past. That trend has increased the power requirements for fire systems from 6 or 8A to as high as 12A, notes Pecora. Fire systems traditionally have had
external power supplies, but as power requirements have grown, security deal- ers increasingly have come to use exter- nal power supplies for intrusion systems as well, rather than the power supplies that traditionally are built into the alarm panel. That reality has driven demand for supervised power supplies that report back to the panel if the power supply is tampered with or if AC power is interrupted, notes Jonathan Jennings, sales trainer for Elk Products, a Hil- debran, N.C.-based manufacturer that recently introduced supervised alarm system power supplies. As power requirements for alarm systems and other electronic devices have grown, however, policy makers have become increasingly concerned about their power consumption. California tends to be a bellwether state when it comes to environmental regula- tions and a law recently passed in the state aims to mini- mize the power consumed by low-voltage devices. As Pecora explains, the primary focus of the new legisla-
Power requirements for fire alarm systems have increased as notification requirements have increased.
tion was on cell phones and electronic games, but because fire and intrusion systems also use low-voltage equipment, the law ultimately will impact them as well. The state of California did, however, give the alarm industry a few extra years to comply with the new regulations. By then, some other states also may follow California’s lead in enacting similar legislation. “The typical power supply is designed to convert a line [input] to low-voltage,” explains Pecora. In the process, he says, power supplies produce heat. The California law requires power supplies to operate more efficiently and to produce less heat, Pecora says. It also requires the power supplies to be able to detect and to automatically shut down when no load is present. Honeywell and other manufacturers are in the process of redesigning their power supplies to use a new architecture that will enable them to meet the California requirements. As they make this move, power supplies are likely to become lighter, notes Pecora. “Old chargers were heavy,” he says. But if a person picks up a device that conforms to the new requirements, he says, “It feels almost like the can is empty.” Other advances in power supplies are driven by regu- lations that have been adopted in Europe that could
make their way to the United States, including a require- ment to use power factor correction on the input, notes Jerry Baker, vice president of engineering for Tracy, Calif.-based manufacturer Electronic Security Devices. “Without power factor correction, a power supply has high-current spikes,” explains Baker. “Correction makes it so the current and voltage are always together so there is no spiking.” This, in turn, reduces the load on the local power company, Baker says.
SIMPLIFIED SERVICE Other advances in power supplies make them easier to service. ESD offers power supplies with built-in diagnostics. The technology, dubbed Smart Power, provides technicians with information about the power supply’s current average temperature and other critical measurements. “If a power supply is rated at 1 or 2A, an LED will blink to tell you if you’re beyond the rating,” notes Baker. Honeywell provides similar functionality in power sup- plies that retain memory of past events to help in trouble- shooting. “Some difficulties are intermittent,” notes Pecora. “It’s good to have a history of what’s happened in the past.” For fire installations, Honeywell also offers a power sup- ply that supports variable end-of-line resistors. In the past, if a system was being retrofit, technicians might have to locate and replace the end-of-line resistor. The new feature eliminates that requirement by changing the value the panel is looking for.
October 2010 83
PHOTO COURTESY OF HONEYWELL POWER PRODUCTS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180