04/21/2022 Bell Test (Simplex 4100ES)

If this place looks somewhat familiar, it should. I helped inspect and test this school building last year. Unfortunately, of the numerous issues that were found last year, only two issues ended up getting fixed, and those were the display on the 4100ES on the first floor, and the 4603-9101 annunciator in the janitor's lounge. The outdoor horn/strobe you see at :26 is still non-functional, all of the device descriptions that were wrong last year are still incorrect, we still had trouble locating devices, some devices were still covered/bagged, and the pool area had some issues with pull stations. The third floor renovations are finally completed, so we were able to inspect those areas finally, and the first floor renovations are also complete so there were some changes there as well (moved/removed NAC boosters and devices). Note the signal seen at 4:25. It appears that it's a horn/strobe, but the cover was replaced with a remote strobe cover, probably because it was too loud for those working in that room. We'll be able to take care of everything except the device description changes, as that's on Simplex since the 4100ES is proprietary.
Anyway, this video is much longer than last year's, as I was assigned to check the first floor and it's rather large. I still had issues with locked doors (I didn't have a set of keys on me), but a lot of these classrooms have two doors and only one is used for entry, so most areas were still checked. I couldn't check all the office areas due to locked doors, but they only have remote strobes in them and because of windows in the doors, I could still see the strobes flashing.
All of that said, enjoy the video!

[@bluedragon2048]

Simplex never ceases to surprise me.

[@TheJakeman789]

It was nice not seeing just the floor the whole time

[@joeycaridi3030]

It must be because his managers allowed him to record the bell test of showing the entire school as this place wouldn't be much of privacy concerns

[@joeycaridi3030]

04:25 I've never heard a remote strobe act like a horn strobe before due to the remote strobe cover put on the horn strobe like that's very weird!

[@aidanthetoiletelevatorfire7554]

This system is very cool! It seems like the school is older than the devices.

[@weatherdan882002]

It was added onto at one point, but the original building definitely dates to the early 20th century.

[@mattthebassboy]

My elementary school had Truealerts

[@IHeartAGM]

My high school’s RESET room has a strobe cover over a horn/strobe. They did that bc there’s elementary kids w/ anger issues and such in there and the loud ass alarms scare em and make em have a fit, so they replaced the cover w/ a strobe cover so it ain’t as loud.

[@achannelwithnopurpose1977]

The dodo heads who put remote strobe covers on the horn strobe units really deserve a slap on the wrist but a reward for a level of incompetence ive never ever seen because im just beyond words on how someone can get even that wrong.

[@IHeartAGM]

Well…why don’t YOU replace it with a strobe if that upsets you? Jk! But I wonder what the point of a horn is if they just cover it with a strobe cover…it doesn’t mute the sound. The horns in the halls are still loud.

[@joeycaridi3030]

@@IHeartAGM Well it's because Simplex devices have no low volume option, unless if you swap out the horn inductor which does control the horn volume

[@ahmadtoney4487]

That's not a bell! That's an alarm!

[@Fire_alarm_guy]

gotta love the truealerts

[@dantestoner6020]

Ah yes the weatherproof SmartSync TrueAlert, never surprises me when they always don't like to WORK RIGHT, trust me I have one and not even my Simplex SCM is enough to make it work right despite it being SmartSync, it either has its horn sound but the strobe WON'T flash or if you manage to get the strobe to flash the horn will sound but CANNOT be coded as it codes itself, VERY hard devices to work with, while typical indoor SmartSync TrueAlert appliances can be operated with such ease if you have the the Simplex SCM, I am VERY astonished that these outdoor devices were NOT put on recall, this is something that YOU SHOULD be aware of next time you encounter an outdoor TrueAlert that is SmartSync.

[@tsg931]

Sounds like that SmartSync really ain't SmartSync after all! Sounds more like "PointlessSync."

[@TheCarson116]

A 4100ES? Isn't that a _little_ excessive for what looks like a medium-size school? Have you noticed that with this system at least the first pulse the TrueAlerts do is slightly longer than the other two? (have no idea why this happens though) Still, despite that oddity, I much prefer the low-pitched sound of TrueAlerts compared to the high-pitched sound of TrueAlertESes. Shame to hear that most of the issues you found last time haven't been fixed. Locked doors again? The staff at the school either need to leave the doors unlocked when you're there or they need to give you a set of keys for them. Any idea why the pull stations & NAs are mounted separately when they could have mounted them in-line & connected to the same pieces of conduit as each other? Sounds like some of the TrueAlerts aren't in sync with each other at the beginning. 2:02 "Hello there!" What's with the _really_ low-mounted fire extinguisher cabinet at 2:17? 3:09 Bendy? 6:04 One door with a panic bar & the other with a normal door handle? What the heck... 6:52 They literally had to bend the wiremold AROUND the existing wiremold I see. Is there a reason why some areas seem to have excessive strobe coverage, such as at 1:35 & at 7:18? 7:56 Seriously? They couldn't be bothered to either center-mount the TrueAlert or replace the single-gang box with a double-gang one? (if either is possible at least) 8:04 Why did you start to exit the room but then decided to stay where you were? Is that a PA system tone at 9:17? Let me guess, some of the emergency lights are covered by cages to help prevent vandalism. 9:55 Is that your company vehicle by any chance? 10:04 Nice to see that _that_ outdoor signal is working properly at least, compared to the other one you showed.

