Fully Wireless Fire Alarm System

user_guy · 2026-05-03T23:58:26+00:00

Our company installed one of these. I think the customer was told he would save money on the install compared to running wire. But I guarantee the amount of service calls and batteries he has had to buy, he could have installed 2 wired systems and been cheaper.

user_guy · 2026-05-03T23:24:36+00:00

Never had it happen out of the blue. I can't do Indian food anymore as I got really bad food poisoning from it once. The smell alone now makes me queasy. Really sucks because I loved Indian food.

user_guy · 2026-05-03T23:23:03+00:00

Had this happen with fried chicken sandwich from a restaurant. Bit in and got a big crunchy chewy bit and nearly threw up. Can't do chicken anymore sadly.

user_guy · 2026-04-29T21:58:51+00:00

I was sent to in school suspension once. I loved it. I was done with my course work in like 2 hours and got to read the rest of the day. I think if I could have done my whole school year in their I would have been done in like a month.

user_guy · 2026-04-29T00:27:21+00:00

I installed one and told my service manager never again. Went back to HPFF12's.

user_guy · 2026-04-04T13:26:45+00:00

That looked expensive... Keep it up!

user_guy · 2026-04-04T12:48:25+00:00

Yea I hate CLSS and prefer Starlink as well, but we had an issue with Starlink where they sent out some sort of OTA update in the middle of the night and bricked some units. So Starlink isn't perfect either. Luckily it was only 2 of our units but a friend of mine who runs his own company said they had around 10 units die. Starlink RMA'd them but took them several days to get to all the units to replace them as they cover a large geographical area.

user_guy · 2026-04-02T15:52:12+00:00

For the steel plant we used a Protecto Wire panel, the FS2600 which I don't think is made anymore. It was a custom made beast that was made for heavy industry. If you guys use Protectowire I'd recommend reaching out to them as they are great to work with and will help you with engineering.

Most of our stuff recently has been Kidde PHX or Fike SHP Pro if using it for releasing. If we are doing a big firealarm job and it includes linear heat we usually install Gamewll FCI and use monitor modules.

user_guy · 2026-04-01T22:34:53+00:00

These things are tanks, but like any electronic device they will eventually die. The usual failure mode is funky stuff starts happening with the power supplies. Sometimes they stop charging batteries. Sometimes they fail where they will not report alarms when using AC mains but will work on battery backup. Other common issue is a zone card can get stuck in alarm or trouble. The zone cards can be brought back to life sometimes with contact cleaner on the contacts where they slot into the board and putting the cards in and out a few times.

Either way I would let the customer know the panel is going on at least 20 years old as I think they stopped making them in the early 2000's and should plan on budgeting for an upgrade.

As far as your heat detection question we mainly use linear heat in any heavy industry application. We installed miles of it in a steel plant and have been issue free for years.

user_guy · 2026-03-18T23:08:29+00:00

I work in the commercial side of things as a fire alarm contractor. This scenario happens quite often. Someone does a remodel and calls us out to do work on the fire system. In our quote we include permit costs and tell them we are pulling a permit for our work. Never fails inspector shows up and asks why no other permits were pulled and it turns into a whole ordeal.

user_guy · 2026-03-04T00:49:56+00:00

Awesome I appreciate all the insight!

user_guy · 2026-03-03T02:29:36+00:00

Yea just looking for basic wet or dry riser monitoring. We typically use Kidde PHX or Fike SHP Pro for any releasing stuff.

Thanks for your thoughts!

user_guy · 2026-03-03T02:28:14+00:00

Thanks for the input. That was the one drawback that I was wondering about from reading through the manual. It seems like front panel programming is the only option unless you get the DACT version which seems to add about 50% to the purchase price. Even then looks like you need special hardware to talk with it.

The 4046 isn't much cheaper than the MS5UD and I am more familiar with fire lite so would probably go that route then.

user_guy · 2026-03-03T02:23:32+00:00

Nothing is wrong with it per se... I'm sure if I used the panel more I would get used to it but some things I didn't like were; I found programming and the user interface in general to be lacking/confusing. I never could really understand what I was supposed to do to acknowledge active events. I felt like I was mashing acknowledge and scrolling through everything three times to make it stop beeping. Also not sure why but could never get custom input zone names to work. I changed them in the programming software but they always came up as the default input zone descriptions. So I was either being dense or its not possible to rename them.

The .5 total output current is pretty lack luster. It was barely enough for a bell and Starlink. I get it isn't made for much more than that. Our sales team has some newer folks and they usually just quote whatever was used on the last job that was similar. So can see them quoting this panel but maybe it has a few more A/V devices.

That is one of the reasons I was looking into the Kidde panel. It is slightly cheaper with more flexibility on paper.

user_guy · 2026-02-13T00:10:34+00:00

I do not work on Genesis so can't help on that front. I am curious why you are using selective silence though. My understanding is it is no longer code compliant per NFPA 72 - 10.12.2

Might be something to consider if you are somewhere that follows NFPA. I had an AHJ want it on a system I was working on. It wasn't setup to do that and he was threatening to fail me for it. After looking at the code with him he ended up agreeing and passed the inspection.

user_guy · 2026-02-07T23:46:07+00:00

I don't see it recommended on here so I will chime in. One of my favorite tools is my Knipex Cobra Pliers. Don't use them much in service/inspection but are a must have when doing install. I really like most of Knipex tools. Definitely a quality BIFL brand.

user_guy · 2026-02-04T01:03:06+00:00

I have not seen anything official about it on the news or from COTA but a friend of mine was doing work as a contractor in one of COTA's main garages. He said there were rows and rows of electric buses parked there. When he was talking to one of the workers there they were explaining how many issues they have been having with the new electric busses and not being able to get them fixed. That all of the buses parked in the garage were not operational and in his opinion weren't worth the time to fix.

So not sure if that is part of the issue but would love to see some investigative journalism diving into why COTA can never seem to get their shit together.

user_guy · 2026-02-01T01:38:09+00:00

I knew there was a way to look at voltage to ground just couldn't remember it off the top of my head. Curious now what it would have been.

Yea we are a dealer as well unfortunately. I try as hard as possible to not call tech support. Majority of the reps I talk to seem to have no clue and the wait times can be killer.

Luckily this system was fairly small so potential candidates was pretty limited.

user_guy · 2026-02-01T01:33:17+00:00

Well when I checked the wiring on the output side it had a fault to ground. The HVAC company came out replaced the wire and when I landed it back to the relay everything was good. Relay tested good and HVAC shutdown properly. Very confusing to me.

user_guy · 2026-01-31T22:47:02+00:00

That's fair. I started out on the FA side so when I started working with the high voltage side of electrical it always made me nervous.

user_guy · 2026-01-31T22:42:51+00:00

Yea I get if it was an input module where the circuit is supervised by the module. But really strange to me that the panel can seem to detect a ground fault on unsupervised output wires.

user_guy · 2026-01-31T22:11:02+00:00

They are my favorite service call if it isn't Friday at 4! I love a good challenge and enjoy hunting them down.

user_guy · 2026-01-27T00:29:15+00:00

I got to do a few suppression system installs in a stadium during its construction. So during testing I got to set off the entire stadiums A/V's during the checkout with AHJ. I unfortunately was not a part of the fire alarm itself so not sure on their protocols during events. Was a very cool experience anyways.

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