Sigma CP and Sigma XT+ control panels – Additional features added

As part of our policy of continuous product improvement, the Sigma CP has undergone a hardware and firmware revision.

The hardware revision is transparent to the user, but involves a significant revision to the power supply – in particular to the battery monitoring circuit.
The internal impedance of the batteries and the connecting leads is now monitored, to ensure that there is not an unexpected volt drop from the batteries when a load current is drawn from the batteries.

Earlier battery monitoring techniques only measure the battery voltage under no load, and therefore would not report a fault for high impedance in the circuit.

This improvement to the battery monitoring ensures robust and reliable panel operation is assured when running the panel from the batteries and will notify the user if there is a significant degradation to the batteries. However local codes of practice regarding the servicing of the fire system and the battery manufacturers guidelines regarding the useful life of the batteries should continue to be adhered to.

In addition to the hardware revision, two additional facilities have been included in the panel firmware:

Call Point Fire indication – it is now possible to configure the panel to distinguish call point fire events from detection device fire events. For this facility to be enabled configuration menu Option 28 needs to be selected AND the call point devices need to be configured to apply a 270-ohm resistance to the detection circuit.
When the call point is operated, the Zone Fire indicator will flash and “Pu” will be shown in the 7-segment display.
When a detection device is operated the Zone Fire indicator will be illuminated with a steady indication and there is no additional indication in the panel display.

Sounder Resound operation – when there is a fire condition on a zone, then the panel sounders are silenced, by default the sounders will re-activate automatically from a fire event from a different zone.
When configuration Option 29 is selected, the previously silenced sounders will not re-sound for any additional fire events from other zones.

These operational revisions also will apply to the Sigma XT+ series control panels, which use the Sigma CP as the fire detection element.

The revised power supply operation will only apply to Sigma XT+ single area and two area variants at present.

Note: If updating or replacing the older Sigma CP / Sigma XT+ hardware with this new version, there is a possibility that the original batteries may generate a fault and may need to be replaced as result of this new battery impedance monitoring facility.

Download Sigma CP Manual:

Download Sigma XT+ Manual:

Syncro Expansion Card and Network card address setting

The addresses of the Syncro network card (K555) and the range of additional I/O cards (K545, K546, K547 and K560) are set by means of a binary coded DIL switch.

When changing the address of any Kentec product, it is important that the microprocessor on the board is restarted, in order for the new address to be registered.

This is particularly important when re-addressing network cards (to change the panel address) on networked systems, where the following process should be followed.

1) Ensure that a copy of the configuration file is available, if applicable, before any changes are made.
2) Change the address of the network card using the binary coded DIL switch
3) Either restart the network card microprocessor (press SW2 on the network card) or power the panel off and on, to fully restart the system.
4) The panel will report an “Incorrect network card address” fault, because the network card no longer has the same address as stored in the panel configuration file.
5) Autolearn the control panel. This will change the panels address to match the new network card address – however all the panel configuration information will be lost as part of this process
6) In Loop Explorer, select the panel and click the “Edit” button. In the panel settings, select the new address of the panel. Save the configuration file.
7) Transfer the revised configuration into the Syncro panel.

Failure to restart the microprocessor on the appropriate card immediately after any address change may result in future unexpected faults if the card is subsequently restarted, as result of loss of power or by user intervention.

Download Syncro Manual:

Download Syncro Network Manual:

Download Syncro I/O Manual:

Download Syncro 8 Way Relay Card Manual:

Download Syncro 6 Way Sounder Card Manual:

Download Syncro 4 Zone Card Manual: