Ems Panels

[jon b]

we have just had a radio system commissioned and the eng was saying that they do not allow anybody else to programme any cause and effects onto the system and if we did have to require any programming for the cause and effects that they would have to visit site and we would be charged for this . does this mean that ems is a closed protocol and has anybody else had this problem and what do other people think about ems systems

[Paul Field]

Hi jon,
The system is not closed protocol, what the EMS engineer may have meant is that the standard 5000 Firepoint panel cause and effects have their limits and if you need anything which is not standard then EMS have to build it in to the software before it leaves the factory. They can sometimes come to site with an upgrade if required. The standard panel can have delays and other cause and effects done on site.
In our experience 99% of the applications don't need any additional software upgrades if you want to make changes, although this may be down to the planning that goes in to the system prior to going to site, i.e. asking for co-incidence software etc
If you need help with the system please contact me on http://www.w-fp.co.uk/contact-us.html or via my email paulfield@w-fp.co.uk
Regards Paul

[Graeme]

you could argue it was closed protocol as their devices will only work with their panel and vise versa

[Paul Field]

You have a point, but I think that Jon meant that it was not open to be worked on such as ADT/Siemens etc as far as the software is concerned.

[David Rooney]

If you are using mk 3 panels then there is some complicated c&e software called SGC.

EMS do not generally release this software as its bloody complicated and easy to cock up.

Having said that, we have the SGC due to the number of systems we look after.

You can do a reasonable amount with the panel, what are you trying to achieve ??

And talking of EMS, has anyone had problems with alkaline cells leaking (specially in detectors) that causes damage.??

[Graeme]

Did a 4.5 year battery replacement before Xmas as  detector had reported int sig fault. Found leaking batteries that damaged the detector.Several other of the detectors also had leaking batteries.

[FireStopper]

Did a 4.5 year battery replacement before Xmas as  detector had reported int sig fault. Found leaking batteries that damaged the detector.Several other of the detectors also had leaking batteries.

Do you want to name and shame the batteries?... I am interested as an engineer working in the fire systems industry.

[Paul Field]

Hi David, About the battery leaking, they do crop up occassionally although we have not had many over the years. I have not noticed any increase with that particular issue recently.

[David Rooney]

Well all the batteries we have had leaking are the Duracell Pro Cell supplied by EMS.

We've probably had 20 odd devices in the last six months and ofcourse EMS won't accept it as a warranty issue unless we now provide the complete system log from the day the device was installed to prove it hasn't been tampered with.