Re: Hook in AC Fire Alarms to Security System

[racerx90@xxxxxxxxx]

Thanks everyone for the information. This is very helpful. I definitely
NOT an expert on this so it's good to hear from people who are. I
always try to educate myself before attempting anything, so whether
this is a good or bad idea it's nice to understand at least what the
pros and cons are for this solution.

As for reliability, I don't think this will be an issue given how close
in proximity my first AC Fire Alarm is to my panel anyway (I know with
X10/PLC systems distance can be a factor in reliability.) They actually
state that the system is extremely reliable and they have a small
"whitepaper" on the technology in case anyone is interested in reading
it on their web site: http://www.cepcoproducts.com/Whitepaper%202.html

The one thing I'm curious about is what happens in the event of a power
failure (someone already brought this up) when the power is regained to
the alarms and they chirp for a second. Will this be enough to set it
off or is there intelligence in it to only trigger for an event which
is long enough?

I'll try to call them and see if I can find out the details. If it
turns out to be too sensitive, I may just apt for a few strategically
placed wireless fire alarms in the house. I still have 20 or so
wireless zones I'm not using anyway on my panel.

Thanks again!!!

Tommy wrote:
> I looked up a link for them. www.cepcoproducts.com  They want to monitor
> smoke alarms over a PLC or "X-10" type system. Tell me i'm wrong.  As
> unreliable as x-10 can be, there is no way i or probably anyone here would
> recommend using this as an alarm signal.
>
> After looking at their website, code or not, I just could not trust a power
> line type system to operate reliably enough for a life safety application