That sounds great. Thanks for the suggestion and for conferring with your friends.
But I think my main issue right now is the power. I could maybe skip the two wires (of the four shown) that are supposed to be for interconnectivity. But going by my BRK alarm specs on the label shown in my previous picture posted here, there is an AC power input wire, and a DC power input wire to the alarm. I am not sure which, if any, wire is supposed to be neutral when installing a new alarm.
Itās not an SA76RC. Those are made by Smoke Alert / First Alert and they are battery operated.
What you have is an extremely rare BRK 79LVRI which by the way from what Iāve learned is NOT 120V AC. I believe those are wired DC powered but not even I know for sure even though I am an expert on BRK Electronics smoke alarms. There may be a side label having the model, voltage rating, branding, etc. Replacing those may be a huge task unless you just go to battery operated smoke alarms, if not your whole system may have to be converted from DC to AC.
Yours is even more special from the ones we know of to exist because of the three extra curved slots which is known as a ābanana hornā style buzzer/beeper.
Whatever you do, DO NOT TRASH THE ALARM. Sell it on eBay if anything and if you ever do that please let me know.
Taking a closer look, your best bet may be to go with wireless only alarms. As your alarms appear to be connected to 12v DC and not 120v AC. At this point I donāt think you would want to mess with the electrical wiring. Iād recommend the first alert SMCO500V as a replacement.
Yeah do not recycle or throwaway these alarms the are VERY valuable.
Soā¦the circuit breaker in my electrical panel that I turned off to power off my alarm system is actually a DC circuit breaker?
It should be a 120V breaker. I believe there is a transformer somewhere between the breaker and the power being fed to the alarms. How ever it could be connected to something like a security system.
OK. I guess it is electrician time. Ha.
I see a transformer, but Iām just a bit at a loss at this point on how to safely power your āalarm with wireless interconnectivityā suggestion. This is above my pay grade. Haha.
ā¦unless there are 9V battery powered alarms with wireless interconnectivity. But would that even be attainable with 11 alarms throughout my family memberās house?
Thanks for everyoneās input.
Wired DC!? Never heard of that before! Does that mean that thereās a transformer (& maybe bridge rectifier too) somewhere in the circuit to supply them with the correct voltage?
Really? Huh, had no idea there was a term for that older BRK/First Alert horn design.
Yes: I always try to emphasize that anytime someoneās looking to replace an alarm: a device saved is a device preserved one could say. According to the OP they have 11 of these super-rare BRK detectors, so Bassick, make sure that all 11 end up in good hands, okay? (& fully intact/working/with anything that comes with them for that matter) This community will thank you greatly for doing so.
There are such detectors, no idea what the interconnect limit or how effective each oneās range is though.
Here is the only transformer in the house. Since the security system is powered in a different way, this transformer has to be for the smoke alarms.
Couple things though: first off, its output is seemingly marked as ā24Vā, whereas those detectors need 12V. Second, unless thereās a bridge rectifier somewhere else in the circuit theyād be getting AC power rather than DC power. Third, that transformer doesnāt even appear to be connected to anything going by the lack of wires attached to the power output terminals!
Ok. Like I said previouslyā¦electrician time!! Ha.
I was referring to wireless smoke and co alarms that are powered only by batteries (2 Dubble As)
Oh, another thingā¦
Most modern security panels output 12VDC, so thereās a chance that those detectors are powered by it after all (security panels are usually powered by a 16.5VAC plug-in transformer, but thatās separate from the 12VDC that they output).
Iām not sure how modern a date you are referencing, but this alarm system has been in place for at least 40 years, according to my Father-in-Law.
āmodernā as in the start of the 21st century I guess, but youāre right: forgot about that. I have an Ademco 332R security panel from 1977, & itās 6VDC (12VDC wasnāt always the standard voltage). If that placeās security system is from 1984 as a calculator tells me though, thereās a somewhat-likely chance that itās 12VDC (if you snap some photos of it we might be able to tell).
