Class change bells/sounders

[Love_Sausage]

Has anyone been involved in sourcing a new class bell/sounder system? I can see available systems, but they aren't cheap and some don't even include installation. Anyone got any recommendations?

[synaesthesia]

Blimey, IT staff really do get involved in everything.

I can't give any real advice other than saying it may be worth enquiring how much you can hire Brian Blessed for? Guarantee the kids will get to lessons on time.

[LiamH]

Blimey, IT staff really do get involved in everything.

I can't give any real advice other than saying it may be worth enquiring how much you can hire Brian Blessed for? Guarantee the kids will get to lessons on time.

 

"GET THEE'SENS TO CLASS AN'T STOP MUCKIN BOUT THA'BLOODY GITS"

 

that would be awesome.

Edited December 12, 2014 by LiamH

[Love_Sausage]

Tell me about it. The ones I've seen do allow for any audio files, so Brian yelling at them to get to work would be possible.

[Garacesh]

That username ಠ_ಠ

 

We're building our own bell here because the bell that was fitted keeps falling out of time..

 

TL;DR domain machine synced with AD clock, with schedule tasks to make a bell noise, hooked up to a PA. It's crude, it's simplistic, but it's really all you need.

[Oaktech]

Your options are pretty much based on what you currently do for fire alarms... If you have a half decent fire alarm it should be the work of an hour or two for someone like chubb or shorrock to attach a timed sounder to your system.

 

If you are looking to put in a new sounder system specifically for class change then I think you are looking at a serious amount of cash.

 

My brother in law is an electrician, he did a job in the summer replacing bells for sounders, extending and re-zoning a system for a medium sized middle school and was apparently really cheap at 12k.

[Love_Sausage]

We used to have a class change system that interfaced with the Fire Alarms, however the Fire Officer at the local authority is not keen on that at all. That amount is at the top end of what we were expecting, I'm hoping to get it in for less.

[Chris_]

We've recently installed an IAG ClassChange system AD5 Classchange from IAG Technology Ltd to replace a PC with some awful software. It rings various dedicated bells via a bunch of relays and messy cabling!

 

We've got it linked in to a fire alarm panel in a separate building via IP where it rings the fire bells via the class change input on the alarm panel. The fire alarm is a continuous ringing, the class change is a pattern of rings and pauses (as programmed onthe controller).

 

We're going to look to move the other buildings over to using the fire alarm bells also as they are maintained whereas the old class change bells are not.

 

 

The IAG system is good as it can use IP sounders so you only need relatively short runs of cat5e from the cabs to where you'd like new bells, rather than everything running back to a central location for control.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Chris_

[Boredguy]

We choose to install Bodet as a replacement for our 4 separate time controllers on our fire panels.

 

For the actual Controller, DHF transmitter, 3 wireless relays, 3 DHF boosters and installation into the panel it was not too expensive.

We have since added a couple of their melody sounders ourselves (since they just need power) and also another wireless relay to control our automated gates.

 

We looked at replacing the fire bells with just melody sounders, and excluding the cost of power supplies to each of them it was around £6000 (that includes several external high volume sounders as well as normal internal units)

After getting a single unit of each type, I'm sure I can reduce that cost by at least 25% by the use of secondary and tertiary sound outputs on the units but we put that on hold until we know what our budget is in April.

[Ketlane]

When our bell programming expert left, the bell system didn't get programmed and everyone used the clock and some common sense. Cheapest system known to Man: and it works!

[round2it]

Software for playing bells is kirby alarm system its free for older version.

 

plays wav files only pro plays mp3s we have used it for 9 years never failed.

[gaz350b]

be bold, suggest to remove all bells, works a treat. we also have no clocks in classrooms other than whats on the computer screens and our digital signage around school.

[Ketlane]

be bold, suggest to remove all bells, works a treat.

 

I agree from experience. Become a No Bell Prize Winner (apologies, but couldn't resist...)

[truebluesteve]

We have a Primex wireless clock system that uses a GPS enabled transmitter to keep all the clocks in sync. It also has a wireless relay which is connected into the class change input of the master fire alarm panel (which is networked to four others). The system works really well and has never let us down

 

Be careful when thinking about changing fire alarm systems - you could end spending an awful lot of money to make it comply with current standards ( I was a fire alarm engineer for many years) just to change the bells!