4-Wire Smoke Detectors

Smoke detectors represent an important addition to any building. Thousands of lives are saved every year thanks to these devices. You never know when a fire may occur, and you will want to be ready before one happens in your home or business. Unlike high-voltage smoke detectors, low-voltage 4-wire smoke detectors can integrate directly with hardwired alarm systems. This makes them ideal for many users who want to achieve reliable fire detection in their homes.

Users have two main choices when it comes to hardwired smoke detectors for alarm systems. These choices are 2-wire smoke detectors and 4-wire smoke detectors. The advantage that 4-wire smoke detectors offer is that they can be configured with any hardwired system zone. But the downside is that you will also need to add a relay to cut power to the device when an alarm is cleared. This is necessary for resetting the device and getting it to stop sounding after an alarm.

Integrating your smoke detectors with your alarm system offers several key advantages. The main reason people do this is so that they can receive automatic emergency dispatch in the event of a fire. When a 4-wire smoke detector activates it sends an alert to the security panel. The panel will then go into a fire alarm and notify a central monitoring station. A trained dispatcher will then know to contact the fire department in your area. Please note that you will need a monitoring plan that includes connectivity with a central station for this to work.

Another advantage to integrating your smoke detectors with your alarm system is that you can receive remote alerts regarding any system activity. This requires an interactive service platform, like Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com. These platforms send alerts to the end user through text messages and/or emails. This way you can know about any activated smoke detector as soon as it happens, even if you are away from home. You will need an alarm monitoring plan with access to Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com to do this.

Most smoke detectors use one of two methods to detect smoke. There are photoelectric smoke detectors and ionization smoke detectors. A photoelectric smoke detector has a small internal light that will refract when smoke enters the chamber. An ionization smoke detector will experience a disruption of internal current flow when smoke enters the chamber. Both types work very effectively, but we recommend using photoelectric smoke detectors if possible.