How Do I Find the Date Code On the Encore FF345?

To find the date code on an FF345, remove the cover. On the inside of the cover is a sticker containing details about the unit. In addition to the Mark for the ETL listing, you will find the date code. It is shown as Batch: MM/YYYY where MM is the month of manufacture, and YYYY is the year.

The manufacturing date code on a component is important. In most cases, this date is used to determine whether a device is still under warranty. It can also be used to determine whether a device is affected by a particular manufacturing error or component defect. If a product is behaving abnormally, regular troubleshooting should be performed. If it is determined that the unit is bad, knowing the date code will help the installer and/or user determine if it should be replaced and if so, whether it will be covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

The FF345 is affected by one such issue. Units showing a Batch of 01/2020 are known to not work with Honeywell/Resideo Wireless All-In-One Panels, as well as the VISTA Panels using a 5800 Series Receiver. There is a strong possibility that units with date codes 02/2020 through 08/2020 are also affected with this same issue. Units with a date code of 09/2020 and later should work with these systems, but may display a trouble condition and report an E380 Sensor Trouble once the alarm signal has been cleared by disarming the system twice. If you have one of these units, the trouble display may clear on its own after some time, or it may require one last disarm at the panel in order to clear it. 2GIG, the manufacturer of the FF345 has not provided any additional information as to why this issue exists.

The Encore FF345 is not a smoke or heat detector. Instead, it is a listening device that is installed within six (6) inches of a smoke detector, combination smoke/heat detector, CO detector, or combination smoke/CO detector. It listens for the sound of the life-safety detector indicating an alarm. When it hears the unique temporal-3 sound of a smoke or smoke/heat detector in alarm, or the temporal-4 sound of a carbon monoxide alarm, it transmits a 345 MHz signal that is picked up by a security system.

The alarm system then displays and reports a fire alarm or CO alarm. This is particularly useful in homes with interconnected, high-voltage smoke or combination detectors. In these systems, if one smoke goes into alarm, all of the interconnected smokes will begin to sound. In this way, a single FF345 can be used to tie an entire house full of high-voltage, wired smoke or combination detectors to an alarm system.

As noted above, in addition to listening for the sound of smoke detectors, the FF345 can also listen for the unique sound of CO* (Carbon Monoxide) detectors. Building code requirements are constantly evolving, so where many code requirements formerly only required smoke detectors, they now may also require that CO detectors be installed. In many cases, combination smoke, heat, and CO detectors will be used. In this case, a single Encore FF345 can tie not only the smoke and heat detectors, but also the CO portion of the detectors to the alarm system. To do this, two separate zones will be used. One using a Fire zone type, and one using a CO zone type.

How to properly identify and program the FF345 versions:

• Version 1.0:
  • Always Rectangular.
  • Uses Loop 2.
  • Does not support CO Listening.
• Version 1.5+:
  • Can be rectangular or round.
  • Uses Serial Number 1 (on sticker) with Loop 1 for Fire listening.
  • Uses 2nd Serial Number (1-digit higher than SN one) with Loop 1 for CO listening.
  • Newer modules list both serial numbers on the sticker to help prevent programming errors.

*Must be version 1.5 or higher to support CO listening.