Wheelock LED Notification Appliances

Are the new Wheelock LED Series Notification Appliances all They're Cracked up to be?

Although the Wheelock LED (Light Emitting Diode) notification appliances are not so new anymore, they still seem to bring up quite the conversations.  Like any new fire alarm equipment, it is wise to let them prove themselves before you actively start specifying and installing them throughout all of your sites.  Well that time has come and gone as these LED strobes and horn/strobes have been flying off the shelves.

Our goal here is to make you aware of their capabilities so that you can decide when and when not to include them in your fire alarm system design criteria.  For this comparison I am going to be using the new Wheelock LED Series Horn/Strobe (model LHS) and the Older Wheelock Exceder Series Horn/Strobe (model HS).  Note that both models comparisons will be based off wall mounting, 24 VDC, 3 Tone Temporal Output, and set at the High Setting.  This should keep everything fair for the sake of the article.

Lets take a look at differences and similarities of the two notification appliances.

As you will notice from the chart I created above, the two notification appliances have quite a few differences.  One of the more noticeable differences is the candela selection available.  You can see that the Exceder series covers standard candela all the way up to high candela at 185 CD.  On the other hand the Wheelock LED series appliance only covers the standard candela range.  

Now the biggest item that everyone is discussing around the new LED series strobes is the lower current draw.  We all know the lower the current draw, the more appliances we can fit on a circuit. More appliances on circuits results in few circuits, and less remote power supplies.  As you may notice in the "Current Draw" tables above, the LED series appliances have a lower current draw through the range of 15 CD - 75 CD.  Once you jump up to 110 candela, the standard Exceder series with Xenon bulb actually draws less.

It all depends on you application as your facility may demand more 110 candela strobes in comparison to your lower levels (15-75).  In this case you would probably want to stay with the older Exceder Xenon bulb technology.  Now if you have an office building with multiple corridors, you can get away with 15 candela and the LED strobes would be your best bet.

*It is also very important that I make you aware that Cooper-Wheelock has made it clear that both the Xenon bulb and LED style visual appliances are compatible on the same circuits and will successfully SYNC if you use the proper remote power supply or sync module such as the DSM-12/24.

I hope this information assists you in your design as both models are great products with their own special characteristics.