[@weatherdan882002]

I didn't design the system, so IDK. There are two nodes in this building with two loops each. The timing on the code-3 isn't perfect, so that longer pulse corrects the issue. I've only seen it with the multi-candela TrueAlerts. We can't do anything about the panel descriptions, but we can fix the bad batteries and signals, but IDK why they haven't been fixed by now. Last year my colleague didn't submit a very good report, so maybe that had something to do with it. When we did the bell test, I asked if everything was unlocked, including bathrooms and they said "90% of the rooms are". Apparently they were wrong! Even the one bathroom I did get into was locked, it just so happens the door wasn't shut. Again, I didn't design the system, so IDK why they ran the devices separately. TrueAlerts typically start out-of-sync and then wind up sounding in unison once the NAC boosters sync up, but the outdoor signals were never in sync with the indoor ones and even the ones in the old part of the building weren't perfectly synced with the ones in the newer portion. There are some areas that have excessive coverage. IDK why, but better too much than too little, I guess. If single-gang mounted, TrueAlerts cannot be centered because there are no mounting holes in the center of the signal; it may look odd, but it is mounted correctly. I stopped because you may have heard a toilet flush, so I was debating whether or not to wait for whoever was in there to come out so I could check to make sure the strobe in the bathroom was functional. It ended up being my colleague who was in the restroom, haha. The tone you hear is a class bell tone. Presumably yes, the emergency lights are caged to prevent vandalism, and yes, that is my company car at the end, haha. The other two outdoor signals were fine, it was just the one outside the cafeteria that was bad. I noticed that it didn't look replaced from last year, and sure enough, I was right. Maybe this year it'll finally get replaced.

[@GaryBeltz]

Hey if the school doesn't mind paying the fines I say bring on the deficiency reports.

[@Bus293Fan]

This is what should’ve been spectralert advanced, because spectralerts are everywhere, I wish it could be the same for this alarm.

[@idkanymore9590]

But spectralert advances are overused

[@Bus293Fan]

@@idkanymore9590 indeed, that’s why I prefer trualerts over spectralert any day of the week!

[@idkanymore9590]

@@Bus293Fan ooohhh sorry got confused…I thought you were saying that there should be spectralerts on that system…my bad! But yes, I definitely prefer truealerts!

[@idkanymore9590]

@@Bus293Fan as a matter of fact, my school system consists of simplex truealerts indoors, and a spectralert advance outdoors.

[@jaydonvictor3897]

What are those blue strobes next to the fire alarm for

[@FireAlarm33]

Cool Video! I Feel Like I've seen this School in a Video on KZbin Before. Not one of your Videos Though.

[@matthewgregory8218]

Sprinkler alarm was located outside a classroom?

[@captainchris2016]

Does the fire system trip the bosch system?

[@weatherdan882002]

Yes

[@EnderShadowborne]

What're the signals with the blue strobes for?

[@weatherdan882002]

Presumably lockdown/active shooter

[@FireAlarm33]

More than likely they are being used for Other Emergency Drills Such As Lock Downs. The Reason Being, When you see the Blue Strobe Flashing. It Indicates an Emergency is Occurring. Some are Probably mounted outside too so people know not enter the building.

[@EnderShadowborne]

@@FireAlarm33 Ehhhh not necessarily, colors for mass notification aren't given specific meanings, I think I've seen one instance where blue, most likely for security, is used for say carbon monoxide... I've nothing to really back it up, but.... you get the point... so mass notification isn't necessarily also visible out of the building either, but that's one of the MANY likely uses

[@EnderShadowborne]

@@weatherdan882002 Guessing the company you work for doesn't test those?

[@weatherdan882002]

@@EnderShadowborne That I'm not sure about, but it's not part of the contract to test them at this place.

[@JTC2227]

It's a Test

[@chrismcnish4087]

Thanks Captain obvious

[@matthewgregory8218]

I think mini horns should be on classrooms instead of true alerts

[@joeycaridi3030]

Yeah because the sound may not be loud in classrooms if it's just a strobe and not too loud that can easily scare someone if it's a horn strobe and just regularly loud to get your attention but but not to scare you using a mini horn in the classroom

[@burnoutteamclubbtcp7283]

Simplex Truealerts!