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Fire Alarm Integration

The AccessCore One controller has a dedicated fire alarm input. On a fire condition it drives the door lock relays to the unlock state so doors release for egress. This page covers landing the fire contact on the FIRE input, setting the FIRE_MODE jumper, and verifying release behavior.

:::danger Life-safety wiring — read first The controller's fire input is one layer of egress release. It does not replace code-required release hardware. Maglocks and other fail-safe locking on egress doors must release on both a fire alarm condition and total power loss — using fail-safe power, dedicated fire-alarm interface relays, and any other release devices your local code requires.

Coordinate this connection with the fire alarm system and its contractor, follow NFPA 72 and all local fire/building code, and get AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) sign-off. Do not use this access controller's fire input as the sole egress release where code requires a hardware release path. :::

The FIRE input (J13)​

The fire input is a 2-pin dry-contact input on the bottom edge of the board, silkscreened FIRE. It accepts a dry (volt-free) contact from the fire alarm panel or an interposing fire-alarm relay. No external voltage is applied to this input.

Locate it on the bottom edge: the FIRE_MODE jumper sits to the left of the FIRE connector, and the shield/ground GND terminal block is to its right.

Wiring the fire alarm panel dry contact to FIRE and GND, with the FIRE_MODE jumper

PinSilkscreenFunctionWire to
1FIREFire alarm input (dry contact)One side of the fire panel's dry contact / interface relay
2GNDInput common / contact returnOther side of the same dry contact

The connector is silkscreened FIRE; the second pin is the fire input's own ground return. Do not confuse it with the separate GND shield/common terminal block to the right of J13 — land the fire contact's two legs on J13's two pins.

:::caution Dry contact only Land a dry (volt-free) contact between FIRE and GND. Do not apply any external voltage to this input — drive it only from a relay contact or a volt-free output on the fire alarm interface. :::

The FIRE_MODE jumper (NO / NC)​

The FIRE_MODE jumper (silkscreen positions NO / NC) tells the controller how the fire contact reads in its normal, non-alarm state. Set it to match the contact the fire alarm system provides.

Jumper positionSilkscreenFire contact in normal (no-alarm) stateFire condition occurs when
Normally openNOOpen between FIRE and GNDContact closes
Normally closedNCClosed between FIRE and GNDContact opens

Where the fire alarm system can provide it, prefer a supervised normally-closed arrangement:

  • The fire contact is closed during normal operation.
  • It opens on a fire alarm.
  • Because the wire is closed in the healthy state, a cut or broken wire also reads as "open" — so a severed conductor is treated as a fire condition (fail-safe) rather than silently disabling release.

Set FIRE_MODE to NC for this arrangement.

:::caution Defer the final arrangement to the fire contractor / AHJ The normally-closed/supervised approach above is the safer default, but the actual contact type, supervision scheme, and interface method are determined by the fire alarm contractor and the AHJ. Set FIRE_MODE to match what they specify and sign off on — do not assume. :::

Behavior on a fire condition​

When the fire input is asserted, the controller switches the door lock relays to the unlock state so doors release for egress.

  • The relay outputs are dry Form C contacts (COM / NO / NC) — see Wiring Locks. The unlock state changes which contact is closed (COM–NO closed, COM–NC open), switching the lock circuit you wired through them.
  • A fail-safe lock (maglock) wired through COM + NC de-energizes and releases in the unlock state — the NC contact opens and drops power to the lock.
  • A fail-secure lock (electric strike) wired through COM + NO: egress on a fail-secure door is always available through the door's mechanical hardware (lever/panic device), independent of the strike's electrical state.

:::caution Which doors release A fire condition releases the controller's lock relays. Whether a given opening actually unlocks for egress depends on the lock type and how it is wired (fail-safe vs. fail-secure). Confirm the egress behavior of every door against the life-safety design and code requirements — do not assume the fire input alone makes all openings free-egress. :::

Independent hardware fire release is required​

The controller's fire input is additive to — never a substitute for — the code-required hardware release. For a compliant install, the fire-alarm release (and the manual push-to-exit) must interrupt lock power in hardware at the power supply / relay board, independent of the controller electronics (IBC §1010.2.11; NFPA 101 §7.2.1.6; NFPA 72 fire interface).

  • Connect the fire-alarm release input to the building fire alarm panel's listed dry-contact output.
  • Ensure fire release also drops lock power at the supply / relay board, so doors release even if the controller is unpowered or offline.

See Listing & Compliance (Condition 4).

Verify after installation​

With the system live and the fire alarm system available, verify the integration end to end. Run the fire-side activation per the fire alarm contractor's test procedure — do not improvise on a live life-safety system.

  1. Confirm the FIRE_MODE jumper matches the fire panel contact (NO or NC per the contractor's spec).
  2. With doors secured and the system live, activate the fire input using the fire contractor's documented test method.
  3. Confirm the affected door relays release and that egress doors unlock as designed.
  4. Restore the fire input to its normal state.
  5. Confirm the doors re-secure (relock) and return to normal access control.
  6. Record the test result with the fire alarm system documentation and obtain AHJ sign-off as required.

:::danger Do not leave the site without verified egress If any egress door does not release as the life-safety design requires, the system is not safe to leave in service. Stop, correct the wiring/jumper/lock-power path, and re-test until egress release is confirmed and signed off. :::