Any way to connect multiple Sirens/SABs to an alarm panel?

[seb512]

A relative has 3 sheds, a detached garage and large house that I'm planning to wire up with an alarm, though I want to have multiple SABs, one or two on the house, one on the garage and another on one of the sheds.

I was looking into running one large panel (a Scantronic I-ON or Texecom Premier Elite) with a few expanders, though none of these panels or expanders support more than one wired siren (except two in parallel, but they'll have to run at a lower power setting).

Any ideas? I could have separate panels but we'd have to find a way to interconnect them (so they'd be alerted in the house), since the sheds aren't close to the house.

 

[secureiam]

Powered expanders are the answer.

Depending on what is connected will depend on your options.

Its more a question of how much power the bell uses when in alarm, what the panel can handle and what each protected circuit can handle.
Covered on here before.

for example metal Texecom panels have 1A bell fuse and 0.9A on the poly units.
However there are places to take the power from other bell terminals assuming spare capacity.

so Odyssey E uses less power in alarm than an Odyssey, you can save 100mA for example if you dont activate the strobe, you can use low power mode or go SCB mode.

They are wired in parallel except the tamper, although they can be wired differently using digi outputs etc, so system design comes into play.

It will totally depend on what you want to achieve with devices and bells as to what you can and cant do.

If all bells need to fire for all areas at the same time , then you need full power available at all times to the bell.

 

[seb512]

Powered expanders are the answer.

Depending on what is connected will depend on your options.

Its more a question of how much power the bell uses when in alarm, what the panel can handle and what each protected circuit can handle.
Covered on here before.

for example metal Texecom panels have 1A bell fuse and 0.9A on the poly units.
However there are places to take the power from other bell terminals assuming spare capacity.

so Odyssey E uses less power in alarm than an Odyssey, you can save 100mA for example if you dont activate the strobe, you can use low power mode or go SCB mode.

They are wired in parallel except the tamper, although they can be wired differently using digi outputs etc, so system design comes into play.

It will totally depend on what you want to achieve with devices and bells as to what you can and cant do.

If all bells need to fire for all areas at the same time , then you need full power available at all times to the bell.

I’ve looked at powered expanders, though they don’t have bell connections. Are you suggesting that I supply more power to the system and then run multiple bells in parallel? Surely that wouldn’t work since the main board’s connectors can only output so much power.

 

[sparkymarka]

You set up the expander to …..use outputs to trigger bell and strobe , then use the expander input to monitor the bell tamper …texecom elite panels are probably the more flexible of the choices out there ….

 

[seb512]

You set up the expander to …..use outputs to trigger bell and strobe , then use the expander input to monitor the bell tamper …texecom elite panels are probably the more flexible of the choices out there ….

Would the outputs be able to supply the siren enough power, or would I have to set it to SCB mode and use its battery during alarm?

 

[secureiam]

there are lots of options but you need to start with a list of what your having or wanting.

Then work out expanders power etc you need.

 

[sparkymarka]

And depends on what bell boxes you use ! ….eg boxes with led strobes use less current …plus if you have multiple sounders running in SCB mode the DB rating wouldn’t be that noticeable…

 

[seb512]

And depends on what bell boxes you use ! ….eg boxes with led strobes use less current …

Exactly. Though I was more referring to whether the outputs themselves can supply enough current (or are they designed to only ‘sink’ current).

I also thought of another idea, running a siren (let’s say an odyssey X) in SCB mode so it runs on battery power while going off, except we remove the battery and connect it directly to a suitable DC supply. So the sounder thinks it’s running off its battery, but instead has a reliable source that isn’t straining the panel, if you get what I’m saying.

 

[sparkymarka]

No…

 

[seb512]

No…

Basically running a siren in SCB mode but taking out the battery and replacing it with a mains current from a DC power supply of similar specification.

 

[sparkymarka]

It’s not self contained is it ….

 

[seb512]

It’s not self contained is it ….

That’s the idea. I don’t really want to rely on the siren’s internal battery as it’ll need replacing every couple years. Surely I could make it mains powered while in SCB mode by bypassing the battery, making it similar to a SAB

 

[sparkymarka]

I am out … you don’t understand how it works …

 

[seb512]

I am out … you don’t understand how it works …

Sorry for the confusion - I’ll figure it out mate

 

[seb512]

You set up the expander to …..use outputs to trigger bell and strobe , then use the expander input to monitor the bell tamper …texecom elite panels are probably the more flexible of the choices out there ….

After finding the answer on the Texecom forum, I understand now haha. With a PSU200XP, I can set 2 of the expander’s outputs to bell and strobe, and then to power the bell I can use the aux power directly off the power supply’s terminals. This should allow me to run one or two extra SABs on the system. Again sorry for the confusion and thanks for your help