Analogue addressable fire alarm control panels have a number of benefits, the main being that they are a much more advanced system and cut down the number of false alarms that are often associated with conventional fire alarms. The analogue addressable constantly monitors air flow through the system, if there are traces of dust the detector will sound a pre-alarm warning instead of activating the entire system which results in a full fire alarm system being sounded. The pre-alarm will give ample warning to the responsible person to make sure the system is checked over and cleaned out. This feature is extremely useful in buildings such as airports and banks where false alarms can be extremely costly.
Conventional fire alarm systems have to be wired using separate radial circuits per zone, meaning in large buildings there could be well over 50 zones which could prove to be expensive and very time consuming. In the early 90’s the market saw the introduction of the analogue addressable fire alarm control panel which saw technical enhancements in computer components and pcb technology, meaning fire alarms could be installed using loop circuits – replacing the conventional zone radial circuits – the loop circuit meant that large amounts if fire alarm systems could be incorporated into each loop of the fire alarm. This new technology meant that fire alarm installation companies could wire multiple zones around the loop before having to return to the panel position. The benefit; a huge saving in time and cost, which is always at the forefront of any business strategy.
Over time, the analogue addressable has been more and more developed, making the panel much more powerful and able to handle more loops per panel, with some panels now able to handle in excess of 250 devices and up to 64 zones – this means the analogue addressable fire alarm control panel is the perfect solution for extremely large buildings.
