Kidde Vega Panels

[Davo]

We have a very large new premise with 4 interlinked Panels. One of the panels has fallen over with BC loop failure and our current service company are baffled.
Its not the only failure of this type this week, and we have 26 of these panels in various locations.
I'm told that we need Kidde and their software, can anyone confirm this?


davo

Prof I think you may know the premise in question?

[kurnal]

Has it ever reached final commissioning stage yet?
Hve you tried the hirsute chap from the largest county in the north of England that does not have any decent footy teams ?

[kurnal]

Could be worse- could be Friday afternoon.

[GregC]

We just had Kidde out to look at one of our sites, 3 panels but all standalone, not much they could tell us other than at 8 years old and in a "high traffic" enviroment they had done well but are due for upgrade.

We changed the software about 4 years ago and this stopped a lot pf problems but they have slowly started to resurface.

The early probelms were caused by a few funny issues, the installer (not us) had run a flex behind the boards to route it to the mains block, when we took it out and fed it in the correct position so it didnt cross any boards it solved one issue.

2nd thing was the display and printer- the display has brightness levels, on max brightness and in fire with the printer running it caused the panel to crash, to much current draw, the printers apparantly take more current as they age, motor windings breaking down possibly and this can be enough to trip it over, easy fix is to disconnect the printer.

As for needing Kidde, well they didnt use any special software just had a visual inspection and listerned to our engineers talk about the system, we pretty much exhausted their tech helpline to no avail prior to having them attend site.

How new is new, if its under the magic year I am sure they would be pursuaded to visit site as a freebie

[Galeon]

Printers were always going out on these panels ,more in particular 'the fast' printer type , also they were not to well pleased to run loop sounders . The old Dunford panel was far better I thought , you also tend on earlier panels when networking came in a lot of manufacturers didn't get it right first off . If memory serves right didn't the charger used to click as well .
When the panel is booted up , I'm sure it looks for the printer , it may well be worth auto learning rebooting when the printer has been disconnected and see what happens.

[David Rooney]

We have a very large new premise with 4 interlinked Panels. One of the panels has fallen over with BC loop failure and our current service company are baffled.
Its not the only failure of this type this week, and we have 26 of these panels in various locations.
I'm told that we need Kidde and their software, can anyone confirm this?


davo

Prof I think you may know the premise in question?

It depends what panels they have installed.... they have used Syncros in the past... do you know the make or can you email a pic.....?

[GregC]

certificate for the panel!
Apparently it can happen at any time

Strange isnt it but if you had a car where the brakes could stop working at any time it wouldn't be allowed to be sold, fire alarm control panels can it seems.....

So far we have found Kidde and Morley to be trouble, I just hope the guys at Kentec and Advanced dont go off the rails!


(yes I am aware that in the real world there are cars with safety issues that are sold regardless but they shouldnt either)

[Allen Higginson]

certificate for the panel!
Apparently it can happen at any time

Strange isnt it but if you had a car where the brakes could stop working at any time it wouldn't be allowed to be sold, fire alarm control panels can it seems.....

So far we have found Kidde and Morley to be trouble, I just hope the guys at Kentec and Advanced dont go off the rails!


(yes I am aware that in the real world there are cars with safety issues that are sold regardless but they shouldnt either)

Both of those manufacturers used to be pretty good kit but both (in my opinion) have suffered greatly since they were taken over (the same goes for GENT).
I used to work for KIDDE (Walter Kidde) when they were an operational company and their stuff was pretty bombproof (the Minitector range are stll going strong out in the middle east).

[Thebeardedyorkshireman]

Sorry chaps I missed this due to business trips. Many organisation go out to tender for their maintenance and demand long lists of requirements etc etc etc. I do not bid them all but take a view, based on the probability of securing the business at a reasonable rate and my ability to fullfill the clients expectations. In the case in point we asked not to be included on the list.
The capabilities of the selected maintenance contractor are for the client to determine based on performance expertise etc etc etc and I am not at all supprised that Davo had the problem both with the kit and the fix.
In a previous life I was the biggest customer of Dunford taking over £1M a year of product from them. Cranston ( the owner) was a good mate as was the MD and the technical director. It is a shame that the new owners do not ...........well my view anyway. If I remember there were two printer problems, one power and the other data which could stop the panel but I thought these probles were engineered out years ago.
I am pleased that you fixed it Davo, but you can give us a ring if you get stuck again. everybody else does and we dont charge for phone calls!!!
ps Kurnel, less on our crappy football and I saw the one about the Goblin teasmaid shame on you!!!
Dave