Gent S3 EP (IP66) red Body Voice Sounder High Power White VAD

The S3EP-V-VAD-HPW-R is a voice sounder with a white visual alarm device in Gent's Environmentally Protected S-Cubed Mark 3 range, suitable for outdoor locations and harsh indoor areas. They run on Gent's addressable panels: Vigilon Plus, Compact Plus and Nano. The part code reads left to right: S3 is the S-Cubed range, EP the environmentally protected variant, V the voice sounder, VAD the beacon, HP the High Power VAD class, the third letter W the white flash and the trailing R the red body. This unit has a white flash behind a clear lens on a red body.

As a sounder it gives three signals: Signal 1 an intermittent tone at 970Hz plus or minus 10 per cent at 1Hz, Signal 2 an alternating 730Hz and 970Hz tone at 2Hz, and Signal 3 a continuous high tone at 970Hz. The sound level for the sounder is 103dB(A) plus or minus 3dB at 90 degrees at 1m, and the volume is adjustable at commissioning. The unit holds five stored messages. Message 1 is a bell tone; Messages 2 to 5 are spoken announcements, an emergency evacuation announcement, an await further instructions message and a test message in a female voice, and a fire alarm evacuation message in a male voice. Message 3 with Signal 1 and Message 5 with Signal 2 are approved to EN 54-3 Annex C. The message and attention tone period is 10 seconds by default and can be configured up to 30 seconds with the commissioning tool, and flash memory holds up to 20 seconds of audio and bell tone. The message wording is in English. On a Gent panel the sounders and visual alarm devices are synchronised across all the loops of that panel, and synchronisation does not extend across a network of panels.

The High Power white VAD provides EN 54-23 coverage at three power settings. At the high power setting it is category W-5-12.5: a wall mounted device at up to 5m mounting height covering a cuboid 12.5m by 12.5m, which is 781 cubic metres. Medium power gives W-4.5-11.3 and 574 cubic metres, low power W-3-8.5 and 216 cubic metres. The minimum mounting height is 2.4m, with coverage defined at a minimum effective illuminance of 0.4 Lux. These categories apply in compliant mode with the required panel and loop software; in non compliant mode the unit operates as a visual indicator device and does not meet EN 54-23. The lens produces a pulse every 2s, at 0.5Hz. VAD siting follows CoP 0001 coverage guidance, with distance factors that vary according to ambient light levels.

The unit is loop powered, taking its supply from the device loop at 35V to 48V through loop in and loop out terminals, with the incoming and outgoing loop screens connected to earth. It carries an integral short circuit isolator meeting EN 54-17, with Vmax 48V, Vnom 40V, Vmin 24V, VSOmax 16V, VSOmin 8V, ICmax 0.8A, ISmax 1.25A, ILmax 50 microamps and ZCmax 0.13 ohms. Maximum loop current and power depend on the VAD setting: for the VAD alone 18mA and 630mW at high power, 14mA and 490mW at medium and 8mA and 280mW at low, with maximum sounder current and power at minimum voltage of 5mA and 175mW in Turbo or 3mA and 105mW in Non Turbo, so the maximum totals for VAD and sounder together are 23mA or 21mA at high power, 19mA or 17mA at medium and 13mA or 11mA at low. The approximate maximum quantity per loop is 38 at high power, 47 at medium and 72 at low (dependent on loop load).

The IP66 enclosure is suitable for outdoor positions and harsh internal areas. Mount it on a flat external wall surface with the marking TOP uppermost and level the visual alarm device horizontally, use IP66 cable glands at the two top and one bottom knockouts, leave no more than 10cm of tail wire, and use the top or bottom cable entries to retain IP66 protection. Do not flush mount the base, do not paint the enclosure and do not scratch the lens. The unit is supplied complete, back box and front as one assembly with no base options, and two M3 by 10mm screws are supplied.

Vigilon configuration uses the Vigilon Commissioning Tool at V1.30 or higher. On-site changes through that tool require V1.32 or later with loop software V4.48 or later. Tone, spoken message and volume can also be selected with the S3-CONTROL infrared remote from up to 3m away while the panel is in test mode. Save volume changes at the panel after adjustment. Compliant VAD operation on EN Vigilon 4-loop and 4-6-loop panels with MCC, and Vigilon Compact with MCB, requires card software V4.52 or later and LPC V4.48 or later. Earlier panel software remains fully compatible with the device, with the VAD limited to low power; certified EN 54-23 coverage applies only with the supported panel and loop software. Nano needs MCB V3.12 or later, LP V1.08 or later and the Nano Commissioning Tool V3.0 or later. On Nano the VAD operates at low power, giving W-3-8.5 coverage of 216 cubic metres. The S3EP-V-VAD-HPR-R is the same unit with a red flash. The non EP S3-V-VAD-HPW-R is the equivalent indoor model.