Simplex 4004 Annunciator Interface Card? (PN 565-579)

*Note: Part Number is 565-579.

I’ve been scouting around for one of these for a long time. I know there is/was an annunciator compatible with these panels and those are I believe the little ones Space Age Electronics made/makes for Simplex, or are they the 4606 series annunciators? And how rare are these cards that drive the annunciators? I’ve been scouting around for one for a long time but have never come up with any evidence that they were made for long or how rare these are. I’m assuming due to the lack of information they were pretty rare. Or perhaps only for custom jobs? Reason I ask is because maybe down the road sometime next year I want to add an annunciator to the system but I know I need that card in order to even program it to work let alone what annunciator they were compatible with, as the manual doesn’t state specifically. I’d like to add one in the future but due to the rarity of such cards, would it even be practical to look for one?

Of course this is just an idea; it’s not like I really need an annunciator because of the size of my system, but at the same time it would be really cool…although it’d have to be next year because who knows how expensive that card is…and it probably wouldn’t be cheap by any means. Just looking for some info.

That annunciator interface board will be difficult to find. It was not a custom part and could be ordered for any system. They were not used that often. The 4004 was for small job applications and most of the time were located so the panel was the main annunciator.

The interface is required for ack, silence, and reset operations. It also has an outputs for a piezo and status LEDs. Zone indicators on annunciators are operated from the zone aux outputs which are on all IDC boards. Pages 14 to 17 of the field wiring shows the various annunciator connections.

The 4601 annunciators match the current Space Age Electronics Infinity Series modules. Space Age made these for Simplex under a private label agreement which placed the Simplex name and logo on them. I found a datasheet for the 4601 which is at this link.

Notice that it matches the Space Age line at this link.

The Simplex version has a module with ack, silence, and reset buttons and status LEDs. That module does not show up in the current set of Space Age modules on their web site. I don’t know if that was custom made for Simplex, is a special order item, or if Space Age dropped it from the line due to low usage.

The 4004 panel was replaced around 2002, so this is a 15 year old product. Parts will be in short supply.