NEW Fire Alarm Test at a Local High School - SYSTEM UPDATED! 

6:42 sounds like a engine inside a GFL mcneilus freight-liner garbage truck.

6:25 I men’t to say

I don't remember what I said but probably wasn't polite.

Thank you! I have good news then - I just found a THIRD test of this school on an old media card - one I have absolutely zero memory of making. I'll get it processed and posted soon!

Espically for the one in the cafeteria and at the beginning of the video

Yep - that was an ongoing saga with that place - unfortunately I don't know the outcome. We didn't want to put any more different AVs in that place and I always let them know to have Simplex come replace it but as far as I know it never happened.

@@brettman273 I would replace that device on the spot. I don’t care how many different AVs are there if it works, it works.

@@SomeDudeWithAnExitSign I agree. But in this case it was always an argument because there were a lot of people involved. They would insist they wanted to have Simplex do it (which I actually agreed with) because we'd already replaced one with a non Simplex and everyone wanted to avoid that. So I'd agree and then they never did. Ias far as the inspection goes, there were a ton of AVs in that system, so one not working isn't a fail and it isn't really an emergency. In the scope of things it wasn't a huge deal.

I agree

Lol I don't know about legend, but yep I'm back.

That panel is currently buried in a pile of stuff but yes, I will dig it out at some point.

Yes, I do have more but not from the middle school unfortunately. I have one more from the high school I just found, and a few others. I also am going to do some new ones.

Yep, me too. Unfortunately they're all starting to go - looks like 30-ish years is about their lifespan more or less.

@@brettman273 honestly. how? they just sit there idle most of the time.

@@TheJakeman789 Because the Electromechanical Horns have a vibratone that makes the loud sound and over time the vibratone parts deteriorate such as rusting or oxidizing which will affect the sound that horn makes such as the Electromechanical Horn sound will decrease in pitch or it will start to sound raspy as its being powered from FWR (Full Wave Recifited Current). It would probably take about 50 years (2040) after the manufacturing date (1990) for the Simplex 4903-9219 Electromechanical Horns to no longer function as the pitch of the horn sound will have gotten so low and the raspyness has gotten so extreme that the horns won't sound ot sound very quiet which means the Simplex 4903-9219s will get replaced with Simplex Truealert ES Horn Strobes with all of the existing audible/visual signals

@@joeycaridi3030 The last school I was at, the '9833s next to the gym, seemed quiet! And that's when only at or around 12 years old! But a lot of them work fine on the campus! Also those in the school in this video, are probably newer than 1990. 1990 most likely would be a 2901-9838 maybe '9816??? The worst, are the ones next to the gym and they really need a tech to check that out.

@@brettman273 ​ ​I saw a dead one at only 10-something years in! Right near the P.E. teacher's office. That 2903-9101 got a System Sensor MA horn in the very-late-1990s, likely 1998. Then the frankenmadness came in, suddenly not long after, there was a Wheelock MT installed right next to the gym emergency exits, but too close to the 2903-9101 with the System Sensor MA, IMHO. The other 2 '9833s were still working and it looked like none of those were taken out, when I toured that building on March 20, 2010 (after leaving on November 11, 2002)

They aren't planning on replacing the system, but they might replace some alarms if some malfunction.

Yeah, I'm gonna assume that's humid chlorine pool air that's done that over the years....

@@brettman273 The humid chlorine pool air also caused the strobe on the first one to not work

​@@joeycaridi3030fine with me

No; I left everything enabled and put the account on test so central station ignores the signals but I was able to check them on my app. That's usually how I did most inspections unless it was an addressable system that sent every zone through on walk test... On an analog dialer it would get backlogged with signals.

If I had to guess I'd say it's probably still broken 6 years later. The problem wasn't the people at the location, it was the company I was with at the time - they didn't regularly follow up on this stuff....

Based off my research on this school, the classrooms have strobe only. And to my knowledge, all the simplex A/V's are still in service to this day. This video here according to Brett was in February 2018. So I imagine many more horns are on their way out

Yep. And based on how the company that does it now handles fire inspections, I'd assume nothings been done about it. Regardless of rules and codes, in reality it's on the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) to enforce it...in NY that's the city, town, or village. And in my experience that's usually way low on the priority list unless something bad happens.

Yeah, but at least all if not most of the alarms are still there!

