Does any manufacturer currently offer this, for either signal modules or addressable NAC panels? The Gamewell-FCI way of doing this seems especially clumsy, and there is no way to add synchronized independent signals over just two wires or if the on-board NACs are maxed out. There are a few workarounds, but they all involve pulling a fair amount of extra wire.
We don’t even have an addressable NAC panel available, even though Notifier and Mircom have offered this for a while. This means I get a lot of service calls to fix a “NAC 2 fault” (you can label everything except the on-board NACs) and end up running up and down the whole building to find that NAC panel with dead batteries.
The newer System Sensor sounder bases allow for “Sync over SLC” of their Code-3 tone, so I know it’s theoretically possible to implement. I know Simplex has their own solution for this (IDNAC). Strobe synchronization is one of the first things the fire marshal looks for. Is there anything else out there that even comes close?
i don’t know of anything outside of IDNAC. the addressable NAC panels have limitations on how they work on other systems it seems.
we run a sync circuit from the main panel to hit all the NAC panels (or multiple if we have multiple floors), then put a monitor module in each panel to monitor it for trouble. This allows us to sync everything and at least trouble shoot it down to the panel instead of walking into a room with 5 extenders and hoping for the best. but as you said, extra wire… and extra modules…
you can also chain most NAC panels. the 4th output on NAC1 feeds the input on NAC2 so they stay sync’d, but you lose your 4th output on every panel driving another panel. can’t have additional strobes on those circuits so its a complete loss…
Here’s what I’ve come up with that is at least possible in the Honeywell family of panels, potentially in others. Use all but one of the on-board NACs for general notification for a particular floor or building area. The remaining NAC will be your sync power, set in programming to be always on and synced. This power will run through the building as external power input for signal modules that either drive a small group of devices or a NAC panel set to slave sync. The System Sensor signal modules will pass through the sync pulses and this input will satisfy its monitoring of 24v external power.
The advantage here is addressable control and monitoring of each NAC panel. Unless you add monitor modules like you mentioned, the daisy-chained NAC panels, although inherently synced, quickly become a nightmare of running from closet to closet to closet.
If you have a project like a hotel with sounder bases, this sync power can constantly trigger a NAC panel in slave sync mode to provide 24v constant power to the bases. The System Sensor B200S base is capable of using this input to sync all bases currently in alarm. Because the sync is originally from the main panel, these are synced with everything else in the building. (Theoretically sync over SLC is possible with these, but I haven’t tried that feature yet and don’t know if it syncs them with the active NACs.)
addressable NAC panels have quirky little things like on at least one system they have to be on the same SLC loop to be sync’d, nothing that’s a deal breaker and a lot of advantages over traditional NAC panels, but they are by no means perfect. i guess we’ll always find something to complain about though, right?
so you just have an active signal always running out to all panels? and how is that different than running a nac to daisy chained NAC panels? either way a circuit is going out to them, and you have a module at them (to monitor for trouble). i think both ways would take the same amount of modules/wire unless i’m missing something.
either way should work, i don’t have an easier method to do it though. your entire building doesn’t have to be sync’d, so this is only an issue in certain areas (mainly buildings with atrium’s), otherwise a signal module is all you need to activate the NAC panel, nothing needed from the main panel at all.
It’s not really any different in practice, and yes, it uses the same amount of wire and modules. The only difference is in the case that you want to control the panels as independent outputs. We haven’t actually implemented it on a large project, but we have done it on a smaller case in a hotel with signal modules directly driving signals and sounder bases.
It’s true that you don’t need sync between floors, so in cases where there is no overlap, you’d be fine without the signal line. It just seems like we are often working in buildings with an open stairwell or some sort of atrium, and this issue comes up. And I really don’t like installing a sync module at every hotel ADA room right next to the signal module, which is something we were required to do by a very detail-oriented fire marshal do at one point.
EST will do it with the use of the SIGA-CC1S. The only catch is all of the circuits you want synced have to be on the same SLC. Yes, you can use a CC1S to trigger a BPS10/6A and have the strobes all synced. This does not work on the older EST2, though.
I have a VM1 system in the local NBA arena here in Memphis, TN that was put in as a replacement of an older Siemens MXL system. They accomplished it by what others have mentioned in that there is one single visual circuit that runs around the entire arena to trigger all of the BPS’s, or PAD’s if you wanna get technical. Blew my mind when I took the project over and seen a single visual circuit in the program. Works like a champ, though.
