Posted: 6/23/2007 7:43:47 PM EDT
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There was an accident in the kitchen tonight and the two smoke alarms kept going off. There is no battery or reset button on them and my autistic son was having a holy shit storm screaming and covering his ears. So I ripped the smoke detectors out of the wall. (Big spark and all not too smart) Anyway after surveying my damage after the smoke cleared, I don't know what the hell I got coming out of my wall?  This first picture the top wire is totally exposed copper wire. I don't know what that is for.  This second picture is the other smoke alarm. There is still some of the wires connected for the smoke alarm. Again the 3rd wire that is exposed.  The 3rd picture is the smoke alarm I ripped out. So how do I reconnect this crap? Should there be those exposed wires? Where does the red wire go in the second picture, to the copper one>? LMK if anyone can help. 
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WRONG and very dangerous The orange wire is the alarm circuit, if you had a central panel that would alert the FD that would be the wire for it. Black to black, white to white, plug in the molex connector, wire nut or elect. tape the orange wire as it is not used, done. |
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For units that are used as single station do not connect the red wire to anything, just cap it off. The red wire is normally used to interconnect all sensors in your home so that if one goes off - they all go off. Black wire = hot side of ac line white wire = neutral side of ac line red wire = multi station interconnect ETA: At least this is how the fire alarms in my house are setup and wired.... |
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The red wire coming from the connector is the "signal wire" so that all smoke detectors can go off at once. Usually there will be a red wire in the wall that matches it, but older homes don't usually have one, so it might be extra. copper is ground, B/W are the circuit and neutral as described above. ETA: If the romex is only black/white/copper, then you don't likely have interconnected alarms. If they used a 3 conductor romex (it will have a red wire in it) then that is probably the signal between detectors. |
Wanna have fun? Interconnect smokes that are on different circuits (separate neutrals)... then try to troubleshoot the interconnect failure. 
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You're fucking KIDDING, right ?! Colorblind AINT your problem.... I and a couple others here in this thread ARE real-life professional electricians. If you don't know what the hell you're talking about, please don't offer "advice" that could get someone hurt. Let those of us who do this shit for a living everyday handle tell the guy the RIGHT thing(s) to do, so he doesn't roast his detectors and/or possibly zap himself in the process...  And do yourself a favor... Don't mess with the wires in yours or anyone else's home. Seriously... |
Exactly... Of course, coming from a brother electrician, I'd HOPE so.  Just hook up black to black, white to white, and put a wirenut or piece of black tape over the orange/red wire to insulate it from touching anything. That wire goes hot when the detector is in alarm and since yours sure don't look TO be interconnected, it needs to be capped off to be safe. Now, they damn well SHOULD be interconnected, but who the hell knows what kind of dickwad local electrical inspector you have there. That's pretty pathetic. Romex for smoke power is generally accepted as regular sheetrock walls give a long enough fire rating themselves. Really SHOULD be in MC or pipe, but it's residential... Not usually done for the 2 or maybe three smokes required. |
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Thanks Guys! Ok black to black, white to white , cap off the red wire. Then plug the smoke alarm back in. The ground wire doesn't connect to anything? That doesn't seem right. What do I do with it? Just shove it back in the wall? here's the picture of the detector I forgot in my first post 
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Exactly.... What WOULD you connect the ground wire to, on an all plastic device ?  Just stuff it all neatly back into the wall box... Though, now that I look at it, it doesn't look like there IS a box, just romex spliced in the wall... Hope I'm wrong.... Jeez... |
 (Arc-Fault goggle in place!)
Probably for a remodel / retrofit to comply with a hardwire ordinance. I'm actually more purprised that the smokes weren't the battery backup type. You should see some of the "work" that folks do around here to comply before they sell their house. |