Electronic Alarms and Home Security Devices - BRK smoke alarms and Ademco Vista 15 control panel

I have a home which has a series of BRK hard wired smoke alarms 120V which are interconnected and all alarms go off when one senses smoke. I have purchased an Ademco Vista 15 security system, and would like to hook up the hard wired smoke alarms, so that when they go off, the central station will be notified. Is there some sort of adapter that i need, or can I just hardwire the interconnect line between the alarms to the fire zone of the control panel.

Thanks

Richard Sullivan

No, I dont believe there is because Ademco type smoke detectors run off of 6-25vdc with a 9volt backup.

Believe me, I asked the same question a few weeks back.

If you want fire monitoring with your panel, you will need to purchase some Ademco detectors.

You will also have to keep those hardwired smokes where they are at per code.

Not so much "Ademco" smoke detectors, as alarm system smoke detectors.

They are powered by the alarm system power supply and backup battery.

There _is_ an interlink relay that can, in theory, be used to connect hardwired single station smokes to an alarm system, but no one ever uses them because you still have to wire the connection to the alarm system, and the alarm system smokes are generally far better devices.

Go to www.systemsensor.com. They are one of the industry standards, and the information on smoke detection on their site is invaluable.

Thanks for the info, I will check out the web site.

Richard

You could add a relay to th smoke loop to trip the panel. Wire the hot and the interconnect to the coil and the fire input to the NO contacts.
Not UL or NFPA standard, but it will workfor notification.

Could you be a little more specific, when you refer to the hot wire, you mean from the smoke alarm, and what do you mean by coil.

Thanks

Richard

Trying to tie 120v smokes to an 12v alarm system can be tricky if you aren't comfortable working with 120v circuits.

http://www.brkelectronics.com/safety_products/relays.htm

The link above will take you to the BRK website. Look at the install instructions for using these relays with their smokes to see if this is something you want to tackle.

Again, for the typical installation, this can often be as much hassle as simply running the wiring for proper system smokes.

Thanks,

This was just what I was looking for.

Richard

The company I work for used to tie in 110V smokes to alarm systems all the time but have since been mandated by the state to disconnect any we find. I will say that in my experience they cause a LOT of false alarm problems where you'll get a slight voltage flux and the alarm will go off. This can turn into a huge problem if you're currently being monitored.
the way I've seen it done is to get a 2-conductor from your control panel to the nearest smoke, especially easy if it's in the basement with the control panel. Untie the Red wire splice and tuck both wires from your alarm panel in with the red wire splice and tie it back together. From here you will hook up the an RBSN Relay using the Positive & Negative terminals. Run another wire from the Relay off of the NO (Normally Open) and C (Common) Terminals to a zone on your control panel.
Don't forget to turn the power off to the smokes first.
The other way to do it is to use a Timer Model UT-1 this will cut down a bit on the false alarms. With this you would tie your two wires from the smoke onto the PWR and GND terminals with a wire running from the NO and Comm to the panel.
Basically how it works is that when the smoke goes off you're just getting current from the wire which energizes the relay or timer which clicks into an alarm.
Good Luck