Annunciator panel vs control unit of fire alarm system

[sunyaer]

I am trying to understand what are the functions of annunciator panel and control unit of fire alarm system. Can anyone briefly explain these two parts of the fire alarm system? It would be perfect if there are some real pictures available for better understanding.

Thannks.

 

[Paul Sweet]

The control panel is where all the system electronics and backup batteries are. It's usually fairly large.

An annunciator panel is a small panel located near where firefighters enter the building. It contains a readout similar to the one on the control panel so the firefighters can quickly see where the alarm was initiated. It might also have key switches to allow firefighters to clear the signals.

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[tmurray]

In most systems, they are one in the same. However, you can have instances where there is one fire alarm control panel and then you have one or multiple annunciators. Good examples are very large buildings with multiple entrances, buildings on a campus that all run off of a single central fire alarm system, high buildings, etc.