Discrepancy between Napco's and Sentrol's approved 2-wire smokes

[Rex Wilson]

(i had tried to post this as a follow-up to the original message, and
it somehow kept getting lost. forgive the possible duplicate entry).

Your explanation makes sense, but I'm still puzzled by the fact that
Napco's and Sentrol's lists have no overlap. The Napco docn says that
only the 700-series work, and Sentrol shows that only the 500-series
work. I could possibly understand Sentrol omitting the 500-series from
the list if it wanted to steer customes toward its higher-end 700
units. But why would Napco omit the 500-series? I would think that
Napco would want to show as wide a compatibility as possible. The fact
that there is zero overlap is what makes me suspect an error. I'm
still curious which side made the error.

 

[Frank Olson]

There's no "error", Rex. There are a number of possible explanations in
addition to what Robert's suggested. It could simply be a case of "one hand
not knowing what the other is doing" (they are after all completely separate
and independent manufacturers)... Granted, UL should keep them apprised of
any changes to the listing (and they may well have) but it could also have
something to do with the issue date of the pertinent documents/manuals.
Amendments usually arrive in the form of "single sheet additions/addendums"
and aren't packed with the product already on the shelves (and ready for
sale). Producing a new manual (even with just addendums/amendments) while
not an expensive proposition probably won't show up on the distributors
shelves until the "older" stock is sold first. Robert, who sells to DIYer's
directly should take a more active role in this. A lot of times the
manufacturer's introduce amendments and addendums at installation and
programming seminars they frequently sponsor at the various stocking
distributors. The attending dealers are made aware of the changes in this
fashion. You (as a DIYer) have to rely on the online merchant to supply
with you any relevant information. The more product a merchant carries
however, makes it that much more difficult to keep up with all the changes.
I think this may well be a major weakness with sites like Robert's. I'm
sure that if given the choice, Robert would prefer to attend a Napco or
CADDX seminar over an ADEMCO or DSC one (given the fact that his market is
geared more toward home automation).

In addition, he's spoken out against a number of products he says he would
never use (or recommend), but still offers those same products for sale
through his store. To my way of thinking that just isn't right. If he's
strictly listing it for comparison, then he should be recommending the
alternative and eliminate the "add to cart" button... That's a personal
opinion though, and one I'm certain Robert doesn't share...

 

[Rex Wilson]

Thanks, Frank. I agree I could be looking at old manuals, though I'm
still puzzled at why Napco's manual only lists the 700 series and not
the 400/500 series that Sentrol shows. The 700 series is a newer
model. If I were looking at an old Napco model, I would think it would
mention older ESL models and not newer ones. And the Sentrol
comparison chart I'm looking at says it's from 2003.
Both documents came from the web. While I understand your comments
about how occasionally manufacturers only make updates known to
dealers through memos or seminars, I would think (perhaps naively!),
that they'd keep their own web sites up to date.

Anyhow... the source of this question is an installation that already
has lots of ESL 500-series 2-wire smokes. I'm thinking of replacing
the old panel (radionics D6112) with a new Napco panel. Don't want to
have to rip out all the old smokes too. According to Napco, this isn't
supported. According to Sentrol, it is.

 

[Rex Wilson]

Robert, Thanks so very much for checking with Napco. Glad to hear they
confirm things.
Re your comments on multiple zones of 2-wire smokes: Indeed, one of
the main reasons I'm looking at Napco is so that I can use the 9600
and divide up the existing chain of 2-wires smokes into multiple
zones. So I'm glad to hear you concur that the 9600 is suitable for
that. As far as I can tell, the only other widely available panel that
can do this would be the Ademco 50P with the 4209 Fire Zoning Expander
addition.

 

[Frank Olson]

Ademco 128 will do that too...