Re: FCI 7100

["Doug L" <vssdoug@xxxxxxx>]

If you cleanly drop AC power to the panel and leave the AC power off , does
it continue to run or does it die and/or lock up?

If it simply dies or locks up  then I would first check the back up
batteries, they may not be rated high enough to power the system or one or
more may be defective.

Having said that I would imagine that any Fire alarm contractor would have
eliminated the batteries as a source of the problem.

The control panel or power supply itself may be defective, I personally
wouldn't leave a Fire alarm panel in that condition, if I had been called
out more than once to reset a locked up FACP and I couldn't determine the
problem, then I would replace the complete panel especially if it was a
panel that I installed and was still under warranty.

How "clean" is the AC power supply to the panel?

I don't see the phone lines as a source of the problem

Doug L




--

"Richard Merriam" <someonw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:LTDTe.7452$4i6.2707@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Last October we had a new building built and a FCI 7100 series fire alarm
> system installed by a reputable fire alarm contractor.  Over the course of
> the year we have had to have the contractor back out here many times.  We
> started getting "power errors" , "comm errors" and other errors about
> March
> of this year.  This has happened over 30 times.  They have reinstalled the
> computer program in the panel and even reciently changed the 'bios" chip
> on
> the motherboard.  If we have any power failure for even a short period of
> time (1 second) the system crashes and we have to either have them come
> out
> and reset it or we do it by disconnecting the 120v and battery from the
> system.  Of course the display time and data is defaulted.
>
> The company now says that it is a telephone line problem and that they are
> going to start charging us for service calls.  We have one dedicated phone
> line for fire panel only and another line that is also used with our fax
> line connected to the panel which we were told was ok.
>
> I looked into having a data-logger or recorder tied to our phone lines to
> see if they are loosing tip/ring but apparently there is nothing
> available.
>
> Common sense tells me that if there is a phone line loss (trouble) that it
> should report it to the monitoring station but not put the system into
> trouble and have to do a complete power-down to reset it to clear the
> faults.  The faults that the display gives us sometimes covers everything
> in
> the book.
>
> All wiring and devices and panel were tested by the alarm contractor who
> installed them along with the fire marshall who had to approve it before
> we
> got our certif. of occupancy.  This contractor has been installing systems
> for 20 years.
>
> Would those of you who are familiar with this type of problem give me some
> advice on where to go from here?  I don't know of anything else we can do.
> We certainly can't pay them to come out here on a weekly basis to reset
> their system.
>
>