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9.4 CIRCUIT TYPES:
“Circuits”
refers to an actual electrical interface, either
Initiating
(Detection) or
Indicating
(Signal).
“Zone”
is a
logical concept for a Fire Alarm Protected Area, and will consist of at least one Circuit. Often the terms Zone and Circuit
are used interchangeably, but in this Manual the term Circuit is used.
Initiating (Detection) Circuit Types:
Non-Verified Alarm
=
This is a “Normal” type of Alarm which may have Pull-Stations, Smoke Detectors, or Heat Detectors attached.
Any activation of these devices will immediately result in an Alarm condition in the Fire Alarm Control Panel. An
Alarm condition causes the associated Circuit Status LED and the Common Alarm LED to illuminate Red.
Verified Alarm
=
These Alarms are verified by a reset and timing procedure, and may have Pull-Stations, Smoke Detectors, or
Heat Detectors attached. Any activation of Pull-Stations or Heat Detectors will result in an Alarm condition in the
Fire Alarm Control Panel within 4 seconds. Smoke Detectors will be verified for a real Alarm within 60 seconds
depending upon the startup time of the Smoke Detectors being used. If 4 seconds is too long a response time
for Pull-Stations, then they should be wired separately on a Non-Verified Alarm Circuit. An Alarm condition
causes the associated Circuit Status LED and the Common Alarm LED to illuminate Red.
Water-Flow Alarm
=
For Water-flow Sensors (Circuits 3 & 7 on FW-C4Z / FW-C4EZ only). These alarms are identical to normal Non-
Verified Alarms except that Notification Circuits are Non-Silenceable. Water-Flow Retard Operation is enabled
if “Verified” is selected. With Retard active, these circuits are sampled every one second; if 10 samples are active
within any 15 second interval, the Water-Flow Alarm is confirmed and processed. An Alarm condition causes
the associated Circuit Status LED and the Common Alarm LED to illuminate Red.
Note: Do not use Retard
Operation with any external Retarding device; maximum Retard may not exceed 120 seconds.
Non-Latching Supervisory
=
For Supervisory Devices (Circuits 4 & 8 on FW-C4Z / FW-C4EZ only). An activation on these circuits will cause
the Circuit Status LED and the Common Supervisory LED to illuminate Amber. The buzzer will sound
continuously. If the circuit activation is removed, the Supervisory condition will clear (so long as there are no other
Supervisory conditions in the system) and the Circuit Status LED will extinguish.
Latching Supervisory
=
For Supervisory Devices (Circuits 4 & 8 on FW-C4Z / FW-C4EZ only). An activation on these circuits will cause
the Circuit Status LED and the Common Supervisory LED to illuminate Amber. The buzzer will sound
continuously. If the circuit activation is removed, the Supervisory condition will NOT clear.
Indicating (Signal) Circuits Types:
Silenceable Audible
=
For audible devices such as bells and piezo mini-horns that may be silenced either manually or automatically.
While sounding, these follow the pattern appropriate for the condition; the configured Evacuation Code (default
is Temporal Code) during Single-Stage Alarm, or Two-Stage General Alarm, or the Alert Code during Two-Stage’s
Alert (First) Stage.
Non-Silenceable Audible
=
For audible devices such as bells and piezo mini-horns that may not be silenced either manually or
automatically. While sounding, these follow the pattern appropriate for the condition; the configured Evacuation
Code (default is Temporal Code) during Single-Stage Alarm, or Two-Stage General Alarm, or the Alert Code
during Two-Stage’s Alert (First) Stage.
Silenceable Visual
=
For visual devices such as strobes that use no code pattern (they are continuous).
Non-Silenceable Visual
=
Same as previous, but is non-silenceable.
The possible Audible Signal Codes are ...
Continuous:
••••••••••••
[On 100% of the time]
Temporal Code:
•••
•••
•••
[3 of .5 second on, .5 second off, 1.5 second pause]
March Code:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
[.5 second on, .5 second off]
California Code:
••••
••••
[5 second on, 10 second off]
