Modify a wireless Kidde smoke detector for use in ATTIC??

[[email protected]]

Hello folks,

Can I modify a Kidde smoke detector?

I'm wondering if someone out there can help with my dilema. I live
in a neighborhood where there have been 3 lightning strikes to houses,
causing attic fires, in the past 3 years. Two of those houses burned
completely and will be razed. The third fire was seen by kids in time
to warn the occupants who were in the house at the time and they saved
the house. I would like to extend my wired smoke alarm system to
protect the attic space.

However, I do NOT want a wired alarm in the attic, because I reason
that it increases the likelyhood that a lightning strike will destroy
the entire alarm system. I thought that Kidde WIRELESS smoke alarms
offered a perfect solution. I have a wireless unit in the attic,
another attached to my wired system, which sets the whole system off,
and a third on the main floor as a backup. If a strike destroys the
wired alarm system, I've still got the redundant wireless system
working.

Unfortunately, it gets too hot in the attic and the alarm is set off
by the heat. I do not believe dust is a problem in the attic - my
air conditioner stays cleaner than my desk. The problem seems to be
just the excessive heat. So, I am looking for a solution that still
allows me to use the wireless unit.

Is anyone out there familiar enough with Kidde wireless smoke
detectors to know if I can change a component on the PCB that alters
the temperature alarm point? I'm thinking there may be a
discrete component on the PCB to accomplish the temperature sensing,
rather than a sensor built into the chip. I have not taken the alarm
apart yet because the wireless unit is expensive, but from what I can
see, there ain't much in there. It's surface mount technology on a
small PCB. Might anyone have a schematic for these things? If it
seems a modification is possible, I'll go ahead and open the unit up
and give it a shot.

Any advice is thankfully accepted. I'd like to try to get some fix
up and running soon, as lightning season is upon us, and I'd like to
spend my time researching a proper lightning protection system. In
the meantime, I still would like to protect the attic space.

Thanks.

Dan

 

[Joerg]

Hello folks,

Can I modify a Kidde smoke detector?

I'm wondering if someone out there can help with my dilema. I live
in a neighborhood where there have been 3 lightning strikes to houses,
causing attic fires, in the past 3 years. Two of those houses burned
completely and will be razed. The third fire was seen by kids in time
to warn the occupants who were in the house at the time and they saved
the house. I would like to extend my wired smoke alarm system to
protect the attic space.

However, I do NOT want a wired alarm in the attic, because I reason
that it increases the likelyhood that a lightning strike will destroy
the entire alarm system. I thought that Kidde WIRELESS smoke alarms
offered a perfect solution. I have a wireless unit in the attic,
another attached to my wired system, which sets the whole system off,
and a third on the main floor as a backup. If a strike destroys the
wired alarm system, I've still got the redundant wireless system
working.

Unfortunately, it gets too hot in the attic and the alarm is set off
by the heat. I do not believe dust is a problem in the attic - my
air conditioner stays cleaner than my desk. The problem seems to be
just the excessive heat. So, I am looking for a solution that still
allows me to use the wireless unit.

Is anyone out there familiar enough with Kidde wireless smoke
detectors to know if I can change a component on the PCB that alters
the temperature alarm point? I'm thinking there may be a
discrete component on the PCB to accomplish the temperature sensing,
rather than a sensor built into the chip. I have not taken the alarm
apart yet because the wireless unit is expensive, but from what I can
see, there ain't much in there. It's surface mount technology on a
small PCB. Might anyone have a schematic for these things? If it
seems a modification is possible, I'll go ahead and open the unit up
and give it a shot.

Any advice is thankfully accepted. I'd like to try to get some fix
up and running soon, as lightning season is upon us, and I'd like to
spend my time researching a proper lightning protection system. In
the meantime, I still would like to protect the attic space.

Don't know if they have a temp detect but if so it's most likely in the
chip. Every penny counts in producing these devices.

If you get this much lightning have you thought about installing
lightning arresters? That's what I did on our previous home because that
area saw lots of summer thunderstorms. Cost was not outrageous, maybe
$200 in materials or so plus "free" labor (me). Could have been much
less but I opted for the thickest honking conductor they had, about 1/2"
diameter. Anything metallic on the roof such as the antenna was tied in.

 

[JeffM]

Can I modify a Kidde smoke detector?

Another group deals with those items all the time:
http://groups.google.com/groups/search?q=ingroup:security+smoke-detector&scoring=d&filter=0&num=100
..
..
Look at the first line of this post.

If, *instead* of using an email address for a username,
you would use JUST A NAME--without a domain tacked on,
*THAT* won't be obfuscated by Google
and it will make it easier for others
(especially other Google Groupers).
http://groups.google.com/groups/mysubs

 

[Scott Seidman]

If, *instead* of using an email address for a username,
you would use JUST A NAME--without a domain tacked on,
*THAT* won't be obfuscated by Google
and it will make it easier for others
(especially other Google Groupers).

The email addy very clearly meets all usenet standards. This *is* a usenet
group. Perhaps dropping a note to google asking them to handle plain old
ASCII...

 

[JeffM]

The email addy very clearly meets all usenet standards.
True.

This *is* a usenet group.

....to which the OP is posting *from Google*.
You would like to believe he would have READ the group a bit
and noticed how those are munged there.
I would think a little consideration for others in the same situation
would follow.

If you respond to one of those from Google,
the blockquoting of the username is borked
and you have to make an effort to get the name.

Perhaps dropping a note to google
asking them to handle plain old ASCII...

It's *the way* Google obfuscates them that's stupid.
All other Web-based archives mung **the domain**.
Only Google is clueless enough to mung the *name* part.

I don't remember if they inherited this from Deja,
but I think they did--and never corrected it
(or maybe never even realized how stupid it is).
They don't seem eager to fix it.

 

[neon]

you can buy these things at home depot battery operatged adda sonalert to it and there you go. why wireless a sonalert is 90db pain time i guaraty you can hear it 200' away

 

[Scott Seidman]

I don't remember if they inherited this from Deja,
but I think they did--and never corrected it
(or maybe never even realized how stupid it is).
They don't seem eager to fix it.

Deja didn't mung anything, IIRC