Anyone know of a "remote sending" smoke alarm?

Got ta thinking about something. How many of us have a shop that is detached from our house? How many of us weld/cut/grind there then close the door and quite for the day? What if you got a smoldering ember in there somewhere that started a small fire several hours after you left the shop...how would you know? A smoke detector in and of itself wouldn't help a lot if no one was around to hear it. My question is this; is there a smoke detector on the market that can be activated when I leave the shop, and it if alarms, will set off a remote sounding device inside the house? Ronnie

Reply to
Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho
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David

Reply to
David Courtney

Just use smoke alarms that wire together, any one triggers all. Sold at Home Depot.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

Any smoke detector that has a relay contact could be connected to a horn or bell on the outside of the shop, so it would wake up the whole neighborhood. Might be easier than running wire back to your house.

Commercial smoke detectors should be available with relay contacts.

Richard

R> Got ta thinking about something. How many of us have a shop that is

Reply to
Richard Ferguson

||Any smoke detector that has a relay contact could be connected to a horn ||or bell on the outside of the shop, so it would wake up the whole ||neighborhood. Might be easier than running wire back to your house. || ||Commercial smoke detectors should be available with relay contacts. || ||Richard || || || ||Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho wrote: || ||> Got ta thinking about something. How many of us have a shop that is ||> detached from our house? How many of us weld/cut/grind there then ||> close the door and quite for the day? What if you got a smoldering ||> ember in there somewhere that started a small fire several hours after ||> you left the shop...how would you know? A smoke detector in and of ||> itself wouldn't help a lot if no one was around to hear it. My ||> question is this; is there a smoke detector on the market that can be ||> activated when I leave the shop, and it if alarms, will set off a ||> remote sounding device inside the house? ||> Ronnie

Texas Parts Guy

Reply to
Rex B

The real negative is that smoke alarms do not normally turn on and off. That means you'd likely trigger the alarm when you were making smoke from welding or other functions that you perform, so it might be more of an inconvenience than a service. To get around that problem, it's common to have heat detectors in place of smoke alarms. My shop is so wired, through the alarm panel, which is a zoned. That permits the shop to be independent from the house, although only one panel is used. When there is a problem, all sirens are activated, as well as the monitoring service notified.

Heat detectors aren't quite as good as smoke detectors in that it may take a little longer to trip them, but they don't cry wolf every time you use your shop. Many smoke detectors also have a heat detector built in, so you get double protection.

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

Mouser has some inexpensive little radios.

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Search on Radiotronix. I just got a transmitter, receiver and antenna for about $12. They arrived today, haven't tried them out yet. The little antenna is made by Yageo. I'll just use a pigtail antennna on the rcvr but Radiotronix sez the xmtr wants to see a matched load. I'm making a radio shutter release for a friend that wants to photograph wildlife. Required range will probably be under 50 feet.

These radios are very basic, but they're simple to apply and certainly cheap enough. They claim range of 300 feet. That would be on a good day in an open field with good antennae on both ends.

Analog Devices has more s>Got ta thinking about something. How many of us have a shop that is

Reply to
Don Foreman

Hi guy's, thought of this problem a few years ago, I mounted smoke detector's (battery opperated) in 2 workshops, with relays connected to their outputs to operate a "screamer" in the house. I then connected a relay operated by the main power switch in each workshop to disconect the battery when the power was on. This means that the smoke alarms are switched off when the power is on (as I'm there), & turned on when I'm inside for the night. I do test both every few months by burning some paper with the power off, & change the batteries yearly. One is inadvertantly tested several times during the summer months when I take the petrol mower or line trimmer through the workshop with the power turned off.

Ian Sutherland.

Reply to
Ian Sutherland

SNIP

Hey Ian,

I don't have any inter-connected alarms, so I'm not quite on topic here so I changed the Subject a bit. Each of our alarms is separate, and not (as yet) hooked up "remote". I do know I can hear the one in the garage quite well from the other end of the house, but I've followed the thread considering doing what the OP was asking about.

