Fire alarm systems are at times frustrating when it comes to tracing and troubleshooting ground faults. I think the video is very informative. You did a great job explaining the wiring of the circuits and the Understanding circuits is very important when trying to trouble shoot Ground faults opens and short circuits etc. Like the live test without pulling any wires nice move. I have been servicing maintaining programing commissioning large life safety systems for over 30 plus years. So, when it comes to the infamous ground fault IE SLC, NAC, 24VDC Aux etc. Negative or positive doesn't matter. Troubleshooting is key on the approach on how to investigate the fault. Like was there any construction done recently? Known water leaks floods, roof in the building etc. This would help out the technician pinpoint the area. When breaking up the known circuit in the fire alarm panel. The Technician on site will not know how its wired (doesn't matter) The key is to break the known faulted circuit in halfway segments which once done they will know which half is causing the fault. The key here is at this point is to keep breaking the fault circuit in half's IE not Every device etc. This will be a time saver, along with never having more than 2 to 3 opens of the circuit any 1 time so you don't' lose track of the path where the ground fault is located IE class-A or B Etc. Now not all ground faults have a low resistance. Most modern fire panels will detect a high resistance ground fault IE 200K ohms or more. Now these may be from a wire that has been pinched in an electrical box or from a cable pulled tight on a metal pipe or HVAC duct or even tie wrapped FPL cable to a threaded support rod etc. There is another tool to use in the troubleshooting toolbox. Set the Multimeter to DC voltage The Fluke T5-1000 meter will be fine for this test if used. I like the Fluke 87 ($$$) but the 177 is fine anyways. etc. High resistance grounds are not easy to trouble shoot. These can be caused from Wiring faults on the input side of a monitoring module on the SLC circuit. A 300K ground could be from a Wiring issue or from an input monitoring point. The video was very good in explaining how to troubleshoot the circuits. Most circuits are powered limited so a short will shut off the power but typically most circuits as designed to operate on 1 ground fault but NOT multiple ground faults. Voltage is key here Lack of voltage or a low voltage condition from a ground fault will disrupt the SLC communication to devices along with not having the proper voltage to operate the Horn/strobes etc. I Hope this helps the professionals in the fire alarm Tech field The more you know sure helps in daily work!!
When I hunt a ground on a large system il have my helper at facp watching meter. On a nac ground I will walk around with my stick and tap on horns. If something is touching in box behind horn the meter will jump. You can also put a tone on bad horn run so you can find each horn on that leg.this only works if wires are not shorted. Always remove wires from panel to get accurate reading . A dead short like 4 ohms is much easier to find than a high resistance short, above 10k.
No This will set off the horn strobes only for the circuit that has the ground fault. So if you had a total of 150 horn strobes. This one circuit may only control 6 of them. So now you only have six to look at not 150. In my case I had some strobes down low and some need lift for. I needed to know if I needed a lift. So in this case all where at top of a warehouse so need a lift. I have seen cases where I was able to fix off of a ladder. It is not good to order a lift if you don't need too.
Hi sir , in morlay ias fire alarm system one small problem is there on screen showing after 5 minutes battery wiring fault. So please sir solve me..... Please sir
Fire alarm systems are at times frustrating when it comes to tracing and troubleshooting ground faults. I think the video is very informative. You did a great job explaining the wiring of the circuits and the Understanding circuits is very important when trying to trouble shoot Ground faults opens and short circuits etc. Like the live test without pulling any wires nice move.
I have been servicing maintaining programing commissioning large life safety systems for over 30 plus years. So, when it comes to the infamous ground fault IE SLC, NAC, 24VDC Aux etc. Negative or positive doesn't matter.
Troubleshooting is key on the approach on how to investigate the fault. Like was there any construction done recently? Known water leaks floods, roof in the building etc. This would help out the technician pinpoint the area. When breaking up the known circuit in the fire alarm panel. The Technician on site will not know how its wired (doesn't matter) The key is to break the known faulted circuit in halfway segments which once done they will know which half is causing the fault. The key here is at this point is to keep breaking the fault circuit in half's IE not Every device etc. This will be a time saver, along with never having more than 2 to 3 opens of the circuit any 1 time so you don't' lose track of the path where the ground fault is located IE class-A or B Etc. Now not all ground faults have a low resistance. Most modern fire panels will detect a high resistance ground fault IE 200K ohms or more. Now these may be from a wire that has been pinched in an electrical box or from a cable pulled tight on a metal pipe or HVAC duct or even tie wrapped FPL cable to a threaded support rod etc.
There is another tool to use in the troubleshooting toolbox.
Set the Multimeter to DC voltage The Fluke T5-1000 meter will be fine for this test if used. I like the Fluke 87 ($$$) but the 177 is fine anyways.
etc.
High resistance grounds are not easy to trouble shoot. These can be caused from Wiring faults on the input side of a monitoring module on the SLC circuit. A 300K ground could be from a Wiring issue or from an input monitoring point. The video was very good in explaining how to troubleshoot the circuits. Most circuits are powered limited so a short will shut off the power but typically most circuits as designed to operate on 1 ground fault but NOT multiple ground faults. Voltage is key here Lack of voltage or a low voltage condition from a ground fault will disrupt the SLC communication to devices along with not having the proper voltage to operate the Horn/strobes etc. I Hope this helps the professionals in the fire alarm Tech field The more you know sure helps in daily work!!
Thank you so much buddy I have a ground fault on the NAC panel at my job and this is going to help me so much!!!
I appreciate the short cut.👍
Thank you
When I hunt a ground on a large system il have my helper at facp watching meter. On a nac ground I will walk around with my stick and tap on horns. If something is touching in box behind horn the meter will jump. You can also put a tone on bad horn run so you can find each horn on that leg.this only works if wires are not shorted. Always remove wires from panel to get accurate reading . A dead short like 4 ohms is much easier to find than a high resistance short, above 10k.
What about on SLC loop? 💪💪💪 Great video
Break the slc in half and see if it goes away if does add some devices back till it comes back.....
Hey what did you end up doing with that one Fire-Lite panel you took down? (Ms-9200udls)
I have it on my home bench for troubleshooting. I have not had time to get into it.
so when u hook up the nac circuit to aux power it will set off the horn strobes how u gonna find the ground ??
No This will set off the horn strobes only for the circuit that has the ground fault. So if you had a total of 150 horn strobes. This one circuit may only control 6 of them. So now you only have six to look at not 150. In my case I had some strobes down low and some need lift for. I needed to know if I needed a lift. So in this case all where at top of a warehouse so need a lift. I have seen cases where I was able to fix off of a ladder. It is not good to order a lift if you don't need too.
That only works on a hard ground. Not on high impedance ground faults .
Hi sir , in morlay ias fire alarm system one small problem is there on screen showing after 5 minutes battery wiring fault. So please sir solve me..... Please sir
USA only
Bro this video didn’t do anything