Napco Magnum 900 False Alarms - Fire

25 year old AC wired smokes attached to a 25 year old 900 with a dead battery and no code...sounds like the service calls I get on Sunday nights at 3am.

Time for a total remodel IMO.

| > Any ideas on why I'm getting the false alarms? Does seem to happen on | > the colder nights. Don't want the house to be unprotected, but man | > does that siren make a heck of a wake-up call when it goes off. Also, | > the battery went bad a while back and has not yet been replaced, so to | > silence the alarm I have to go and unplug the transformer. We do not | > use the berg side and have no centeral station so most of the time we | > don't even have a password set which is another reason I have to pull | > the transformer to shut it up. | >

| > Any ideas? | >

| > Roveer | >

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Smoke detectors are not designed to last forever. You will need to replace all the smoke detectors. Though heat detectors can last much longer, it would be a good idea just to replace them all.

Jim Rojas

I believe the instructions with most smoke detectors is to replace after 10 years. So now would be the time to do it.

battery and no code...sounds like the service calls I get on Sunday nights at 3am.

They're probably not 110VAC smokes. Sometimes clients think the smokes are 110 when they're actually 12/24VDC models powered from the alarm. One clue is that the gentleman mentioned "heats". You won't find too many of those wired to 110VAC.

Regards, Robert L Bass

I have run into that kind of configuration though...wonky at best.

I just walked on two prewired by others jobs because the prime contractor wanted me to connect to the AC smokes, told him it was stupid and dangerous, he insisted that it was ok...I told him then he should do it on HIS license. He didnt even run firewire to them just plain old quad. There's still a buncho idiots out there I tell ya!

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Same here. Lot's of "AC" systems in Edmonton (Alberta). Some got pretty creative.

Sometimes it gets scary out there.............

Looks like my smokes are not AC but rather being fed off the 24v alarm. Now, based on what I've read here, it looks like I should just replace the whole lot since it's been quite a few years. I did notice that I had a heat detector in the attic, round disk about 4" with a smaller round thing in the center. Same one that I have in the kitchen. The other heats are all over the house (including bedrooms) and maybe 1" in diameter with a smaller disk in the center. I never felt comfortable with these since it would take a pretty big fire to actually set one off. I had put free standing smoke detectors in all of the bedrooms, but would like to add smokes in place of these heats. Since all of this stuff would be powered from the alarm are there calculations needed to not overload the 24v that the alarm produces. What I'm meaning to say is that if I just swapped the heats to smokes would that overload the alarm?

Also, is it possible that the heat in the attic is toast and when the nightly cold air gets to it, could that be setting off the alarm? Or possibly the one in the garage? Every where else is pretty much heated space.

Roveer.

Crash Gord> I just walked on two prewired by others jobs because the prime contractor

I've never had a heat go bad on it's own...usually someone tries to take it down and breaks the little center thing. In the attic (if I can be convinced to install one there) I put 200 degree fixed, same in garages, in the house I put 135 degree rate of rise.

I believe the 900 was 12v like most residential alarms, not 24v. If you replace the smokes use all the same type, and you'll have to look up the current draw in alarm for all devices and check the Napco 900 specs and see where you're at with battery calcs and if the panel can handle all your devices. If it can't you can add a secondary aux power supply AND battery for other devices (not the smokes). Heats don't draw anything so they dont come into play when making your calculations. But, if you replace the heats with smokes..do the calcs.

Heats are property saving devices, smokes are life safety...oranges and tangerines.

It doesn't take as much as you would imagine to set off a heat. I'd never put a smoke (not a normal one anyway) in an attic.

If the attic heat is a rate of rise...maybe you'd get a false out of it...kinda doubt it though.

FIRST replace the system battery...my guess is that is part of your problem. Then clean the smokes for now,,,but they should be replaced, imo.

good luck!

hth

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