They do have mechanical horns. I have one and I made a video of mine… There is some cursing. By the way this is an older Youtube account that I forgot all login details for. So these videos are stuck on this old channel, and any new videos will be on my Willbill808 account.
Apparently they were made at least since the early 80’s until the late 80’s. The earlier models were FX1014, and just had a hot and neutral wire coming out the back of the detector. They weren’t interconnectable. Later models added the Orange interconnect wire, such as the FXW-1A (shown) and the FX1020. These models are compatible with the old Firex relays I posted. All of these detectors had the mechanical horn, that sounds like a miniature AC Edwards Adaptahorn. Very growly and rough sounding.
Here is one of the FX1014 models (pre-interconnect).
My church has a working FX1020 with a continuous mechanical horn. I never really understood the mounting system. Does it twist off of a mounting bracket, directly mount to the box (by opening the cover), or snap off of a mounting bracket?
It twists off a bracket that is screwed to a junction box. There is a little rectangular plastic tab sticking out from the side of the base. If you pull that tab out of its hole, it allows the detector to be twisted off its base. The cover is sealed on these detectors.
My Lifesaver/Fyrnetics model 1200 has the same horn used in the FireX FXW-1A and FX1020. It is very loud. Here’s a video of how it sounds:
I wonder if the FX1020 in my church uses one of those relays since there is a fire alarm system there. If it does, it probably sets off the system if it goes off. Now that I think about that, I wonder if the BRK 1839ACI and the Earli-Gard EGD-5S use a relay to connect to the alarm system.
It is illegal to connect 120VAC smoke alarms to a fire alarm or security panel. Not only is it in violation of electrical codes (low voltage and high voltage in same box), but every time one of these alarms goes off from any little thing, the fire department is automatically called. It’s just a bad idea. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen. It is unlikely that these smoke alarms are tied into the alarm panel, but it is possible.
Are there any pull stations or system smoke detectors in the building? If not, the fire alarm panel could be just monitoring the sprinkler system.
I guess they’re not connected to the panel. They do have a single commercial/system smoke detector, and it’s right on the ceiling by the panel. They really should get more system smoke detectors as there is only one. They also have a lot of pullstations, which are Cerberus Pyrotronics MS-51’s, and the alarms are Wheelock NS’s. The panel is a Cerberus Pyrotronics SXL-EX. As far as I know, there are no sprinklers in the entire building.
Wow. Sounds like a total slack-job. They need 24 volt system smokes for full coverage in the building. AC smoke alarms are not listed for that use, and they are not electronically monitored. Anyways, my 76RS and my 1839N came today, and I am working on a video!
Great video!
I absolutely LOVE that SA76RS! It looks like it has the same brass squealer horn as my Entronic Vigilante. The sensor looks cool also. Does it contain Am 241 or Ra 226? Also, in the video, the horn sounded at two pitches. Which pitch is the real pitch, the higher one, or the lower one?
The FG1839N is also interesting. It’s unique because it has a continuous sounding piezo, which may be rare(?). That is, of course, compared to the SA86RAC which does the 4/6, exactly like a SA67D.
The SA76RS sounds at the two pitches randomly when you push the test button. But, when tested with smoke/fire, it sounds at the higher pitch. That squealer horn was very commonly used. It probably is the same horn as in your Entronic smoke alarm. The 76RS’ sensor contains 5 microcuries of Americium 241.
The 1839 is cool, the horn actually modulates at 60Hz from the AC current. So it kind of has a Spectralert-like tone to it, but far less rough.
Check out my new video in the User Created section… It shows me testing the 76RS and 1st gen 67D with flame from a BIC lighter.
No problem! I notice on the RS the sensing chamber is coffin shaped, and there are a lot more radiation warnings. I guess back then they were a lot more concerned about radiation.
That looks pretty rare! I would guess it’s from the late 80’s, since in mentions that the cover is sealed. I wonder if it has a piezo horn or a mechanical horn?
There were piezo alarms as early as 1980. That was when they first really started appearing. Take the 1981 Sears smoke alarm for example- it had a piezo 5/6 alarm in it.
I used to have one of these 10 years ago… I wish I didn’t completely take it apart and Frankenstein it.