Thanks for telling that because I thought the strobe wasn't showing up on camera as it's a thing where fire alarm strobes don't appear on camera as it misses one flash (very common) or alot of flashes (uncommon). 60 frames per second doubles the chance of the camera picking up the strobe flashes than 30 frames per second

Thank

Possibly, but for the most part the weak sounding horns were either in very dirty, very greasy, or very humid areas (basements, kitchens, pools, etc)

@@brettman273 Most of these horns don't technically die, they just get out of tune that they sound sickly or don't sound at all. Simply retuning them will make them work good as new again

@@Leafy597 that's correct in most cases; however, the majority of the bad AVs in this school were in areas where the environment was reducing their lifespan: near the pool, near kitchens, etc. So grease and caustic air was adhering to the disc in the horn. Smacking the served to loosen up the crap on them I believe in retrospect. And to be fair I was also smacking the to make the video more entertaining because they'd been exhibiting the same issues in several previous inspections.

There must be an EST or compatible NAC expander that I never found somewhere in the auditorium area. It may sound odd that someone who inspected the system might be unaware of equipment, but I can tell you it's not hard to miss things, especially when they aren't documented. That auditorium was renovated at the same time those AVs were added, long before I took it over. I'm sure I could have found it if I'd started taking things apart and tracing, but it always worked and we never got any troubles from that part so we just let it be...

Better answer: see the comment I made on the other video.

@@firealarmveteran15 I'd recommend repeating for the benefit of other readers, I probably won't take the time to go look for your original comment and they may not either.

Copied from that other comment I made (this is my alt account, firealarmveteran15 is my main account). "The A/V's in the auditorium are capable of auto-syncing with each other. I've witnessed this at my middle and high schools, as well as in my collection (I own one of those alarms, alongside a remote strobe version, as well as an older EST alarm with similar functionality). Someone had already pointed this out, but I wanted to point out my personal experience."

for 4903 they will send conventional truealert

yeah simplex aint makin the 4903s anymore

No idea, Simplex annoys me. Proprietary nonsense that aftermarket techs are left to deal with when owners are tired of paying too much. Thankfully for the most part the actual Simplex techs out in the field are pretty easy to work with, and usually don't care about that and will help with documents, knowledge, etc.

@@simplysimplex7823Actually, Simplex still manufactures the Selectable versions of the Simplex 4903 to replace older 90's Electromechanical and Electronic Horn Strobes and of course Speaker Strobes.

I don't remember 100% but I think some were and the rest were on NAC exppanders off the main panel. It's been a while....

Are all the horms powered off of the simplex 4007s nacs?

@@davidallende2426 I thought more about ut this and no, everything was powered from NAC expanders. Nothing fancy, just steady out from the NAC on the panel to a few explandrers sprinkled around the building. I don't remember anything more specific than that.

Definitely possible, though I tried not to.

Curse words are just words

@@catsgame9282 No they're not because some people get offended by them espically for thoes who have sensory issues like Autism, they're little kids, or they don't like thoes words and some people will not like it in a good sentence like "nice [CENSORED] day we're having" and there's also people who don’t like swearing at all because they're afraid they'll offend someone. Some people don't like swearing (like me) because it strong emotional reaction to swearing because it taps directly into some of our earliest experiences. When we are small children learning a language, we are often punished for using swear words. This pairing of swearing with bad consequences can leave a strong mark because they're offensive to be used in any conversation. On the internet however with RU-vid some users don't want to have swear words in their videos because they want their videos family friendly even if the video is made by adults or teenagers or kids. They can't be used on live TV and radio because obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment, it is prohibited on cable, satellite and broadcast TV and radio. This means that if you swear the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) will fine you in a grand number (like $10K). This is the reason why censorship of profanity exists. Another thing too is that if you practice a religion like if you go to church every Sunday should know that swearing or using blasphemous words is a sin according to Ephesians 4:29 and they don't want anyone to swear at them.

I no longer do schools at this point unfortunately but I do have some older videos I found of tests that I'll post. I also have some new different types of larger facilities that I inspect now that I'd like to do videos on but I'll have to navigate through getting permission because of what they are. I should be able to get some of them... So sadly no more of this place but I have more similar coming.

@@brettman273 As long as you have SOMETHING that you will upload that sounds good. Bonus points if it is long. Double bonus points if its electromechanical horns.

@@brettman273 how about the video at the local middle school.

EST Genesis models, GIRF-HDVM I believe

@@aidanthetoiletelevatorfire7554 Ok, thanks for telling me

A System Sensor SpectrAlert Advance too

It has a dying horn Mike.

@@jaredthompson3011 oh no poor 4903

Typical when These Electro Mechanical 4903s age along on where they're installed, they start to wear out and get very scratchy to turning itself into a strobe only device like the one in the cafeteria.

I agree with the others, it's probably not the result of FWR. The metal horn elements get covered in dust, grease, and goo over the years depending on the environment and it alters the physics of them thereby changing the tone. In short, they get dirty.

@@brettman273 how good would it sound after cleaning

Simplex mostly, with a SpectrAlert Advance and some EST Genesis too