Just ignore that.” My second reaction was thinking to myself “I think that’s the building alarm though…”. After about 15 seconds the alarm gets shut off. Not too long after that, the MT associated with the suppression system finally starts up in code-3 for about 10 seconds and then gets shut off and then immediately afterwards the MB-G6 starts ringing for a few seconds.
Several things surprised me: one was the fact that Simplex was doing the testing. I understand that they service any system regardless of manufacturer, but normally a company named http://www.sonitrol.com/ Sonitrol does the alarm testing, but for all I know, Simplex could have been the one who actually installed the suppression system. Second, the building alarm system was not expected to go off. Reason one is because they would have mentioned that in the e-mail and second, I talked the facilities coordinator afterwards and he said the building alarm wasn’t supposed to happen. Apparently Simplex was supposed to disconnect the suppression system from the main alarm system, but that got overlooked somehow. The training room I was in has no alarm in it, but there’s a SpectrAlert right outside one of the doors and just around the corner there’s a second SpectrAlert and when the building system went off, it really took me by surprise, one, because it wasn’t expected to happen, and two, it was a lot louder than I expected it to be. Also, last year the MB-G6 rang in a pulse (60 BPM) pattern. Today it sounded like it was manually rung as not only was it not a pulse pattern, but it had no ringing pattern to it at all.
So all in all, it was an active morning. It’s my guess that we’ll be having our fall fire drill within the next couple of weeks, so we’ll see what happens!
Recap time on the schools I went to, excluding high school, because I now have more detailed information on them in their CURRENT states and maybe a few more surprises…
PRESCHOOL (held at a pre-K school building owned by the public school district that used to be the old high school back in 1916, but now it’s a charter high school)
PANEL:The panel is probably a Simplex 4208; I never saw it.
ALARMS:Alarms are mostly Simplex 4051+4050-80 horn/lights (no “FIRE” lettering, the horns pushed all the way into the light plates). I never heard them go off when I was there.
PULL STATIONS:Pulls were all Simplex break-glass 4251-30s.
CEILING DETECTION:No smoke detectors; there was a mix of 4255-1 and 4255-5 heat sensors, and the building had a full sprinkler system as well.
KINDERGARTEN (this is a K-8 school, formerly built in 1974 as a K-6 elementary school)
PANEL:The system is a Simplex 4010 and a Simplex 4208 tied into each other. The 4010 panel provides system monitoring and also controls the building’s duct detectors, signal circuits and the portable connected to the main building, while the 4208 panel controls the pull stations and existing smoke and heat detectors in the main building. A Simplex graphic annunciator from the 1980s is installed in the main lobby.
ALARMS:Most of the alarms are Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates, installed in many areas.
In the small gym, there’s a 4051 horn on a Space Age AV32 light plate, and there’s another one like this in the main gym (replacing 4050-80s that were damaged).
Wheelock NS horn/strobe in the music room, slapped onto a 4050-80 (it’s replacing a 4051 horn that broke down)
Simplex 4903-9236 horn/strobe in the boiler room.
PULL STATIONS: The majority of pulls in the school are Simplex break-glass 4251-30s. Three of them had the break-glass part removed and converted to single-action.
The boiler room has two Federal Signal/Autocall 4050-001T pulls.
There are also five Edwards/AIP 270-SPOs and two Simplex break-glass 2099-9103s, all replacing 4251-30s that broke down over time.
CEILING DETECTION: There is an old Simplex 4262-5 ionization smoke detector in the cafetorium, and several 4255-1 mechanical heat sensors in other areas, including classrooms, offices and bathrooms, along with 4265 heat sensors in mechanical room/receiving areas. Simplex duct detectors were also installed throughout the building, in 4098-9753 housings (I saw one through an open ceiling), all with 2098-9806 test stations connected to them.
PORTABLE BUILDING: The alarms in the school portable are Wheelock MT-24-LSMs, and the pulls are RSG T-bars (unbranded), and there are ESL and System Sensor smoke detectors as well. The portable used to have its own ESL fire alarm panel, but now the main Simplex 4010 handles the portable’s system.
NOTE:During the summer of 2012, the “open pods” had modular walls and doors built to enclose each individual classroom. Most of these rooms (if not all) had a SpectrAlert Advance horn/strobe installed, and any room with a direct exit outside had a conventional BG-12 pull station installed next to the exit door (IDK if they are Fire-Lite or Notifier, but they are run off the Simplex system.) The school is scheduled to have its fire alarm system replaced this summer.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 1-6:
PANEL: The school has an old Gamewell FlexAlarm system from 1971, and is an eight-zone 24-VDC system. There is also a 4-inch alarm bell above it and a trouble chime.
ALARMS: Older-style Federal Vibratone 450 horns (ala the Fire-Lite 450 and Simplex 4041) installed behind large gray grilles in most areas
Space Age Electronics 2DCD horn in the teacher’s lounge
At least two of the old Vibratones were replaced with Wheelock NH horns
PULL STATIONS: Older “LOCAL ALARM” Gamewell Century pulls in most areas
Simplex 4251-20 pull in the main gymnasium (replacing a Gamewell pull that was damaged)
CEILING DETECTION: Older Chemtronics 500 mechanical heat sensors rebranded by Gamewell
PORTABLE BUILDING: The school’s portable has a small ESL fire alarm system tied into the main system (probably an ESL 1500), with Wheelock MT-24-LSM horn/strobes, RSG T-bar pulls and ESL smoke detectors.
MIDDLE SCHOOL:
PANEL: The school has a very old Gamewell FlexAlarm system from 1957, and is an AC-only system that sounds on Continuous.
ALARMS: Old flush-mount Federal Signal horns in most areas (resembling the current Federal explosion-proof horns but on square trim plates)
Newer Federal Vibratone 350 horns in the wood shop and C.C.C. computer lab
Wheelock MT4 horn replacing one of the old Federal horns that broke down
PULL STATIONS: Old Gamewell Vitaguard-series pull stations (the kind resembling the older street boxes.)
NOTE: Because of fire codes having changed since the school’s 1957-1958 construction, and because of plans to renovate, the school is scheduled to have its fire alarm system replaced this summer.
I also talked with the school department, and they said I can probably have parts from the two mentioned schools planning to upgrade this summer :mrgreen: