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Residential 110v Smoke conversion to 12vdc

Hi all,

Looking for some comments and thoughts (of the good kind) on the following.

Let's say a customer has a 3 year old house with 110 volt Battery BackUp smokes that are interconnected as per proper building code.

Let's say getting wire to the second floor is a "Major PITA".

Would you guys(gals if it applies) consider removing the smokes, pulling the

14/3 romex from the breaker panel and re-wire to an alarm panel with 12volt P/E smokes with sounders and a voltage reversal relay to get the audible in the bedrooms??

I know that may be a mouthful, but, I would assume you get the idea.

1) Have you ever done this?? 2) Would you ever do this and for what reason?? 3) Do you think a AHJ would have a hissy fit it they found out?? 4) What liability issues do you see?? 5) Besides the "Romex" not being rated FLP what else could go wrong??

Thanks in advance to all that respond.

I will sit back now and read the input.

Les

Reply to
ABLE_1
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Don't mess with the connection to the existing smokes. Save yourself a pile of grief and go for wireless units. Yes, you'll have to replace batteries, but that's a small price to pay. You won't have the headache and you'll meet all the current code requirements. As for sounders for the bedrooms, a nice loud siren in the cold air return usually does wonders. Another alternative is to wire in a compatible relay to the main level smoke and interconnect that to your alarm panel. NFPA does allow this. I would still recommend the wireless supervised smokes as well (to augment the AC ones).

Reply to
Frank Olson

Most alarm dealers are low voltage guys and not licensed electricians that work with 120 VAC. I wouldn't remove or touch any 120VAC wiring for that reason alone. I would find a way to wire regular low voltage smoke detectors (even use nice duct etc.for PITA shots) or use wireless smoke detectors.

Reply to
Roland Moore

I would only do it with ahj approval and i would make sure romex is properly marked to prevent some one in future from running 120 vac back on it.

I had exact opposite problem on an install i took over after a home owner threw original installer out and ended jailed on fraud charges over this and other customers he riipped off . idiot installer ran 22 guage wire to burg panel then tried to hook 120 volt 3 wire smokes to it needless to say only option i had was to go with 4 wire 12vdc smokes with reverse polarity.

Reply to
Nick Markowitz Jr.

You can't do that here. ( in the US)

=EF=BF=BDAnother alternative is to wire in a compatible relay to the

Reply to
Jim

I have had a situation like this.

I removed the 14/2 Romax from the breaker box and ran it to the DSC832 control panel. Then I installed the addresable module. I then removed all the smokes and installed addressable ones. Reason for this was because I think I found a few smoke detectors that were T tapped. so this was the only way that I could keep everything supervized. The house had sirens on each floor so the sound output was more than enough. The only problem I would see with this setup would be if the customer did not have a siren on the same floor has the smokes, you might not hear the fire alarm...

Has anyone else thought of this?

Reply to
Matthew Stanley

Ok I guess the thread has died. Not to revive it but just to say thanks to those that did respond. What prompted the question was a comment from a friend about the process. I agree with the comments that were given.

I know that from an electrical point of view the process will work just fine. It is the code and liability issues that it gets a little sticky.

Thanks again.

Les

Reply to
ABLE_1

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