Application Note
Apollo Discovery Sounders
Apollo Discovery Sounder Products
The Advanced panels support the feature set in the Apollo Discovery Sounders. This includes the multi tone / voice
message group mode (including volume) and wand setup.
This application note describes how to program and configure these features.
Introduction
With the arrival of the Discovery range of sounder devices, Apollo built on the features offered on existing products
by introducing a new method of group addressing and local device setup using a wand.
The Discovery group functionality allows a range of configurable audible alerts to be used. These tones / messages
can be used via Advanced Fire Panels to operate differently depending on the type or phase of the alarm.
Because this functionality is linked to a group mode, it is useful when a large numbers of devices on a loop must
turn on or turn off in rapid succession. The full range of addresses is still available when using the Discovery group
mode. The devices support 16 groups (groups 1-16).
MxPro 4 panels with software version 023-09c and all MxPro 5 panels support this advanced group mode required
for having different tones / messages for different events. Please note that Discovery Sounder Beacon bases prior
to version 5 and Discovery Open Area Sounders version 2, do not support the Discovery group mode fully. The
version of the Discovery product can be checked by reading EEPROM location 7.
The entire MxPro product range support the setting of a sounder volume via the magnetic wand. This can be done
a device at a time or a loop at a time. The MxPro 5 supports walk testing of Discovery sounder devices using the
wand.
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Setup of Discovery Groups
Setup of this feature is done using the DynamixTools Config Tool.
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The functionality is only supported in groups 1-16 of the 200 output groups. By setting a discovery
output device to be in the 1-16 range of groups, the Discovery group feature will be used.
Set the group ring style to a style above style 0.
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In the Ring Styles page in Config Tool, set the tone and volume according to your requirements.
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The secondary tone of the Apollo tone pair (e.g. the Alert tone / message as opposed to the
evacuation tone) is selected by setting the output type to ‘pulsed’ (the pulse type and period fields
are not used for Discovery Group Mode tones).
Refer to the devices installation documentation for tone number descriptions – the list varies
between markets and versions. The value refers to the “Byte Value” column of the table.
Setting the tone or volume to Device Settings uses the tone or volume that is configured on the
individual device.
In group mode, the beacon always turns on with the sounder (i.e. it is not possible to have the
sounder active without the beacon).
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Individual Device Setup
Devices used outside of group mode (or if “Device Settings” is chosen in the ring style) can be set up
individually from the panel or the Config Tool. From the Config Tool:
The device occupies two sub address values (one for the sounder and one for the beacon). If Activate with
Detector is selected, the device uses the tone and volume that has been configured for that device (even if
the device is usually driven via the Discovery Group mode).
Using the panel, the volume and tone can be set via a menu or via the wand at the device.
To access the ‘per device setup’, navigate to the level 3 loop commissioning menu. Scroll to the “Additional
Info” field and press tick to bring up the menu below. Select “Device Setup”.
In this menu, set the tone in the range 1-15 and set the volume in the range 1-7.
“Enter Setup mode” activates the wand configuration on the device which allows the user to set the volume
on that device locally (from 2-7) using the magnet tool. The user can choose to save or cancel this setting at
the panel. Press Esc to exit.
Alternatively, the whole loop can be put in wand mode by selecting the option below “Device Setup”, “Loop
Wand Setup”.
This setting is either saved or cancelled by clicking the tick on the additional info field again or by exiting the
loop commissioning screen. Saving will save the current setting to every device on the loop which has had its
volume changed by the wand.
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Walk Testing Using The Wand
This feature is only available on the MxPro 5 panel.
This feature can be accessed by either loop or zone. To activate the test on a per loop basis, in the level 3
loop commissioning screen, select “Loop Wand Test”.
This puts all compatible devices in wand test mode. The LED on the device will start to flash and placing the
magnetic wand next to the flashing LED will activate the test.
Alternatively, from the level 2 test menu, putting the zone in test with sounders activates the same feature on
a per zone basis.
Synchronization of Voice Sounders Products
The voice sounder range of products follow slightly different synchronization rules to other Apollo sounder
products due to the message lengths. When instructed to turn on by the fire panel, the device turns on at the
start of the message rather than waiting for a synchronization period – this means that audio messages from
a voice sounder are only synchronized with other voice sounders in the same Discovery group on the same
network node. It is good practice to connect all voice sounders within an audio area to the same network
node to ensure voice message synchronization
The internal operation of Apollo voice sounders beacons mean that beacon synchronization cannot be
guaranteed.
When a voice sounder receives a “sync packet” from the fire panel, the message / tone will restart.
Notes
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Changes in configuration may take up to 60 seconds to be effective.
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Disabling sounders in a discovery group may take up to 30 seconds.
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When auto-learned, all discovery sounders default to a sounder and a beacon base. The Config Tool
allows the user to replace this device with the specific type if required (e.g. Open area sounder or Voice
sounder).
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The voice sounder does not comply with the NEN2575 or DIN0833 standards which require a sounder to
recover from a line fault within 4-5 seconds.
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Please check with the device manufacturer as to the regulatory status.
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In some cases, the period of a tone / message is 23 seconds or longer. When a zone is in test with
sounders, sounders sound for a period of 10 seconds when the zone is activated.
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