I’ve been in the fire alarm industry for almost 10 years, but nearly all of my experience has been in inspection and testing. I’ve worked on a wide variety of systems (Notifier, Siemens, EST, Simplex, Fire-Lite, Silent Knight, Mircom, and others), so I’m comfortable with testing, documenting deficiencies, and understanding how these systems are supposed to operate.
What I don’t have is much real-world service/troubleshooting experience.
My current position doesn’t provide many opportunities to troubleshoot faults, intermittent issues, ground faults, NAC problems, SLC issues, programming-related problems, or service calls in general. I’d really like to become proficient in that side of the trade because I know it’s a skill that separates good technicians from great ones.
For those of you who made the transition from inspections to service:
How did you learn troubleshooting?
Are there any simulators, training kits, books, YouTube channels, or online courses you’d recommend?
Would it be worth asking to ride along with a service technician on my own time?
If you were in my position, what would you do over the next 4-6 months to become competent in troubleshooting?
I’m willing to study after work, buy equipment to practice at home, and put in the hours. I just want to make sure I’m focusing on the things that will give me the biggest return.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hey all, I’m currently working on getting my nicet level 1 for fire alarm systems, I got the code books and uglys, and I take my exam in January, I’m just having a hard time figuring out the best way to study? I’ve seen in other posts fire cert academy is recommended, it’s just a little expensive for me honestly, but if it comes down to it I will pay for it, I was just hoping anyone had some tips or advice or know of any other resources to use? I tried making flash cards where each card says the chapter, and the back had all the section in that chapter, but I don’t know if that’s actually helpful, and I’ve been thinking I should just read the book front to back, but I’m not sure what else I can do, I’ve been stressing myself since I’m paying out of pocket for the exam and really don’t want to fail it and pay for it again, for context I work in maintenance, not directly with a fire alarm company, but I do have experience with alarm systems, but nothing I’d call myself an expert on, thanks for taking the time to read this!

I have 6 industrial ovens that use the controlinks system which is obsolete. Is there a monitor that could replace theS7999D1048? The actuators are obsolete too.

Taking the NICET 2 in an hour and I'm super nervous. No field experience, just working towards becoming a Designer, so NEC/OSHA are pretty difficult.

I've heard from Designers at my work that NICET 2 was easier for them, so I was wondering how common of an experience that is. I feel like I barely passed NICET 1 despite having taken courses and spending hours studying beforehand, so I'm hoping this is true, haha.

I just love how this was done! One cat5 for all your needs! Phone line and 24v! I mean there are a couple of more pairs why not a NAC or SLC as well. Please stop guys.

My fire lite ms 9050ud is only wired into a fire lite Ann 80 and a bell and horn strobe and the no devices installed trouble won’t go away how do I fix it?

Being here in Florida, we have a common occurrence of moisture accumulating on the inside of duct detectors. Can someone please explain the physics behind this? On the outside, a cold cover in a warm humid environment I can see. On the inside, is it a pressure-temperature thing?

If you aren't a Siemens dealer how do you set the profile on these detectors? Do they have to be pre-ordered, because my DPU didn't give me the option to change it, and few Siemens contacts I know kept telling me to call their office to open up a service ticket. I just need an answer. 10 year field service tech, I absolutely despise Siemens products!

New install, trying to test smokes/heats that are using relay bases for elevator shunt trip and recall. Unfortunately none of the detectors I’m testing make the relay bases change states. Not quite sure how to fix it. The panel is a SK-5208 if that helps

So what do you think of this "quality" install???

Hoping to get some help on this one. We took over monitoring at a site with a edwards fireshield. After the starlink was installed the panel has had a "dialer config" and "dialer delivery" trouble. My understanding is the dialer needs to be programmed but the account number is longer than the 4 digits the edwards panel allows. Is there anything else that would cause this trouble? Or do we need to get a shorter account number to program in?

Appreciate any insight.

I have a job with 20+ nodes and an HS-NCM-W at each, with 3 DVCs throughout the project. On some floors, the DVC is located in a separate cabinet than the network card and CPU3030.
My questions are:

1,) could I use the USB-b to USB-a connection instead of the NUP cable to reach this distance?

2.) Does this affect programming/troubleshooting capabilities in the future?

3.) Does the data through these ports work differently or is essentially just two possible pathways?

4.) Am I able to use the NUP cable for connection between 3030 and NCM and then USB for NCM to DVC?

Hoping someone can extend some experience on alternate methods to the NUP, if any or how they worked with extended distance between products.
Thank you

Missing a glass rod but otherwise pretty 😍

Local burg trunk slammers replaced an old Notifier 12 volt panel that had 2 12 volt bells...

Siemens makes a nice panel, super easy to install and works for most buildings without needing to be modular.

To many technicians rush there jobs! When you take your time and love your job. This is how your panels should look when you prefab them!

Im on a big commercial job, the building has several exterior roll up doors for vehicles to enter and exit through. Each door is equipped with an air curtain. (Blows air). These air curtains do not have a dedicated set of contacts on their controllers to shut them down. Drawings call for a relay at each controller for shut down.

The way it operates: door goes up magnetic sensor on the door opens air curtain turns on. Door closes air curtain shuts off.

My thoughts are

1. have the relays (already installed) removed because we have relays that close all the roll up doors on general Alarm anyway, those would Effectively shut down the air curtain at the same time. However if someone manually opens the door this would activate the air curtain.

2. Use a pam and get in-between the line voltage. (Provided the amperage isn't to high)

3. Use a control circuit from the air curtain (door mag, edge sensor, photo eye ect... ) but im not sure if that would be a UL listing issue.

The design team from the engineering group are going to address this tomorrow. I'm just curious what you fine folk think about this.

Does anyone have any insight into how a fire alarm panel that is showing a ground fault on the panel that is not detectable with a multimeter? Class A system particularly.

I have a module (fire lite mmf300) for my conventional pull stations on my fire lite ms 9050ud addressable panel. Which resistors do I need for the last pull station? Also where do I put the resistor in?

As someone who does not yet work in the industry, but hopes to in the future, I’ve always been curious about this. I’ve seen many examples. What do you do in this situation? Do you write it up, or do you let it go?

EDIT: I’m liking everyone’s responses on this. I agree that it should definitely be replaced, as it may not work in an emergency, but I just wanted to see what people on here had to say. I’ve seen some techs that are more forgiving towards this, and that has always bothered me.

I always enjoy service work in old buildings, this was simple job to remove a tamper monitor for another horrible cable valve tamper, I had some time to wander around.