Question:
Help me anything about 120 volt smoke detectors

Answer: I have been asked on a number of occasions by customers if I can hook there 120 volt smoke detector to the alarm system as opposed to wiring in low voltage detectors thereby ending up with two detectors in one location, the 120 volt one and the alarms low voltage one.

Here's the problem.

First: Under the Canadian Electrical Code an electrician must supply the house with line voltage smoke detectors. If he doesn't he cannot get his final inspection passed. However these line voltage smoke detectors are not monitored through a CS.

Second: As long as our alarm control panel is ULC approved we can install smokes on the alarm system and the electrician does not have to supply line voltage smokes. However, our smoke detectors must be installed and working at the time of final electrical inspection or the house will not pass.

Third: When we rough wire houses for alarm we rarely know the name of the customer at the time of rough in let alone if they are going to buy the system with smoke detectors. Therefore the electrician has to wire in his line voltage smokes just in case. Our wire cannot go into the same electrical box as his because low voltage and high voltage cannot be in the same junction box under the Canadian Electrical Code. Therefore the customer ends up with two smoke detectors side by side on the ceiling.

The ideal situation would be to hook the line voltage smoke detectors to the alarm. Delta-Vision used to have a relay designed for doing this, but they tell me they no longer make it. Does anyone know where I could find a device that can hook 120 volt smoke detectors to a low voltage alarm system?