How do conventional and addressable fire alarm systems differ?

• A. Conventional systems assign a unique address to each device.
• B. Addressable systems group devices into zones.
• C. Conventional systems group devices into zones; addressable systems assign a unique address to each device.
• D. Addressable systems report no location information.

Answer: (C)

The key idea is how devices are identified and located within the system. Conventional systems organize devices into zones, and the panel only shows which zone has activated—you don’t get the exact device-level location from the panel. Addressable systems give each device a unique address, so the panel can identify exactly which device (and often its location) triggered or reported status. This means you can pinpoint the precise device in an addressable system, while a conventional system points you to a zone but not the specific device within it. The correct description is that conventional systems group devices into zones; addressable systems assign a unique address to each device.