I heard about the Simplex 2120 panel. I haven’t found much information, though.
Does anybody know what happened to it? It seems like Simplex is trying to hide it from existence. Was there a big incident? I do know that it was a hunk of crap, but what happened with it? I have seen no videos or pictures of the panel.
The 2120 is so old that finding information about it from Simplex is going to be next to impossible.
It’s not that something happened and they’re hiding it, you can’t find info about it anymore… Similar case with the 2001 and 4200 series panels. No more documentation easily available.
What’s up with all this topic moving?
I thought for a minute that the topic didn’t post correctly.
Do you know why there’s next to none installed? Do they all just fail? Was there a big recall?
Back in the day, it had many features that were advanced for the time, like a computer programming interface with Boolean logic. Most buildings didn’t need this system because of how advanced it was. It was most likely found in giant places like hospitals, airports, and skyscrapers.
This picture is from the old DFA wiki. See how advanced this panel could be? Why would a small building need a printer, computer screen and keyboard, giant annunciator, and all the other technology in the picture?
As for panel information and videos, the aforementioned locations (skyscrapers, airports) usually don’t have their systems accessible to the public, limiting the number of pictures/videos of the obsolete panel.
See, it wasn’t a failure, but it was excessively complex. Smaller buildings used something a bit more simplex. 
The 2120 had a fairly long lifespan (1981-1992), but these systems were so expensive that many building owners leased them from Simplex. Since then, Simplex has made it pretty easy to upgrade to a 4120, 4100U, or 4100ES by retrofitting into the old cabinets and using existing wiring. That’s why there aren’t many left in service.
There are many 2120’s still ticking today, but they’re a royal pain to service in the event of an issue. Interpreting their crash codes is like learning a second language. Of course, all programming has to be done through a DOS PC and an EEPROM burner. It was good for the time, but there were already better and more streamlined systems available by the late 80’s. Still, they continued supporting the platform for a while since it often was the center of several building control systems in huge facilities. You can sort of think of the 21xx systems as their Apple II and the 41xx systems as their Mac.
By far my least favorite simplex fire panel of all time. There are only a few left in Chicago. Just tore out another one this past week.
I have yet to see any Simplex 2120 systems in person. Just about any time I see a Simplex voice-evac system from the '80s (with old signals and stuff intact), the panel is typically something in the 4100 series, and it the old panel IS intact, it’s a 2001 setup. (I’ve even seen a slightly similar example; a Simplex 4100U voice-evac setup replacing an old Kidde system, with the old pull stations, detectors, and many of the old Wheelock speaker/strobes intact.)
I learned that 2120 systems have become quite scarce due to their complexity, and in many cases are replaced with 4100-series systems nowadays, even if only the panel is replaced (so you’d have the 4100U/ES Slow Whoop sounding over 2903 LifeAlarm speaker/lights!)
There are a few 2120’s still alive and kicking. When first released it was the Rolls-Royce of fire alarm. I installed a number of them a long time ago. I also replaced some of the ones I installed. Many were fully replaced with 4100U/ES hardware. Others are getting head end upgrades with the 2120 BMUX card for 4100U/ES.
The last post was April 19…
Please don’t bump old topics
Please don’t backseat moderate we have people for that.
Back to the topic at hand, does anyone have a close up of the 2120’s control interface? It seems very interesting from a distance, but I’m curious about what it looks like close.
Not a great picture, but this is the display board. The printer gets installed to the right of it, and there’s a letter/number keyboard below it.