Smoke Alarm help

[RyanCheetham]

This is a strange fault i have never come across and i am thinking the answer is to just replace the whole unit. I recently converted the lights in my nans hallway from a pendant to 4 downlights. Being a bungalow it only had one mains smoke alarm in the hallway with the feed taken from the light. I JB'd the switch line and loop in loop outs and moved the smoke alarm 40mm to the left to align it better for asthetics. The alarm worked fine before but after it just goes off randomly and frequently. I have blown out the detector to blow all debris out and the alarm has a shade over 450mm either side of it before the downlights edge so i don't think that is the issue. Quite frankly i am stumped by this. Any one have any ideas?

 

[Guitarist]

Loose connection? Some models go off when power is applied, so that could explain the intermittent nature.

 

[RyanCheetham]

All connections are sound. It is an Aico of some kind

 

[Guitarist]

Well, if it's got a sound permanent supply, you've cleaned it out, and there are no interconnections to other alarms, then it would appear that it's faulty.
The only other possible explanation if it's a wireless type, is that the new d/l's are causing interference in some way which is triggering it.

 

[telectrix]

for what they cost, change it.

 

[RyanCheetham]

It is a stand alone unit hard wired into the lighting circuit. I had the same conclusion after checking all the mentioned possibilities and was hoping someone else may have an idea. It is a council house and she has taken the unit off its base for now. I may just fork out and put a new one up for her. Better safe than sorry

 

[RyanCheetham]

The forum app won't allow me to thank you guys so i will just write it here, thank you for helping me and making sure i wasn't just being stupid

 

[Guitarist]

The forum app won't allow me to thank you guys so i will just write it here, thank you for helping me and making sure i wasn't just being stupid

No problem. That's the worst thing about working on your own...nobody to bounce ideas off.

 

[onions1066]

Is there any fluorescent lighting on the same circuit?

 

[RyanCheetham]

Yes a single 1200 tube in the kitchen

 

[onions1066]

Fluorescent lighting on the same circuit can cause false alarms. If you actually ever read the instructions which I know none of us do it does actually says it shouldn't be installed on a circuit which has fluorescent lighting on it. Just an idea might be nothing to do with your problem though.

 

[RyanCheetham]

I will disconnect the flouro for a day and see if that has any effect on the alarm, one last attempt at a fix before replacing it. Thank you for your help

 

[onions1066]

Always worth a try, let me know if it works.

 

[Guitarist]

I had assumed that nothing else on the system had changed, other than a few d/l's and moved a few inches.

 

[tazz]

Aico are pretty well suppressed, never hear of any flouescent or other equipment interfering with them. But have seen the same fault where the earth cable had been connected into the interlink terminal instead of the earth terminal...so worth a check, other than that, time to replace.

 

[brucyboy]

I fit hundreds of aico alarms. If its a short beep every 5 mins its a low battery. If its going off randomly then it's gone faulty. Does happen but not very often. They are good units. If the indicator lights are round then it's optical (the better one) if they are oblong then it's ionisation
Also check the replacement date on the sticker on the main unit.

 

[RyanCheetham]

Yeah nothing else has changed on the circuit. Trying without the flouro cant hurt. I am still fairly sure it needs changing