Standard 700 Key and Wiring Questions?

Hi everyone,
So I was thinking of getting a Standard Electric Time 700 pull station but I don’t have a key for it, and from what I understand, they are not easy to find. I have an old skeleton key but I’m not sure if that would work. If there’s another way to open the station without a key that would be great.

Also, the wiring on the back of these stations appears like I have to push wires into the contacts on the back. Do I have to solder them on or is it like a terminal connection. The reason I ask is because the back says something like ‘Push wire into contact’ or something.

Any insight would be great, as I really don’t want to buy something that I would be unable to use on my system.

This is a quote from a post I made a few years ago regarding the keys for these pull stations:

[quote] You can actually make one of these keys using metal wire (around 20 gauge) available at arts and crafts stores. Here's a picture of the one I made for my model 700 pull station:

The tip of the key (at the far right of the picture) has a width of eight millimetres. It can be quite tricky to get just the right size as the tip of the key has to be small enough to fit through the slot yet large enough to push the springs inside the pull station apart and around the metal peg.
[/quote]

The main problem with this type of homemade key is that it has poor torsional resistance. A skeleton key could perhaps work, but it would have to be very small since the key slot is quite narrow.

As for the wiring, you’ll need to use solid (not stranded) wire. Once you insert the wires into the slots, a mechanism inside the switch clamps them. To release them, you simply need to insert a small flat-head screwdriver into the rectangular slots adjacent to the wires.

Thanks! I might get a smoke detector instead of a pull station, but I will make a note of this if I do get the pull station.