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sparkyork

hi all, me shop in leeds has to have its own fire alarm that links up through an interface to the main panel in the building, like all the other shops have to do.

i spoke to company that maintains the main panel and he said so long as my panel has an interface connection then it will be fine to connect into the main panel (some sort of NO, NC thang)

just been to wholesalers tonight and dont know if he was on his period or something but was a but funny with me: said i can give you a panel but it might not work etc, your insurance might not cover it.....i told him ive spoke to the bloke who maintains the main panel and said just get one with an interface and it will be ok.... wholesaler said alot of times thses panels all need to be the same manufacturer etc

any advice gratefully received

richie roo
 
generally we dont have problems with generic fire alarm panels .
as long as its got volt free contacts and fault alarm contacts that activate under alarm you should have no problem we tend to use emergilite a lot (leeds based)
 
main panel prob an addressable panel so would just take a n/c alarm contact from yours into an i/o unit and if you want alarm to set yours off aswell then you could put it into a spare zone or switch class change maybe.....few ways of doing it
 
so my wholesaler is talking poo poo then really, dont need to have the exact same make of board, so long as it can tell the main board when to go off and vice versa then thats all it needs to do.
 
Generally as a worst case all you will need to do is put a relay on the no volts teminal linked with the main monitoring panel but this is rare, I have only had to do it once.
Make sure the panel you get has a N/C N/O and a no volts available and you will be able to be linked with 99% of alarm monitoring systems.
 
thats all good then, what do use think is the simplist way of 1st fixing one, i.e addressable of just plan first then do it in zones, if you know what i mean!!
 
Agreed, zone panels are easier to install.
Addressable can cause all sorts of grief, once spent four days in a cupboard in an airport reprogramming on using the front panel keypad when someone had decided to scroll through its capabilities. (Honestly I didn't do anything it just started doing that on it's own!!!)
For larger installations (e.g. airport) addressable are very good and can save a lot of time for the user.
Can email you a fire alarm design guide if you pm me your email address. It explains all the options and also what is now required under 5389.

Tony
 
hi Sparky York

If you connecting in to the house system they usually require several signals, not just fire. They may require fault, fire and isolate. These signals will have to be monitored by your installed panel. (have an EOL end of line resistor at the relay) On conventional panels this can be done by using a zone for fire signal or the fire relay output relay and you should look for a panel that has fault and isolate relays. Also the relays and class change input or precint input for receiving a fire signal should be NON LATCHING. You can get into a situaton whereby the house system signals your panel which signals their panel and there is no way of resetting. It gets caught in a loop. For an easy to install conventional panel I use HAES fire alarm panels. Their technical support is pretty good and they are compatable with apollo detectors. Panels can do everything required. Try to steer clear of the fisher price panels they have on the counter at wholesalers as they usually do not have all the features and in 2/3 years they will be discontinued and you will get no support. Hope this is of help. Remember to get a spec from the house alarm maintainers of exactly what is required before you start. Good luck
 
I cant realy add much more to this cos all the bases have been covered, other than if you need to get cables from your panel to theirs, best put at least a 4 core, better still, two 4 cores. Nothing worse than finding you are a wire short when it comes to getting it working. Like others have said, it depends what signals they want.

Where in Leeds is it anyway ?
 
hi all thanks for the responses, the shop is on vicar lane about 50yards from richer sounds. sounds a bit complicated really!! will have to give it all some carefull planning remembering the 6 p's!
 

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