More Experiments With My Old Rittenhouse Smokes, & Interconnecting New Ones

[Robert11]

Hi,

Thought I'd take a second and tell everyone my latest experiment with the
old Rittenhouse wired-in smoke detectors that I removed, and replaced with
the new Kidde PI 2000 ones, and my difficulties in interconnecting them.
See my previous posts on this.

As mentioned, the interconnect line, with No detectors on it, shows 2 V AC.

So, I thought that I might learn something about how they might have been
hooked up with
the Rittenhouser's by doing a little experiment.

Took an old Rittenhouse and hooked it up on the bench by itself with 110 V
AC.
Measured between the white neutral and its interconnect wire.

Guess what: 110 V AC on it !

So, for you experts, how might they have been hooked up to the existing
interconnect
wire originally ? Does this say that there must be a relay somewhere ?

Can't imagine how it could have worked with 110 V on the interconnect lead
in the normal,
non-tripped state ?

Any thoughts ?
Bob

 

[Frank Olson]

Hi,

Thought I'd take a second and tell everyone my latest experiment with the
old Rittenhouse wired-in smoke detectors that I removed, and replaced with
the new Kidde PI 2000 ones, and my difficulties in interconnecting them.
See my previous posts on this.

As mentioned, the interconnect line, with No detectors on it, shows 2 V
AC.

So, I thought that I might learn something about how they might have been
hooked up with
the Rittenhouser's by doing a little experiment.

Took an old Rittenhouse and hooked it up on the bench by itself with 110 V
AC.
Measured between the white neutral and its interconnect wire.

Guess what: 110 V AC on it !

So, for you experts, how might they have been hooked up to the existing
interconnect
wire originally ? Does this say that there must be a relay somewhere ?

Can't imagine how it could have worked with 110 V on the interconnect lead
in the normal,
non-tripped state ?

Any thoughts ?
Bob

With nothing hooked up to the smoke alarm wiring in your house there should
be no voltage between the hot and the red wire or the neutral and the red
wire. If there is then you may have a wiring problem. Is there a sprinkler
system in your house? I've seen some residential smoke alarms hooked into a
sprinkler flow switch through a compatible relay. Failing that, the
original homeowner may have had a heat detector hooked up somewhere in
similar fashion. If there's nothing in the garage or laundry room, check
the attic.

 

[Crash Gordon®]

And, what do you have between black & white?
I doubt there was a relay on a 110 VAC smoke.
And...are we talking about a Romex 14/3 (white, black, red + ground)?

 

[Robert11]

Hi,
Thanks for help. Appreciate it.

Yes, normal 3 wire Romex 14/3 white, black, red, + Gnd

Regards,
Bob

 

[Robert L. Bass]

Yes, normal 3 wire Romex 14/3 white, black, red, + Gnd

I haven't been following this thread from the beginning so perhaps someone
else has already stated this. Standard 110VAC smoke wiring is Black=Hot,
White=Neutral, Red=Interconnect (typically 9V), Bare=Ground.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
2291 Pine View Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34231
877-722-8900 Sales & Tech Support
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
=============================>

 

[Crash Gordon®]

Does the 14/3 look original to the home? Are the locations where you expect to see smokes...or does it look like a slightly goofy retro fit?

 

[Crash Gordon®]

Thing is this is 30 year old house, to my recollection they did not require electrician smokes back then...and the simultaneous trigger of all smokes is even more recent than that.

I'm still wondering if we're looking at somekind of weird retro-job where other old wiring was used to install smokes or something of that nature.

It could be something really goofy like someone retroed this on an old 3 way lighting circuit...that the only reason I can think that the red would also be hot?? (120 hot)

 

[Robert11]

Hi,

Thanks guys for all the help.
Really appreciate it.

The wires and wiring looks original.
The smokes look original, and are probably about where one would expect them

The really funny thing, among others, is that when I put one of the old
Rittenhouse
units on the bench by itself, hooked up power to it, I measured 110 V AC
from what I am calling the interconnect wire to neutral. This is for, of
course, the untriggered state.

I can't imagine how this thing was supposed to ever work !

With 110 V on the wire all the time when not triggered, what happened when
triggered; was it supposed to go to 0 V, or... ? A relay hidden somewhere
?

Sure sounds like a weird way of doing things.

Any possibility that what I think was an interconnect wire on the old units
really was used for something else ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Crash Gordon®]

Whats the voltage on the black?
Maybe it's just wired weird somewhere.

 

[Robert11]

Hi,

The volt I measure from the red wire to the black, with all the smokes
Dis-connected is about 2 to 4 volts AC. Should of course be 0, as the
assumption would be that the red is floating.

Bob