So, I’ve finally decided to build a small hobby system in my garage (with my parents permission), and I need to know what kind of fire alarm cable works best for this type of system. Any help is greatly appreciated!
If you can afford it, go for full-on FPL. Fire alarm wire is the standard when it comes to FA systems, for obvious reasons. It can come either shielded or unshielded, which I believe only matters if you’re using an old addressable system. Most FPL comes in a two-conductor format, with a red and black wire encased in a thick red casing.
Depending on where you can get it, you can actually https://www.platt.com/platt-electric-supply/Fire-Alarm-Cables-Non-Plenum-Unshielded/Multiple/2F-115-91/product.aspx?zpid=127616 get it for a steal.
I went to Lowe’s the other day looking for a similar product, 18AWG two-conductor security wire, but all they had were 500-foot rolls at over $60 per roll. Way over my budget.
Of course, if you can’t find any of that you can get by with speaker wire or 14AWG hookup wire, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Thank you very much! I may see about purchasing some of the cheap stuff, although if not I think I have some speaker wire laying around somewhere.
I have a spool of solid 14/2 FPLP that I no longer use; if you’re interested, send me a PM. However, the reason I stopped using it is because it is such a pain to work with. If you want realism, it’s the way to go, but for just a demonstration system, you’d be better off using stranded 14-16AWG THHN wire that you can pick up at any home improvement store.
The issue with FPLP really come into play when changing devices. If you install it once (as it is designed for 
), you’re good to go. However, it is not well suited to constantly being jostled around and shoved into the junction box. The extra Nylon coating on THHN (gas/oil-resistant type) helps mitigate this problem. It bugged me to the point that I ended up ripping out the remaining FPLP on my demonstration system several months ago in favor of THHN.
For a demonstration system, 18/2 thermostat wire works well. You can find it at your local home improvement store - checking pricing on the internet, it looks like a 50’ spool goes for around $10-15 or “by the foot” at around 25 cents a foot. You might even be able to find pieces that someone bought and returned that are discounted around where they cut the wire. It’s not true fire alarm wire and not red, but for running a couple of pull stations, smokes, and horn/strobes, it will work.
Thank you all for your help! I’ll be making a trip to Home Depot sometime this week to pick up some backboxes, conduit, and cable. If anyone has recommendations for any of these things, please feel free to tell me.
Go for the ‘deep’ 2" welded conduit boxes. The extra 1/2" may not seem like much, but you will appreciate it in the long run. The square corners also make a huge difference, especially when it comes to the single-gang boxes, when compared to the drawn versions with round corners.
Just wanted to let everyone know that after two months of searching, I finally managed to purchase 100 feet of 14AWG fire alarm cable for an amazing price. I still have a few minor issues to work out, but expect my first-ever system test video to be out within the next few weeks.