Customized Visuals and Digital Walk Test for Fire Panels

Bosch Security Systems has made its Modular Fire Panels 1200 and 5000 Series even more appealing to installers and system integrators. Both panels now support a walk test with mobile devices such as tablets or smart phones without the need to install any apps.

Further, Bosch partners can now customize both Modular Fire Panels 1200 and 5000 Series with their own logos or adapt the keypads’ displays to their customer’s corporate design. The new functionalities are also available to existing customers through a firmware update, which also brings general availability of Bosch’s Remote Services that were introduced in April this year.

With the new firmware, these Remote Services now include the digital walk test feature. Via an optimized interface, it greatly facilitates detector revision and testing of LSN devices. All detectors in a given loop are shown on the mobile device’s display in an intuitive overview, together with addresses, any additional information stored in the panel and status data depending on detector type (e.g. temperature, EMC [electromagnetic compatibility] or degree of pollution). From this overview, the technician can easily start the test procedure. Successful tests will automatically be highlighted on the display, and the respective detector will be marked as tested. It is also possible to store individual notes for each detector. With these features and depending on local regulations, a technician can perform the walk test very efficiently on his or her own, avoiding the need for a colleague to watch and record the tests at the fire panel’s display. Results are continuously recorded during the walk test, so that they will always be available after breaks or outages of the communication link. Once the walk test has been finalized, comprehensive reports in PDF and Excel formats will be generated automatically, further reducing time and cost for the necessary documentation of the service call.

The new display customization feature is specifically useful for organizations, which need to install keypads in publicly accessible areas without disturbing a classy environment, such as hotels or law firms. Here, the customer’s corporate design can now be seamlessly integrated into the panel display. In less critical environments, the system integrator can use his own logo instead and thus continuously demonstrate his presence on his customer’s premises. Individual color graphics can easily be uploaded using the configuration software of the fire panel.

The new Firmware includes the customization feature without additional cost. The new walk test functionality is part of the Bosch Remote Services and is included in the subscription.