On the left the extremely common Family Gard FG777D, from 1996, does code-3, and yes that is a crack in the cover which I plan on repairing. On the right a Jameson Code One CD-2, 120 volt. basically a rebranded FireX FX1020 and sounds the same.
I also picked up 2 Kidde FireX i2020s, a Kidde FireX i5000, and a FireX 4518 but those are not rare, and in fact still considered good (the i2020s, and i5000 from 2013, the 4518 from 2008).
A bit of a warning in the rare smoke alarm department. Be aware of those NiB Sentinal 30-53s that show up from user rober_noye frequently. I purchased one last month, and got no tracking, and it didn’t show up. After 10 days I contacted the seller for a tracking number, he said he “had the flu” and would ship it the next day. A week later still no tracking number, and no signs of the detector so I opened an inquiry asking for tracking info. got no response from that, so I opened a non item received case and eBay quickly ruled in my favor and refunded me. I don’t want any of you guys to fall for this guys BS.
Also I’m taking a break from buying smokes on eBay for a while (unless an SA76RS shows up), mainly do to buying a couple of sirens (one being a Federal Model 2), and a locomotive horn.
Im glad you were able to get a refund from Ebay and that wasn’t right what he did. I have opened an ebay account but the only method I can use are prepaid cards since I don’t have a credit card. I do not have any prepared cards at the current moment however. Im still keeping my out at my local second hand shop just in case the TR77 (9 volt battery version) of the Nortron smoke alarm. I have the TR88 (120 volt AC model) that I have but not hooked up. Again anyone comes across the vintage dicon (The model the Fire Alarm Fan’s Oster alarm is based on) please let me know. Im keeping an eye out myself. Im even trying to find more vintage bells like my Gardsman one,
Here are some pics of my Nortron TR88. I have also included a pic of the owners manual plus the box the detector came in. There was no date I could find on this alarm but because it has a brass squealer my guess is it was made between 1977 and 1980. I have tried finding info on this alarm online and nothing seems to come up. Fire Alarm Fan if you know anything about these that would be great. They were popular up here in Canada in the 1970’s and early 1980s. My great aunt had one of these in her house. The TR77 I do believe and it is also featured in a 1980 episode of the Littlest Hobo (the Canadian series). The episode is called “Guinea Pig”. Also I do believe that is the TR77 in that episode too. These detectors also light up when activated. Oh yeah the neat and rare feature of this detector is that the test button is one the side. You have to slide it over to test it. That is what that tiny black rectangle is.
That detector is pretty cool, it looks similar to JCPenney’s detectors that they made back in the 80’s.
Anyway, I got a treat from a nice homeowner today at an open house; A Statitrol SmokeGard 800A! The bracket is missing and I need to get some batteries for it but still, amazing!
Thanks it is a pretty neat detector. I know the JC Penney ones from the 1980’s that you are talking about and you are right they do look similar. That detector you got is also neat and from an open house that is a real treat. I was unable to make out a date on the back of the alarm. That is late 70’s? I think those have squealers. Again thanks for sharing.
It actually isn’t date stamped so I can only guess early to mid 70’s. It has a DeltaLarm squealer, but the later nearly identical 809A had a piezo. I tried testing it with matches but was only able to get a few beeps out of it. I’ll probably need to vacuum the dust out of the sensor and clean it a little bit.
On another topic, I’m persuading my mom to let me buy the TC89B
Cool. That detector is probably as old as me (Im almost 43). What is a DeltAlarm squealer sound like? It is high pitched as most battery powered smoke alarms were in the 1970’s. I hope you are able to get it working. It looks like a neat find. I never saw those detectors growing up as a child. I saw many Sears (my parents had a unit in their old house). Plus the old Dicons with the very high pitched screech. They also had that unit too. Those things gave me nightmares as a kid. It is funny how something I was terrified of over 30 years ago now fascinates me. I hope you are able to get the TC89B too.
Wow those horns are high pitched alright. For me to listen to something like this also takes alot of guts because even though the sounds don’t bother me much they still make me jump. But hey that is a good thing and these ones sure did the job unlike detectors of today. Those smoke gards must have been only in the US because again I never saw them growing up. Where as I think the Nortron unit that I have was strictly a Canadian detector but again I could be wrong. Thanks the Nortron is a neat alarm but again I can’t seem to find any info online about it. I so want the battery version of it though and looking for it. I also saw many General Electric units (square shaped units) as well as Westclox ones as a kid too. There were definitely more units in the 1970’s than I thought. That is for sure.
Hi, I joined just to see if any of you might have more information on this smoke alarm that has been harmlessly hanging in the hall of my house until this week. Yesterday in the middle of the night it went off for about a second and then very early this morning it went off for about 30 seconds, scaring me and my dogs half to death.
It has an insanely loud buzzer type sound & a red light that has always been on, but since it never did anything we just left it alone.
Yeah, that’s a smoke alarm, and an old one indeed. Most definitely past its useful life expectancy (10 year rule) and time to replace it. Your false alarms may be due to a dirty or failing sensor. So just replace it to be safe. Any home improvement store will have one - just get one that’s 120VAC with battery backup and if there are any others in the house interconnected with this one replace them too.
Don’t throw this one out however, someone on there will offer you a couple of bucks for the old one. Some people jump to collect those old ones!
Thanks for your response. My guess is that it’s original to the house, which would be 1978ish.
We already have the nest fire/co detector in the house, so this one was just left alone because it never did anything except the red light glowing (even when the house filled with smoke from a poorly vented fireplace).
Welcome to the board. Wow that detector is an oldie for sure. Yep I would definitely replace it as 38 years is more than three times its life expectancy. Also 1978 was the time when they made the awful screechy noise which they should have never gotten rid of in favour of less effective piezos. If you are looking to get rid of it I will gladly take it off your hands. I don’t have an ebay account and Im in Canada. Even though it is a 120 volt unit, it interests me. Im looking for vintage (mainly pre 1980) battery powered units. Thanks for sharing pics of it. That is a cool looking detector and one I have not seen before. Must have been a rare unit.
Boy am I glad this thread was recovered!
Anyway, i just wanted to show everyone another open house find. The nice owner said it didn’t work but I got it working. Teledyne/Water-Pik D-1:
Size comparison to a new First Alert SA303. This thing is enormous!
Wow those things are massive. I have said this before and I will say it again but that looks like a spaceship and for its age (circa 1975) it looked futuristic. You are lucky to have it. Where did you get it? I wouldn’t mind getting one of them even though squealer horns freaked me out ( at nearly 43 ). But in actual fact that is probably a good thing. Glad you got it working as well. That thing is even bigger that the Dicon, Sears and Westclox units my parents had in their old house. Those were all 1970’s units as well.
I got it from another open house. It was in the basement, and when I asked the owner about it he said it didnt work so he let me have it. I also told him to get a new photoelectric to put down there as well. It has the exact same inside as the SmokeGard 800A and the DeltaLarm horn, so it is quite high pitched. Much higher pitch than GameAlarm’s which I’m guessing has the regular Kobishi brass squealer. I tested it with a match and it went into alarn pretty quickly, about 2 or 3 seconds after I had lit the match. I’d like to someday find the D-2 and the D-2 SonicSiren, though both are very rare
