Simplex Easter Egg

I saw this graphic on an ES Net case study brochure. I haven’t looked too deep into the data sheets but I took a quick look and couldn’t find any evidence of a new display.

[attachment=0]4100ES New.jpg[/attachment]

Interesting display. I also found nothing in the datasheets. I grabbed the picture so I can email it to some people I know at the office where I worked. We used to meet for lunch most weeks but Coronavirus ended that for the foreseeable future. Let you know if I find out anything.

If they’re going to redesign the panel, can they please just make the default voice evacuation message actually give accurate instructions?

I am aware that such a message exists, but it should be the default.

[quote="Retired STR-SG" post_id=86800 time=1586486225 user_id=3047]

Interesting display. I also found nothing in the datasheets. I grabbed the picture so I can email it to some people I know at the office where I worked. We used to meet for lunch most weeks but Coronavirus ended that for the foreseeable future. Let you know if I find out anything.

[/quote]

Honestly I don’t browse the Simplex website as much as I used to, and I was surprised that I even caught that. I am favor of the idea that the 4100ES should have an enhanced display as a base package simply based on the fact that it is the premium panel offering from JCI. Its point capacity alone warrants it in my opinion. I haven’t heard anything about them upgrading their panels or displays at all. The company that I work for installs Notifier, and they are supposed to have a new platform out very soon that is based on the new NCD touchscreen display, but I bet this virus situation has delayed that, and then on top of that Notifier is slow to release things anyway so who knows how long before that is actually released. I will say, as a tech who has never really messed with Simplex, I very much like their technology and do wish Honeywell would follow suit, especially with regard to addressable notification. We have just installed an NCD, and despite the fact that it is a nice interface, I do have some reservations with respect to what it actually does vs what it actually could do functionally.

Patrick

I was at the office a few months ago when the operations manager had the first ESNet system head ends laid out for pre-install programming. This system had the standard displays but also had two TSW nodes.

The ESNet is all new network interface and media cards. It runs at Ethernet speed. This means a typical download time to a full ring of 99 nodes is 5 minutes or less.

The default audio message does go back to the days when voice alarm systems were mainly used in high rise applications. For many years, Simplex had other message packages, including a single story evacuation message. Fully custom message sets can be produced that can announce whatever needs to be said. Our office had a brewery with many different types of gas detectors. The audio FA system would announce the type of gas and area of the facility it was detected.

What were the different types of gas that the detectors would end up picking up and the messages?

This is a 4100+ system.
As it happens I have a copy of some of the audio files because I had to modify a message in the system years ago. So I have some information. I can’t reproduce the actual audio because I do not have the .mot files to burn the chips.
Here are the gasses and areas announced.
Ammonia / CO2 North Government Cellar
Ammonia / CO2 South Government Cellar
Ammonia / CO2 North Fermenting Tunnel
Ammonia / CO2 South Fermenting Tunnel
Ammonia / CO2 Power House Tunnel
Ammonia / CO2 Power Plant
Ammonia / CO2 North Filter Cellar
Ammonia / CO2 South Filter Cellar
Ammonia / CO2 Kathabar Room
Ammonia / CO2 Blend Finish Chiller Room

The info I have does not have the complete text of the messages, but I can get close.

Hi-Low Tone for 10 Seconds
Attention
A {gas type} release in the {area}
Please leave …
Hi-Low Tone Forever

Oh so the only gasses that it checks for are carbon dioxide and ammonia? I thought it would check for a large variety of different gasses that could be fatal to humans. :mrgreen:

I did some quick research. The CO2 is a byproduct of the brewing process. The NH3 (ammonia) is used in the refrigeration plants. Those are the main dangerous gasses involved in the brewing process that could be in high concentration. At least when this particular brewery was built.

Some beers are using nitrogen by itself or in a CO2 mixture for carbonation of the product. Nitrogen makes up 80% of the air we breathe. There may be some exhaust from propane powered forklifts which would be in low concentration. This brewery used electric forklifts.

I’ve seen those screens on the Simplex 4007ES Panels, we actually just replaced one because the NAC circuit on it was faulty.

I know we’re talking Simplex here, but all of this reminds me of the LCD-SLP being an option on the Gamewell-FCI E3 series now. So now, even your big building can have touchscreen controls!

Sorry for the bump, but this is finally official!

Welcome to the touchscreen club, Simplex. You’re very late…

Hmm… six and a half months or so from hint to realization. It has been out since maybe late September or early October. Fire alarm manufacturers seem to always have been behind from a user interface standpoint. This should have been the industry standard for all higher end fire panels for at least the past 5-10 years and just now in 2020 all of the major players are on a more or less equal field in that regard. I hope the next major improvement that is adopted by all of these companies is making addressable LED based notification appliances . BTW, an updated Notifier panel is on the near horizon, but still a little ways out. (and no, System Sensor isn’t releasing LED based notification devices, it doesn’t appear to be on Honeywell’s radar yet)

Patrick

[quote=Patrick post_id=87827 time=1604027174 user_id=54] I hope the next major improvement that is adopted by all of these companies is making addressable LED notification appliances

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I hope that the next major improvement that Simplex adopts is a default voice evacuation message that actually tells people to leave the building. Every other manufacturer has had this for a VERY long time.

To add insult to injury, before the 4100ES, a custom message costed… $10,000!
Yes, you heard this correctly, not even the 4100U allowed field-programmable custom messages despite using the same voice-evacuation components. This is a software restriction in the programming software.

If I am ever in charge of any fire alarm project that includes a voice evacuation system, I will insist that all voice messages give accurate, readily understandable instructions. If I were a code official, I’d make this a requirement.

The last thing you want during an emergency is people wondering what their “assigned re-entry floor” is.