March 17, 2016

Supervised Speakers & Signature Modules

Introduction
Life Safety and Emergency Communication speakers on Notification Appliance Circuits
(NACs) must be electrically supervised. The industry standard method for fire alarm speaker
NAC supervision is:

Manufacture each speaker with a capacitor in series with the voice coil of the speaker
driver (referred to as a DC blocking capacitor).

This differs from notification appliance horns, chimes and strobes that use a diode in
series with the devices actuator to allow polarity reversal supervision.

The NAC circuit supervises the field wiring using a low power DC voltage which
measures the current through the end-of-line resistor.

Explanation
A SIGA-CC1 addressable output module is used as the NAC controller for this explanation.
During supervision, the CC1 applies a low power DC voltage to the circuit and compares the
measured current flow to the correct value for the specified end-of-line resistor. The CC1 can
report three states for the supervision of the field wiring:

If the current is too low or if no current is flowing, the module will report an open fault.

If the current is too high, the module will report a short fault. Note that because the
supervision circuit limits the current, a short circuit only draws a very low current value.

If the supervision circuit measures the current as the correct value, the module will be
normal (not in short fault or open fault).

When activated in an alarm or other emergency state, the supervision is shunted out
internally and the CC1 applies the 25 or 70 VAC audio signal from an amplifier to the field
speaker circuit. This AC voltage passes through the DC blocking capacitor and into the
speaker voice coil where sound energy is produced so that the message is heard through the
speakers.
Different speaker designs utilize different values of DC blocking capacitors. These can range
from about 0.1 F or 1.0 F in our Genesis speakers to 10 F or more with some speakers
made by other manufacturers.

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On typical speaker NAC circuits, there are many speakers all connected in parallel. In this
configuration, the total capacitance of the circuit is the sum total of all individual speaker
capacitors. If the circuit has thirty speakers each with 10 F capacitors, the capacitance that
is presented to the CC1 is 300 F.

Issue
A possible fault condition will occur if the total capacitance of a speaker circuit is too large.
The reason for this requires additional explanation.
The initial moments of supervisory voltage activation are dynamic. All of the speaker DC
blocking capacitors on that loop start with no initial charge. When the supervisory voltage is
applied, current will flow from the CC1 through the blocking capacitor and speaker voice coil
to charge up the capacitors. This is often heard as a slight Click or Pop from the speakers
when the CC1 turns its supervision on or off.
The more total capacitance in the speaker circuit, the longer the CC1 supervision voltage will
need to flow current to charge up the capacitors. If the capacitance on the circuit is large, the
additional current will persist for too long and the CC1 will report a short fault. Once the
capacitors are charged and the current only flows through the EOL resistor, the CC1 will now
report that the short fault has cleared.
This will result in the following sequence during alarm silence and reset events:
Some or all of the CC1 modules in the system will report a short fault
A short time later, the same modules will report that the short fault has cleared.
This will be a nuisance and may make the system confusing to the operator. This is
especially true for proprietary systems which require individual acknowledgment of all events.

Solutions
The resolution of this issue requires the correct SIGA NAC control module and the correct
configuration option.
SIGA-(M)CC2A Module
The SIGA-CC2A and SIGA-MCC2A addressable output modules were introduced in 2008
and were specifically created to provide additional design and performance features over
previous SIGA NAC modules. Some enhancements of the SIGA-(M)CC2A modules are:

Enhanced personality support for class A synchronized circuits.

Better immunity to electronic noise on the output circuit.

An enhancement that allows for ignoring the supervision status for a short time after
restoring an active output circuit known as CC2A Capacitance Discharge delay.

NOTE: SIGA-(M)CC2A modules are only compatible with EST3, 3X and VM-1 systems
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3-SDU and VM-CU Configuration

The Loop Controller Configuration in the 3-SDU and VM-CU allows the selection of a Low 1
second delay (Default), a Medium 5 second delay or a High 10 second delay period for all
of the SIGA-CC2A on that particular loop controller. The EST3, 3X and VM UL Listing allows
for selection of any value of this setting and selecting High will prevent the momentary fault.
This is shown in the figure below from 3-SDU; VM-CU is similar.

Conclusion
If a system is being designed to use speakers such as Edwards HPSA15 and/or other brands
of speakers, the SIGA-(M)CC2A should be used for those circuits and the capacitance delay
setting should be set to the high value. This will allow for a longest delay before the CC2A
short fault is reported. Using the SIGA-(M)CC2A will help create a system that operates
without errant fault postings due to speaker circuits with excessive capacitance.

Contact information

8985 Town Center Parkway

Bradenton FL, 34202
T (800) 655-4497
F (866) 226-2126
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