4 wire smoke alarm

Goldfix

Member
I getting a fire trouble on the keypad. I have 4 wire smoke detector system. I have 3 smoke detector 1 on each floor. Ther are connected in series and they are not battery operated not sure if that makes a difference. They are powered by electricity. I set my smoke detector for zone 1, any tips to correct this
 
I getting a fire trouble on the keypad. I have 4 wire smoke detector system. I have 3 smoke detector 1 on each floor. Ther are connected in series and they are not battery operated not sure if that makes a difference. They are powered by electricity. I set my smoke detector for zone 1, any tips to correct this

Are the LED(s) on the smokes blinking, to indicate they at least have power? What model smokes? Check the manual to see if the color/number of blinks indicates trouble with the smokes themselves.

Power for the smoke zone should come from Saux+ and Neg. Zone definition of 10.

Also, you need to make sure there is an End Of Line Resistor on the last detector in the chain. You should also have a power supervision relay there as well, but for testing purposes ONLY, the EOLR will do.

4 wire smokes work the same as a regular 4 wire zone so you can use a standard 2.2Kohm end of line resistor across the signal contacts (NOT the power contacts) on the last detector in the chain.
 
the green led light is always on indicating me that power does go to it. Althought its not the m1 that is supplying power to it. Their is also a red light that will blink every now and then. Everything looks fine to me. The smoke detector is places at SAUX + and neg. Zone defefinition is 10 but i also tried 11 so see if anything changes but all is tha same. I'm not sure if a resistor is installed since all worked on the previous alarm. Can i install the resistor at the panel line output 2 since I dont know which one is the last on in the line
 
the green led light is always on indicating me that power does go to it. Althought its not the m1 that is supplying power to it. Their is also a red light that will blink every now and then. Everything looks fine to me. The smoke detector is places at SAUX + and neg. Zone defefinition is 10 but i also tried 11 so see if anything changes but all is tha same. I'm not sure if a resistor is installed since all worked on the previous alarm. Can i install the resistor at the panel line output 2 since I dont know which one is the last on in the line

Output 2 has nothing to do with fire trouble. If you were seeing Output 2 trouble, then yes, but you said Fire Trouble so its something on the fire zone.

Wherever you put the EOLR will effectively end the fire zone. So if you put it on the 1st in the series you'll have one fire alarm. 2nd, you'll have 2, etc.

If they are truly in series (daisy chained) then check the wiring at each detector. The last one in the chain wont have a set of wires being output from it, every other one will.
 
Ok so I inspected all 3 smoke detector and this is what I found. Each smoke detector as 3 wires coming out of it (red-black-orange) and connected as follows:

1- Basement is connected: Black wire with 2 other blacks, white with 2 other white and the orange with 1 red

2- Main floor is connected: Black with 2 other blacks, white with 2 other white and the orange with 2 reds

3- 3rd floor is connected: Black with 3 blacks. white with 3 whites and orange with 1 red.

If my unexperience knowledge is right, the one in the basement is bring current to the main floor smoke detector by the red cable and the 2nd floor is feeding the 3rd floor this is whu the main floor detector is the only one with 2 reds.

Now my question is, if I have 3 wire coming out of the smoke detector is it right to say I have a 2 wire system? However I do have 4 wire going to the ELK panel. Should I be using the 2 way method to connect the elk? Hope Im getting somewhere
 
Can you get the exact model of your smoke detectors for us?

What your describing sounds like normal interconnected 120VAC smoke detectors with no connection for LV, but without seeing a manual I honestly have no idea.
 
Thats a 120V model. Not directly connectable to the Elk, Im not sure if there are ways to make it work but last I read the consensus is its better/safer/more code acceptable to install a separate run of 12V detectors back to the Elk.
 
Can you get the exact model of your smoke detectors for us?

What your describing sounds like normal interconnected 120VAC smoke detectors with no connection for LV, but without seeing a manual I honestly have no idea.

Yes it it 120VAC. since the orange wire is used to interconnect all 3 smoke detectors I guess I need to use the option of a 2 wire smoke detector however the alarm cable that comes to the panel has 4 wires. Any suggestions how to connect this?
 
I think it's a safe bet that the "alarm cable that comes to the panel" has absolutely nothing to do with the smoke detectors. If you can determine what it is truly connected to, then we can answer your questions much better.
 
When the builder connected the previous alarm system he marked the wires. This one is marked smoke 2nd floor. When the smoke alarm would go off with the previous system the central would get an alert but the Alarm wouldn't ring
 
with normal 120V interconnected smokes, they're not directly hooked to the panel - unless you have an auxiliary signaling device that converts to a LV-connectable relay; That said, as mentioned above, that's a highly heated issue on this board and in general not recommended for anything other than to alert you.

What's far more likely is that somewhere in your house you have a non-matching single smoke detector that is part of the alarm panel and not part of the original interconnected smoke alarm system. That's also the generally preferred way here on the forums to do.
 
Ok so how do I connect this. The wire that was connected to my old panel says smoke 2nd floor. Are you saying I should also have another wire in addition to the wire already marked?
 
We are only guessing, but our best guess is that you have a fourth smoke somewhere. Find it, tells us how the wires are connected, and we will be able to tell you how to connect it to the ELK. Beyond that your other option is to guess which wires are power and which wires are signal and try all of the combinations. I don't recommend this approach.
 
I am able to say that I do not have a 4th smoke. My alarm panel is in the basement, the wire that goes to the alarm panel say "smoke 2nd floor", but I do have a smoke in the basement as well that is part of the 3 that's are linked together. Does anyone know if their is a reason or explanation why the wire from the smoke to the panel comes from the 2nd floor and not the basement?

Am I looking at a 4 wire system or 2? 3 wire are found in the smoke but the wire coming to the panel has 4 wire
 
Back
Top