Question:
I replaced an old Edwards fire alarm panel with a new ESL 1500 5 zone panel in a store a year and a half ago. Last month it failed after a lightning storm. The panel showed both "Zone one" and "Ground fault" trouble lights. I replaced it three weeks ago and it just got wiped out again after the most recent storm. Same lights are showing so I'm assuming the same failure mode. Sentrol has been good about replacing the panels in warranty both times at no charge however they can't trace exchanges so there is no way of knowing what actually failed or where the surge came in. I'm assuming AC line but any indicator or zone wiring is of course suspect as well. There is presently a three terminal surge suppressor acrosss the AC line in the panel, (center terminal grounded) to the panel ground and case and that of course goes to building ground. We obviously need to go further here but I'm not certain how to approach this without incurring a whole lot of possible needless time and expense for myself and the customer. I have considered putting chokes in series with each zone, indicator circuit, and remote line, also capacitors to ground and since its a 12V panel, 15 volt MOV's across each line as well. I know this would not be UL Kosher but I don't want to be married to this thing either. I live in a small town and this is not helping my reputation. Sentrol recommended me to a company in Florida called "Stormin Products". I talked with the owner for some time about my problem. He manufactures devices st described to address this. There is an AC line supressor, and a device called a "Spike Block" that apparently goes in the ground circuit. There are also suppressors for each zone indicator and each remote line. You mount everything in a PLASTIC box isolated from earth ground. In fact the panel board and case are isolated too and the AC line suppressor ground as well as all ground terminals from the low voltage suppressors are run through the spike block. Sounds unorhodox but he claims it works and it is apparently UL approved too. But its expensive. Very expensive, almost 700.00 in parts alone. And with labor thats a 1500.00 bill to my customer. Worse yet after all this work and expense, who would stick their neck out and claim that the system would never again go down due to lightning? My customer is going to want to hear that and I certainly wouldn't promise it. To make matters even worse in the same building there is an ADT monitored burglar alarm panel that has never failed due to a storm. I'm having a hard time trying to explain that too. Does anyone have any suggestions to address the technical aspect of my problem? Also any advice on the customer relation issue would be most sincerely appreciated as well

Answer: As far as I know there is no way you can connect a non-listed device to a fire alarm initiating or indicating circuit. Surge suppressors, MOV's and the like that are not part of the actual circuit board are "verboten". While the ESL line of products are excellent, you might consider moving to a more "robust" panel. Secutron makes several models that are proven "survivors" (http://www.secutronusa.com/). FireLite also has some excellent products. They have a perfect replacement for the ESL panel you're using called the MS-5012 (http://www.firelite.com/products/ms5012.htm).