The Onyx Series of technologically-innovative fire detection products offers the most advanced network, panel and peripheral devices available, says its manufacturer the US-based Notifier, a world-leading manufacturer of commercial fire alarm technology and systems and part of Honeywell’s Fire Group.

“Notifier created the Onyx Series to provide simple solutions to complex fire alarm needs,” says Nick Martello, Notifier’s director of marketing. “The series was designed to provide flexibility with industry-unique products that can be linked together to form integrated solutions for any life safety challenge.”
The series includes fire alarm control panels and peripherals such as detectors, power supplies and audio transponders.  All Onyx products have a sleek black patterned look, along with new state-of-the-art network, panel and peripheral device designs.
The series offers simpler installation, programming, troubleshooting and training, resulting in lower overall costs and are capable of interfacing with existing Notifier products, he adds. It includes the 640 fire alarm control panel; ACPS addressable power supply; XPIQ multi-channel audio transponder; RFX wireless detection systems and the Acclimate Plus detector; as well as advanced detection products such as the View detector and the Harsh detector.
Among Notifier’s larger clients for Notifier is Extended Stay America, which has hotels in 42 states in its portfolio. Around 100 of Extended Stay America’s hotels are currently using fire panels from Notifier as the foundation of their fire-detection system and Notifier has become the specified system for all new Extended Stay America Hotels.
Many of these properties feature the Notifier NFS-640 intelligent fire alarm control panel, coupled with Acclimate Plus detectors.
“The NFS-640, the most advanced fire alarm control panel available, has a modular design that makes it extremely flexible for a variety of applications,” says the spokesman. “Using Notifier’s FlashScan technology – the new Signalling Line Circuit (SLC) protocol with increased loop capacity of up to 318 devices – the NFS-640 offers faster polling and response time, actually exceeding worldwide code requirements.
“The NFS-640 comes standard as one loop but is easily expandable to two, which allows up to 636 points per control panel, and easily accommodates future expansion.  The panels function separately or communicate as a network using a Network Control Station (NCS) - which provides operators with text and graphic annunciation of network activity as well as network control and panel programming – or a Network Control Annunciator (NCA) – which can be used to annunciate network events and provide control of network points using an intuitive large screen display and PC-style keypad.”
An attractive feature is the forward- and backward-compatibility of the system, allowing for seamless upgrades.
The Acclimate Plus detectors are multi-criteria technology smoke detectors with the enhanced capabilities of Notifier’s FlashScan technology,  which allows them to respond to a broad range of fires at a faster speed, the spokesman claims. Acclimate provides an optimum balance of stability and early warning to maximise fire detection while rejecting unwanted nuisance alarms FlashScan protocol groups and scans 10 devices at a time, significantly improving response time.
“By constantly monitoring its environment for temperature, smoke, electrical noise and air particulate levels, Acclimate can report an alarm within one second and turn on all outputs within two seconds,” the spokesman points out. “Acclimate’s dual-stage drift compensation feature reduces maintenance by notifying the control panel when dust build-up requires attention. Its smoke detection sensitivity increases with heat, eliminating the need to set sensitivity levels at the panel.
“Every device has a name and location, so there is no guesswork for firemen in case of an emergency.  The detectors function as single-station detectors with built-in sounders.  The same sounder is used during a general alarm from a common area such as a manual pull station, eliminating the need for an additional sounder – and the associated wiring – in each room,” he adds.
Honeywell International is a $23 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials.