Central battery system
Emergency lighting powered from a central battery installation rather than batteries in each fitting, concentrating maintenance at one point.
Fire Engineering Glossary
Technical terms spanning standards, manufacturers, commissioning, networking, testing and fault finding.
Technical guidance only. Confirm current project requirements against the applicable standards, legislation, system documentation and site-specific fire strategy.
Showing 9 of 9 matching glossary entries.
Class B wiring
Radial (spur) wiring; devices beyond a break are lost, so a break shows as multiple missing devices downstream of one point.
Conventional system
A fire alarm system arranged in radial zones where the panel knows the affected zone but not the individual device.
Diagnosis relies on the zone chart and physically checking each device in the zone.
Detection zone
The area covered by a group of detection devices reported together, sized and bounded so responders can locate the origin of an alarm quickly.
Disablement
A deliberate, indicated inhibition of a device, zone or output at the panel; a controlled impairment that must be recorded and reinstated.
Isolations left over from previous visits are a classic 'why didn't it work' finding.
Loop
The two-wire circuit connecting addressable devices to the panel, normally wired as a ring so devices remain in communication from either direction if the ring is broken at one point.
Walk test
A one-engineer test mode where activated devices register at the panel (often without outputs) so devices can be proven while walking the site.
Always confirm test mode is cancelled before leaving — a panel left in test cannot raise a real alarm normally.
Zone
A geographical subdivision of the protected premises used to indicate the location of a fire or fault, shown on the panel and the zone chart.
Zone chart
The diagram at the panel showing zone boundaries and device locations so a stranger — fire officer or relief engineer — can locate any event quickly.