Fire-Lite lightens up monitoring costs

NORTHFORD, Conn.—Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell today released the Lite-Connect multimode fiber solution, designed to join as many as 16 remote fire alarm control panels together to report all systems' signals to a central monitoring station as one. This centralized reporting method eliminates significant telecommunications costs to communicate signals from each individual panel, the company said in an Aug. 7 news release.

Lite-Connect allows more details to be reported on all systems' events, as opposed to the traditional method of running copper signaling line circuits between buildings. The use of multimode fiber optic cable to connect panels offers robust protection from common ground faults, and other electrical surges, many times caused by lightning strikes, the company said.

“Lite-Connect offers dealers a big competitive advantage when you're looking at a job involving two or more panels,” said David Pakech, Fire-Lite VP of sales, in a prepared statement. “This blows away the stigma that Fire-Lite is only good for small to medium sized applications. Dealers can now offer a dependable, non-proprietary system with the same level of protection and cost efficiencies to larger facilities and campuses.”

Schools, apartment and retail complexes are ideal Lite-Connect applications, the company said. Any combination of up to 16 MS-9050UD and MS-9200UDLS remote fire alarm control panels from Fire-Lite Alarms can be connected via fiber and report out all signals through an MS-9050UD as the “main” panel, according to the news release.