What's the best option for a starter panel?

Fire Alarm Help
1

I am looking into purchasing a fire panel. If you have any recommendations, please let me know :smiley:

2

Welcome to the The Fire Panel Forums. There is a introduction thread in the General Discussion area where you can tell us about yourself.

You should start in this forum section.
https://forums.thefirepanel.com/viewforum.php?f=60

Since you are thinking about buying a panel this forum entry has a lot of information on that.

3

Thanks :smiley:

4

Siemens SXL-EX
or any conventional Fire Lite panel.

5

I’ll second this.

My SXL-EX was one of the first panels I owned, and it still beats out other units such as my Simplex 4007ES and FCI FC-72 to keep its place as the main panel on my demonstration system. You will certainly get your money’s worth from it.

6

Simplex 4004’s are also very good options if you can find one for a good price. I wouldn’t go above $500 because that’s a ripoff. I got mine for $400 personally, and it works great. Certainly a well made product. But I’ve also heard good things about the SXL-EX too.

7

Well I’m probably different than most of you people, as my first ever fire alarm panel was a Simplex 4010! No prior experience working on panels at all, I hooked it up, programmed it and was installed in about 2 hours. It didn’t last long though as I fried the circuit board getting a little to curious. General rule of thumb, don’t ever touch anything on that motherboard until it is fully powered down. That goes for all panels!

8

I feel like the Simplex 4010 would be better for me because of my lack of experience with fire alarms. And before you ask, I know all of the basic rules of electricity and I will not electrocute myself whilst working on a fire alarm system.

9

I’d stay away from addressable panels if you’re first starting out. I’ve got a 9050UD sitting in my garage back home that hasn’t even been powered up yet but the only reason I got it is because it was given to me.
However, it takes a bit of more advanced knowledge of fire alarm equipment to set one up and getting running perfectly.
If I were you, I’d go for either the Simplex 4004, Siemens SXL-EX, Fire-Lite MS-5UD, or the Silent Knight 5208.

10

Yes. Plus, even if I did know how to use an adressable panel, my house is too small for the adressable system to actually be useful. I’ll stick with the conventional panels.

11

I’d be careful about installing a system in your house. This discussion has come up before, but it’s considered unlicensed electrical work and if your home is audited for insurance purposes, you run the risk of losing your coverage.
Were you planning to install it on a board on a wall in your house somewhere?

12

I will not place any equipment inside my walls.

13

Yeah, but wiremold or metal conduit could still be seen as unlicensed electrical work. If it’s on your wall, it’s an appliance, at least in the eyes of most insurance companies. A board is easy to take down and so long as it doesn’t stay on your wall, won’t be a problem.
I don’t mean to be “that guy”, but most would advise against installing a full-on system in your house, especially if you mean for it to replace your smoke alarm system.

14

I’m starting to rethink my descision.

15

We had someone ask a similar question, and we talked about it in this topic Legal to have a hobby system.]here.
I don’t mean to be a downer or anything, but it’s just something we don’t recommend. A demonstration system on a board should be fine though!

16

Surprised no one’s mentioned the Honeywell two and four zone panels (MS-2/MS-4 and equivalents). They work perfectly for a test system or home system, they’re cheap, and they’re the simplest possible panels to program. Just don’t do stupid things with them and they’re fine.

Also the whole “don’t install a fire alarm system on your wall because _____” is WAY overblown…

17

Yeah. I am still fairly new to fire alarms so I am still learning.

18

I’m from SA, and I’ve heard stories that the fire marshal doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.

19

Well from past experience, the fire inspector was livid when he found paper on the classroom door at school :stuck_out_tongue:

20

Something you don’t recommend… how can you speak for everyone?
lol

Agreed!