Testing with Fike

When we bring new test solutions to the market, it is vital that they are compatible with detectors from all the world’s leading manufacturers. As universal solutions, fire engineers and technicians rely on us to develop tools that work with all detectors, both new and old and irrespective of brand and model. With so many detector makes and models, this is no small challenge – you only have to look at the detectors you work with to see that that they all come in different shapes and sizes.

When we say ‘world’ we really mean ‘world’, our testers are used around the globe within thousands of sites every day – from office buildings, skyscrapers and heritage sites to freighters or cruise ships. Our testers are universal test solutions that are distributed to over 140 countries.

We are very proud to have a long-standing relationship with Fike and when it came to the development of Testifire XTR2 tester, Fike were there from the start and that’s literally years of working in partnership. As far back as when XTR2 was just a concept on paper, Oliver Doerle and Stephen Beadle (from our marketing team), met with Ross Evans and the Fike team to get initial feedback on what the solution was looking to achieve, and how it would need to work in order to provide compatibility with Fike detectors.

As the project progressed from concept to Alpha and Beta stages, we continued to meet regularly - testing protypes and making product improvements. Not only did Fike provide us with their latest panels and detectors for our test lab, but we also spent hours together at the Fike office in Wales testing different iterations of XTR2 to ensure optimal performance with Fike detectors. An interesting fact, the first customer site the Detectortesters team went to after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted was the Fike office in Wales for some lab testing with our early red XTR2 prototypes!

One key win from this extensive testing was to optimise the heat testing of Fike’s Twinflex and Sita detector ranges. As part of this, we developed a specific adaptor (Product Code: TESTIFIRE-FA-001) that is easily slid onto the heat element in the XTR2 test cup - directing the heat air flow perfectly to the detector’s heat thermistor and allowing for simple high heat testing

Detector compatibility and approvals are vital, making collaboration with leading detector manufacturers such as Fike a key aspect when it comes to developing new solutions. Our thanks to Ross Evans and the team at Fike, for their time and feedback on XTR2, having worked with the team since the start of the project, we look forward to more collaborations in the future!