Bypassing Security System with Smoke Alarms


  #1  
Old 04-20-18, 05:28 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 5
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Bypassing Security System with Smoke Alarms

My wife and I bought a house a couple years back that came with a DSC-1832 security system. We had no interest in a security system so we basically ignored it until one day the yellow trouble light came on and it started beeping every 5 seconds. Since we didn't use the security system anyways I went down to the control panel and unplugged it - no more beeping.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. One of our smoke detectors was going off erratically in the middle of the night and upon further inspection all of the smoke detectors (ionization) were expired. I ordered replacements and were installing them when I realized there was a photoelectric smoke detector both on the ground floor and in the basement that had no power. Turns out they are hard-wired through the security system and when I unplugged it these two smoke detectors were turned off.

I would like to have both types of detectors operating for added security, but I don't know if there is a way to bypass the security system and still have the photoelectric detectors functioning. Ideally, I'd like to turn off the telephone monitoring on the security system (which I believe is what causes the trouble light), but I don't have the installer code and the installer won't give it to me. I haven't yet checked to see if the lockout was applied, but I'd prefer to avoid re-programming the unit from factory anyways since I have no experience with alarm systems.

If I were to directly wire the smoke detectors to the AC coming in from the wall outlet would the alarms work or do they need to be wired into the siren on the security system? I know the stand alone units have built in "speakers" but not sure if these photoelectric units do as well. Thanks for any input!
 
  #2  
Old 04-20-18, 04:00 PM
M
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Posts: 15,531
Received 293 Upvotes on 268 Posts
No, those smoke detectors require the 12VDC power from the alarm system, and rely on the alarm sounder to provide an alert.

The basic configuration for one of these isn't too difficult (if it's not installer locked). If you aren't planning to use the intrusion alarm features, it's easy enough to set the system up for minimal function.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: