Bosch Solution 16i

12 Jan 2010
by: By John Adams
Installers and end users both win with the new Bosch Solution 16i alarm panel. This system incorporates all the features of the Solution 16Plus along with some very clever comms and programming upgrades.

NOT content to rest on its laurels with the Solution panel range, Bosch Security Systems keeps tweaking the lineup, with each new generation offering upgraded functionalities and enhanced feature sets. As part of this ongoing development the company has released the Solution 16i panel replete with new features including email notification via dialler, high security IP reporting, remote programming and troubleshooting over LAN/WAN and Internet, as well as interactive voice module and a night arm station.

 

Before we go any further it’s worth summing up the core capabilities and functionalities of the 16i. For a start, this panel is managed using a Text/Icon LCD display with an optional prox card. The panel has 16 onboard wired or wireless zones with 4 areas for partitioning. There’s support for up to 48 separate users each with their own PIN.

 

Installers can program the 16i from the keypad if they like but it’s easier and more convenient to handle this using Bosch’s SolutionLink V1.20 software. SolutionLink still allows local programming as it has done for a number of years, but thanks to the IP module is now also offers remote programming and diagnostics. Other useful features of the 16i include sensor watch, telco line fail detection and dual reporting. 


SE&N got a demo of the new panel at Bosch’s Huntingwood HQ and the way the system was set up really underscored the flexibility of the Solution 16i from a communications’ perspective.

 

The demo panel was connected to a LAN with the comms path going out over the Internet to a Conettix receiver set up as it would be in the control room of a monitoring station. Our setup also included a laptop linked to the panel over a 3G wireless connection – this latter was subsequently used to access the panel for the purposes of programming and monitoring system status.

 

According to Bosch Security Systems’ sales representative, intrusion, Dean Mallard, the Solution 16i has all the features of the 16Plus alarm panel with the exception of the text a customer sees on the codepad - and that’s because the 16i has a location-based program.

Mallard says the standout features of the new Solution 16i are dual reporting with out of the box SMS, 48 users with each user having a PIN, a keyfob and a prox tag.

 

“Along with these features the panel offers full wireless capability and full EOL resistor capability – everything people have come to rely on with the Solution series.”

Another excellent new feature is email reporting out of the box.

 

“Importantly, this email reporting is separate so it doesn’t take up a destination – we just put an email address into a location and the dialler dials up a network gateway and sends an email to the customer,” Mallard explains.

 

“Information emailed to a customer can be limited to opens, closes, alarms, access control – it depends what information the customer needs to know.”

 

As Mallard explains it there are 2 destinations for reporting – Contact ID for destination 1 and SMS for destination 2 – this is important because it means there are dual reporting paths.

 

“Destination 2 can be domestic or voice module or whatever you want,” he says. “We can route each user, each zone, each area to report to destination 1, destination 2, destination 1 and 2, or not report at all – that makes the Solution 16i very flexible in terms of reporting options.”

 

New IP module

 

The most important of the new developments is the new CM750B IP Module, which gives the Solution 16i a secure (128-bit AES), polled, IP reporting path using Conettix or CSV IP formats. Not only this, it allows remote programming using Bosch’s neat SolutionLink software.

 

SolutionLink has been around a while now and V1.20 incorporates upgrades to the interface and includes remote programming software as well as a virtual keypad that allows techs to see at a glance the state and general health of the panel.

 

“The TCP/IP module is my favourite feature of the new Solution 16i,” says Mallard. “This module can report over an existing ADSL line which means there are no dialup costs. It also means that the panel is not seizing the line every time a call is made and that high polling rates (every 75 seconds) are possible, so if the line gets cut you know about it quickly.

 

“Again, there’s dual path reporting because when you employ the TCP/IP module you set up destination 1 as IP reporting and destination 2 for dialup.”

 

Mallard explains that the best thing about the TCP/IP module from an installer’s point of view is that remote programming over LAN, WAN and the Internet.

 

“When you’re mobile and a customer contacts you with a problem you can immediately connect to the panel over a wireless Internet connection – all the information you need to find the panel is the MAC address,” he says.

 

“You simply tell the system it’s a 16i panel you’re looking for, enter the MAC address and the software will find the client’s IP address and allow you to connect.

 

“When you’re mobile and a customer contacts you with a problem you can immediately connect to the panel over a wireless Internet connection – all the information you need to find the panel is the MAC address”



“Once connected, installers can look at the virtual keypad that appears on their computer screen and see system status at a glance,” Mallard explains. “The other thing they can do is go into the interactive mode and check to see what else is going on with the system.”

 

All this is clever stuff from Bosch. In fact SolutionLink V1.20 is a revelation as a remote programming solution.

 

“SolutionLink software will show installers AC voltage, battery voltage, voltage on the common rail, LAN voltage – you can go into areas and check up to 8 keypads,” says Mallard.

And the diagnostics go deeper still.

 

“You can also see the resistance on all the zones in the system – the result is that you can get a live snap shot of everything that is going on with the system remotely,” he explains.

 

“What this means is that SolutionLink V1.20 not only lets the installer do any programming changes they need to do from their remote laptop without visiting the site, it gives them a clear idea of what’s going on with a system.

 

“Using SolutionLink installers don’t have to drive for an hour only to find they need a part they don’t have,” Mallard explains. “If you’re installing Bosch alarm panels you have to use this software because there will come a time when it’s going to save you a headache. 

 

Interactive voice module

 

Another strong feature of the new Solution 16i is the CM101B Interactive Voice Module which allows users to record messages relating to system events onto the panel and to use these prompts and messages to manage and monitor their system. It sounds rather a simple piece of functionality and it is in a sense. What’s clever is the way it delivers a wide range of selected system events and operations to a user remotely and securely via a mobile phone.

 

“The voice module leverages the panel’s flexibility in an intuitive and accessible way,” says Mallard. “The way it works is that the end user can pre-record messages onto the panel which are linked to events. Then when these events occur the panel will communicate with the user and report on a range of conditions including arm and disarm, trouble, access and the rest.

 

“The functionality is not restricted to reporting of events, either. The customer can ring the panel and find out things like panel status, area status, as well as arming or disarming the system.”

 

Bosch Security System’s Adam Harris is excited about the new Solution 16i and he says the upgrades have added serious functionality to a system that was already highly capable.

 

“From my perspective the key points are the IP module, the Voice Module and email on the dialler – as well the changes to the programming interface,” Harris says.

 

“Another very nice thing about this panel is the interactive capability Dean has talked about – the ability to use the communications capability of the IP module in tandem with SolutionLink V1.20 to see system devices and even to see the firmware in those devices.

“It’s also possible for installers to upload details from the panel like areas and inputs because these are recorded in the panel although they are not shown through the Text/Icon user interface,” Harris explains.

 

“All this makes remote support much easier. The installer can connect to a panel using a laptop and they can see exactly how the system is laid out and check exactly how the system is working using a live fault log.”

According to Harris, the new Solution 16i is excellent when it comes to retrofits.

 

“If you’re replacing panels with Solution 16i and existing retaining zone loops you don’t need to go hunting for fiddly things like EOLs – you can simply specify what they are using the software once the panel has been installed – it’s that easy.”

 

“Using the communications capability of the IP module in tandem with SolutionLink V1.20 you can see system devices and you can even see the firmware in those devices”