Technical Tip

Reference Detection

Overview
Referencing detection is employed to compensate for the periodic rise in smoke levels and other
pollutants from external sources and to reduce nuisance alarms.

A separate VESDA detector (not a VLS) is used to draw air from the external source and produce a
reference reading of the background level of smoke and pollutants. The reference reading is then
subtracted from all VESDA detectors monitoring the internal VESDA Addresses (also known as
VESDA Zones).

This allows the internal VESDA detectors to determine if a rise in smoke levels is due to background
pollution or a problem inside the VESDA zone of protection. The ability to check the background
level of smoke greatly reduces the chance of detectors false alarming. Referencing is configured
through Xtralis VSC, LCD Programmer or Xtralis VSM4 Software.

VESDA detectors in large installations typically operate at varying sensitivity levels. In such
instances the level of subtraction can be set differently for each detector. Refer to the respective
manuals for details.

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Parameters
There are three parameters used for setting up referencing:

• "Ref Zone" is used to select the Detector to be used.

- A value of 255 means no referencing is used.

- A value of 0 is not allowed. This is because 0 is not a valid Zone Number in a multi-
Detector system. The default is 255.

• "Dilution" selects the amount by which the smoke readings from the referenced Detector will
be multiplied before being subtracted from the Detector's own smoke reading. The default is
100%.

• "Delay" selects the number of minutes by which to delay the reference operation. The default
is 2 minutes.

Detailed Explanation - Reference Zones

All VESDAnet Detectors can use or be used for referencing. This includes the VESDAnet-capable
LaserCOMPACT models.

The only restrictions on this are:

• LaserSCANNERs cannot be used as references.

• A Detector being used as a reference cannot use another Detector as a reference.

If a Detector's Reference Zone is set to it's own Zone number, the Reference Zone for that Detector
will be set to NO REFERENCE (255).

Reference detectors will report alarms as a normal detector. However the contractor must decide if
the outputs from the reference detector are utilised.

How to set up referencing using VSC

1) Use VSC to connect to the VESDAnet
2) Once the all devices in the VESDAnet are out of the skeleton mode (when the device tree is
fully coloured), configure the VESDA zone address and location for all detectors

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3) Make sure the reference detector is appropriate labelled in the location descriptor and the
detector is not a VLS
4) Select the detectors which need to reference the reference detector and click on the
Referencing tab
5) Click on the Referencing Enabled checkbox
6) Select the reference detector from the dropdown list
7) Input the Delay time
8) Input the Dilution factor (%)
9) Once complete click on the Apply
button then click on the OK button
10) Repeat the above steps for all
other detectors which need to
have reference detection enabled
11) Select each VESDA to confirm the
smoke value reading is being
offset by the reference detector
12) Complete the commissioning
process and conduct a complete
test of the system as required.

AUTHORISED DISTRIBUTOR OF VESDA

www.flamestop.com.au | sales@flamestop.com.au

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