At our house, Santa Claus ALWAYS brings nice new batteries, placed in the "stockings hung by the fire with care". Enough for every detector (5 at the moment). Everybody knows they are for the smoke detectors only, and they get installed in a ceremonial fashion on Boxing Day. They are not "switched" as you have done, and we have never had a battery fail over a one-year period. There was one detector that was mounted to a ceiling panel that got removed during renovations and stood in a corner for almost 3 years while I worked EVERY DAY on the modernization (Riiiiight...you do believe that, don't you?), and so it didn't get the annual battery replacements. That caused quite some hunting for the little "beepy noise" the detectors make when the battery is running low. So I would have far less fear of the battery failing than I do of my leaving the lights on while I'm out of the shop. That happens every day here!!

And the cost is minimal now-a-days, less than $20 to put new Copper-Top batteries in them all. I compare that price to the first battery operated smoke detector I bought about XMAS 1978, which cost well over $75, and the very special replacement battery for it that started our little Boxing Day ceremony the following year then cost $56!!!! Hence the ceremonial homage to the replacement!! Boy, was I ever happy to see the 9-volt detectors become standard!!

I don't know but what all detectors now have this feature, but I only buy the ones that have a 10 minute "Override" button. If the detector sounds due to say burning toast or hot smoking chips, you push the little button with a ladle or stick or something, and it stops "screaming" for 10 minutes, then re-arms itself. Works great, especially when "I" cook or cut.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

Reply to
Brian Lawson

Check with a burglar alarm supply or electrical supply house, and get 12-volt smoke detectors for alarm systems - they make them with auxiliary relay contacts for setting off your remote alarm. No modifying the detector itself, which will make the insurance company happy.

You can rig them with a gel-cell battery and charger for backup (also an alarm item) and Ian's relay idea to turn them off when the lights are on (shop is occupied). Heck, buy a cheap burglar alarm control module and add the perimeter protection at the same time.

You can also get Infrared Flame Detector alarms for outside work areas around the shop - they make them for around petroleum loading facilities, and they weren't that expensive last time I looked. Nifty idea, they look for a certain flicker frequency in the IR range common with flames, but almost impossible to fake from any other source.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

SNIP Hi Brian, Just thought that I would add a couple of points, I wired mine to the in house noise maker, as I wouldn't hear the detectors in the house when asleep, the in house alarm is placed in an entrance hall just outside the bedroom door. The relay to turn the detector off is not to extend battery life, but my detectors do not have the overide function & continuously sound if I'm arc welding. Have a great day, Cheer's, Ian Sutherland.

Reply to
Ian Sutherland

Flame detectors are "line of sight" only, and also welding will set them off. Proven this in the Fire lab at uni a couple of months ago... Geoff

Reply to
geoff m

Mike Spearpoint at the University of Canterbury Fire Engineering dept has an ongoing project on smoke alarm battery life (his fridge beeps due to testing the effect of cold weather...we give him heaps) It has been ongoing for IIRC 7 years, including a trip from the UK. I have his paper here on the subject if anyone wants it, and some other stuff (or drop Mike an email). It is a while since I read it, but there was some difference in battery types, but even the cheap $1 batteries should last a year - but not much longer. and yes, spend the extra $2 on getting smoke alarms with hush buttons (wish our landlord did...) and use heat detectors, ,not smoke detectors in the kitchen. Geoffm (who just finished his last exam today for a ME(fire) and now has the joy of a thesis...)

Reply to
geoff m

I have seen Engineering data. Not unexpectedly the 9v Ultralife Lithium Cell performs longest of all; as used in mnay Long Life/10 Year alarms.

Duracell Ultra alkalines out perform Zinc Carbon type batteries in this application, by a factor of 3.5 to 1. So the cost premium is justified.

Reply to
Gel

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