Arduino controlled fire alarm system

Thread Starter

bwilliams60

Joined Nov 18, 2012
1,442
Does anybody have a decent Arduino based fire alarm circuit? I want to take, say four basic fire alarms and make it so that if one of them goes off in my basement, the controller can send an audible alarm to a base upstairs and indicate which zone the alarm is occuring in. Any ideas. His would all be new to me but I follow instructions very well and have all the tools I need.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
Use temperature sensor to detect the "fire"/abnormal high temperature?
If it is heat you are detecting for a fire alarm then you are already dead after the alarm goes off. You need to detect smoke and CO2 . I would not be trusting my life on a circuit I designed.

An Arduino is way over kill for this application IMHO. Stick a baby monitor in the basement and you will know when smoke detectors go off.

Also there are smoke detectors with a binary output if you really wanted to monitor them with a MCU.
 

Thread Starter

bwilliams60

Joined Nov 18, 2012
1,442
What I want to do is pick up on the signal from the smoke detector when it goes off. I figure the moment it sends out an audible alarm, there has to be current movement so I would like to use that to trigger another audible alarm upstairs and notify me as to what zone it is occurring in. Hope that clears it up.
I do not want to use heat because as someone else said, it would be too late, I want the alarms to do what they are designed for. I just want to add on to that.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
What I want to do is pick up on the signal from the smoke detector when it goes off. I figure the moment it sends out an audible alarm, there has to be current movement so I would like to use that to trigger another audible alarm upstairs and notify me as to what zone it is occurring in. Hope that clears it up.
I do not want to use heat because as someone else said, it would be too late, I want the alarms to do what they are designed for. I just want to add on to that.
You want to use smoke detectors with some sort of "relay output" capability that you could tie into..
Or a listed accessory device that ties into the interconnect wiring and provides relay output..

Note: Do NOT "hack" into a smoke alarm for fear of voiding any insurance claims in the event of a fire..
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
You want to use smoke detectors with some sort of "relay output" capability that you could tie into..
Or a listed accessory device that ties into the interconnect wiring and provides relay output..

Note: Do NOT "hack" into a smoke alarm for fear of voiding any insurance claims in the event of a fire..
Similar to what I posted. They are wireless now. Back in the day they were wired. I remember doing maintenance at the Bremerton Navel Hospital. I was in the hallway when a nurse dropped some alcohol. The fumes tripped the smoke alarm, the computer picked up the alarm and closed a fire door. The fire door was heavy enough to give a patient in a wheelchair a bit of a nudge rolling him a couple of inches down the hallway. Boy was he surprised.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
Yep.. No need inventing/cobble anything..
Valid smoke alarm/fire system interfaces are already established..
Simply use whats already the "standard" and feed it into an Arduino all you want..
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,155
Also, remember that fire/smoke alarms contain a tiny bit of radioactive material, which may not be so nice if released accidentally while hacking.
 
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