Re: Problem In Daisy-Chaining 3 New Kidde Smoke Alarms; Help Please

[Pete Edmonds <nitechuser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a thought make sure there are no other smokes (ie one you missed)
Pete
On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 17:46:01 -0400, "Robert11" <rgsrose@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Hello:
>
>Boy, I have just finished spending several hours trying to figure out what
>is wrong,
>and am still stumped.
>Would really be most appreciative for any thoughts on the following:
>
>My son moved into a 30 year old house a few weeks back.
>The house has 3 AC wired-in Rittenhouser smoke alarms.
>No real way of knowing, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were originally
>put in when the house was built, some 30 years back.  But they are possibly
>newer ?
>
>The three units apparently are wired to communicate with each other; I guess
>that if one goes off, they all are supposed to go off.  They have a third,
>Red, wire daisy chaining from one to another.
>
>Didn't really think they did this daisy-chaining concept to fairly recently,
>so was a bit surprised to see it.
>
>I just put in 3 new Kidde Model PI 2000 (dual, photoelectric/ionization)
>alarms.
>Also AC wired in.  The "seem" to work fine.
>
>But, if I hook up the red wires to daisy chain them together, they all keep
>going off, sequentially.
>
>Disconnecting the red wires, reverts them back to apparently normal
>operation.
>
>The house is a bit far from me, and won't be down there again for a week or
>two.
>I mention this, because I "now" think that it might have been a good idea to
>put a meter on the red wire and check if there is any voltage on it ?
>
>My undertstanding with the Kidde units, although I am not really sure, is
>that there should normally not be any voltage on the red wires (relative to
>ground) unless one of the units is tripped.
>Should have checked.
>
>Guess I assumed that the daisy chaining "concept" would be the same for the
>old units as it is for the new ones ?
>
>Is it possible that these old Rittenhouser units have the red, daisy link,
>wire always hooked up to some voltage, or...?
>
>Am I possibly missing anything when I wired them in ?
>
>Any thoughts on what might bwe the problem, and how to correct it would be
>most appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Bob
>

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