Re: Connecting two DMP alarms together? Outputs to Zones? Possible?

["Robert L Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Actually the system isn't commercial. The XR200 is attached to the house,
> and the XRSuper6 is attached to a garage. All the zones are used up in the
> house, except for 7 and 8.

I haven't used DMP so I'm not sure what those are but if they are separate
alarm control panels you could just put the fire alarm on the local panel in
the garage AND monitor an output from that panel on the house system.  As
with everything else in this business, acceptability of a particular
solution is at the "discretion of the authority having jurisdiction."  In
short, check with your local fire marshal or building inspector.  He can
tell you what he will or will not accept.

> I'm not a professional alarm system installer. I'm just a DIY, with the
> only experience being DMP panels.
>
> You are right, that I could have brought the fire zone and burglary into
> to the XR200, but I didn't want to do that. I wanted the garage to be
> armed separate.

Fire alarm zones are unaffected by arming and disarming of the burglary
protection so you should be able to accomplish what you want regardless to
which panel you connect the fire alarm sensors.

> So the only way I thought I could tie the two systems together would be if
> I used the annuciator outputs of the XRSuper6.

AFAIK, it's OK to connect one system to announce a condition in another
building.  You should avoid actually connecting fire alarm sensors (smoke,
heat detectors, pull statio0ns, etc.) to a control panel in another
structure though.

> Regardless of industry best practices (which I 100% respect), shouldn't I
> be able to do accomplish this?

You can do it if that way you choose though I would suggest you reconsider.

> I'm starting to understand more about how the outputs work, ie going to
> ground when triggered. I realize that if I tie into aux power, and use the
> output, when the alarm is triggered I will get 12V across the line. When
> the output is not active, I somehow need to come up with a normally closed
> circuit. Would I need to use a transistor or relay somehow?

If you connect the two systms together in any manner, I strongly advise you
to isolate the connections.  The simplest way to do this is to use a dry
contact relay output from one panel to trigger a circuit on the other panel.
Be aware, however, that zone wiring run external to the building is much
more likely to suffer lightning damage.

> Again, thank you all for your responses. I really appreciate it.

No problem.  That's what the newsgroup is supposed to be for.

> I have a couple more questions about DMPs keypad bus system. But I will
> start another topic.

Not being expert on DMP, I'll leave that topic to others.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
941-866-1100 Sales & Tech Support
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>