Does FireDeck run the 24-hour standby and 5-minute alarm battery calc automatically?

Yes. Every new project defaults to 24 standby hours, 5 alarm minutes, and a 1.2 safety factor — the customary 20% margin — and the calculation is built from the devices you actually add. All four parameters stay editable per project if your AHJ wants something different.

What alarm time should I use for a voice evac system?

Tick Voice Evacuation and FireDeck raises Alarm Minutes to 15, because NFPA 72 sizes voice systems for 15 minutes of alarm rather than 5. The field stays editable — a custom value of 15 or more is never lowered, and clearing the checkbox only reverts an untouched 15 back to 5.

My panel isn't in the panel library — can I still build the submittal?

Yes. Panel Make and Panel Model are plain text fields, so type them in and set the three panel current limits yourself; they start at 3 A NAC, 500 mA AUX, and 128 mA SLC until a library panel overwrites them. Use the Request it link under the Panel Library search to get your panel added.

Does the panel manufacturer change which battery calc worksheet I get?

Yes. The panel make decides which manufacturer workbook the submittal fills in — Fire-Lite, Notifier, Silent Knight, or Potter — so spell it the way the panel library does. System Type (Addressable, Conventional, Hybrid) is descriptive only and changes no math.

If I change the safety factor, do my earlier submittal packages change too?

No. Editing the calculation parameters or the panel affects only the next package you generate. Packages already generated are untouched and stay downloadable from the Past Submittals card.

Projects

A project is one job: one building, one panel, one submittal package. Everything the package needs — the panel make and model, the calculation parameters, the AHJ, the parties of record — lives on the project, so you enter it once and every output pulls from it.

Create a project

Open Submittals in the sidebar. That page lists every project in your shop.
Click New Project.
Enter a Project Name — the only required field. You can fill in the rest now or come back later with Edit.
Click Create Project. You land on the project's overview page.

Link a customer

Under Project Info there is a Customer search box. Type a customer name or address and pick the match. That fills in the Building Owner, the project address, and the AHJ Name from that customer's resolved jurisdiction, and it links the project to the customer record so the submittal page attaches their AHJ profile automatically. Every field it fills stays editable.

Customers come from your customer list — see Customers if the one you want isn't there yet.

Pick the panel

Use the Panel Library search under Project Info. Selecting a panel fills in Panel Make, Panel Model, and the three Panel Current Limits (NAC max in amps, AUX max in milliamps, SLC max in milliamps) from that panel's specs. If your panel isn't listed, use the Don't see your panel? Request it link to send it in.

The panel make matters beyond the cover sheet: it decides which manufacturer battery-calc workbook the submittal fills in — Fire-Lite, Notifier, Silent Knight, or Potter. With a make and model both set, the Circuits tab auto-creates that panel's NAC and SLC circuits the first time you open it, which is covered in Devices & Circuits.

System Type (Addressable, Conventional, or Hybrid) is descriptive only. It prints in the System Specifications table on the cover sheet and does not change any math — the calculations follow the devices you actually add.

Location, AHJ, and parties

Location holds the street address, city, state, and ZIP of the protected property. It prints on the cover sheet and shows under the project name on the overview page.

Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) takes two fields. AHJ Name is the fire marshal or plan-review office the package goes to. AHJ Contact is the reviewer or inspector by name or phone — leave it blank and the line is left off the cover entirely. Both print under Parties of Record. See AHJ & Compliance for the jurisdiction workspace these are matched against.

Parties holds Building Owner, Contractor Name, and Engineer of Record, all printed on the cover sheet.

Calculation parameters

These four fields drive the battery calculation, which sizes the standby battery per NFPA 72.

Standby Hours — how long the system must run on battery with no alarm. Defaults to 24.
Alarm Minutes — how long it must drive the notification appliances in alarm at the end of that standby period. Defaults to 5.
Safety Factor — a multiplier applied to the amp-hour subtotal after standby and alarm are added together. Defaults to 1.2, the conventional 20% margin.
Voice Evacuation — check Enabled for a voice/EVACS system. Doing so raises Alarm Minutes to 15, since NFPA 72 sizes voice systems for 15 minutes of alarm rather than 5. The field stays editable: a custom value of 15 or more is never lowered, and clearing the checkbox only reverts an untouched 15 back to 5.

Panel Current Limits below them are the panel's own output ceilings. They come from the panel library when you pick a panel, and the device pages use them to show how much of each circuit's budget you've consumed.

The overview page

The project overview shows the name, a status badge (Draft, Submitted, Approved, or Archived), the address, and Edit and Delete buttons. Below that:

A Generate Submittal card — the one-click path to the package, no drawings required.
Three summary cards: Devices (count, with Manage Devices), Circuits (count, with Manage Circuits), and Calc Parameters (your standby, alarm, safety factor, and voice evac settings at a glance).
Project Details and Parties cards showing what you entered.

Across the top of every project page is a tab strip: Overview, Devices, Circuits, Panels, Cut Sheets, and Submittal. All Projects at the top left takes you back to the list.

Edit or delete

Click Edit on the overview to reopen the same form, then Save Changes. Editing calculation parameters or the panel changes the next submittal you generate; packages you already generated are untouched.

Delete removes the project from your active list. You can restore it from the Archived view on the project list.

Next: add your devices in Devices & Circuits, then produce the package in Generating a Submittal. If this is your first project, start with Getting Started.