Apollo's New DIN-Rail Sounder Controller Has Increased Current Capacity

Unit can drive higher powered sounders or up to five times as many conventional sounders

Apollo Fire Detector’s new DIN-Rail Sounder Controller has an increased current capacity from 1A to 5A allowing it to drive more powerful sounders or up to five times as many conventional sounders or visual warning devices. This capacity is particularly useful under the Disability Discrimination Act, which requires sounders with a higher sound output. It is also ideal for use in areas with high background noise such as factories, petrochemical plants and offshore platforms. The device complies with the Construction Product Directive (CPD) (89/106/EC) and meets the EN54-18 standard.

As well as driving a zone of externally-powered sounders and/or visual warning devices, the Sounder Controller reports their status back to Apollo-compatible analogue control equipment. In normal operation it returns a pre-set analogue value of 16, but in the event of an open or short-circuit fault, or a fault in the external power supply, the unit returns a pre-set analogue value of four.

The device allows warning devices to be operated continuously or to be pulsed one second on, one second off, and can be operated individually or in groups. Whichever address mode has been applied, it can be synchronised when in pulsed operation. An opto-coupled input is also provided which monitors the state of the external power supply.

The Sounder Controller also has the facility to monitor the presence and polarity of the external power supply to the sounders. This is achieved through a circuit which includes an input to monitor a volt-free, normally-open contact. A wire link must be fitted if the fault contact is not used. The unit will only operate with control equipment using Apollo’s XP95 or Discovery protocols and its features are only available when the device is connected to a panel with the appropriate software.

The device is supplied in a housing which simply clips onto a standard 35mm DIN rail (DIN 46277). Connections are via plug-in terminal blocks which accept wires up to 2.5mm. Two LEDs (red and yellow) are visible through the top of the enclosure: the red LED pulses or is illuminated to indicate that the sounders are, respectively, pulsed or switched on continuously, while the yellow LED is illuminated when a fault condition has been detected. If the fault LED is not required or the extra loop current to illuminate it is not available, it can be disabled with the eighth segment of the DIL switch.

Loop powered and operating at 17-28V DC, the Sounder Controller requires a local power supply of 12-35V DC to power the external load, up to 5A. A polarising diode is required with each alarm device, as the sounders are operated by voltage reversal, provided by a double-pole change-over relay. The sounder circuit is protected by a quick acting miniature fuse (TR5) rated at 5A.