AVTECH Installation Note

Room Alert Smoke/ Fire Sensor

The Room Alert Smoke/Fire Sensor is a smoke detector with specially designed additional electronics that allow it to interface to a Room Alert ID Box. It is powered by two 9v batteries which should be changed at least one time each year. Please schedule the replacement of batteries on an annual basis. Test the smoke sensor initially by pressing its ‘Test’ button. The bright “escape” light should light.

NOTE: There is a very loud ‘buzzer’ that will sound when the test button is pressed..

Carefully mount the Smoke/Fire Sensor to the ceiling or wall at a suitable position in the room using the two screw-fixing holes in the base of the unit. It must be located at least 18 inches from the corners of any walls and ceilings to avoid smoke dead-spots.

Open the Smoke/Fire Sensor by unsnapping the cover. Look for a white terminal block of four screw connector. Two wires are already connected to the terminal block from the output relay of the smoke sensor. Connect the sensor cable to the other two connectors on the connector block. These are typically already connected when the sensor is shipped. There is no polarity as these are volt-free contacts.

Run the sensor cable back to the Room Alert ID Box and connect the other end of the sensor cable to one of the four input channels via the sensor contact connectors. There is no polarity associated with the connections on the ID Box.

Sensor cable can be any low voltage cable such as bell wire, speaker cable, data cable or telephone cable. Minimum voltage insulation 50v, minimum current carrying capacity 1A. Maximum sensor cable length should be limited to 100 feet for greatest reliability.

Testing The Smoke/Fire Sensor After Installation

There is a test button on the Smoke/Fire Sensor that may be pushed in to test the sensor and the alerting setup. A bright “escape” light will come on inside the Smoke/Fire Sensor that shows the sensor device is working.

NOTE: A loud ‘buzzer’ will sound when the alarm is triggered (this is normal).

When the smoke alarm is triggered, the PageR Enterprise software supporting the Room Alert ID Box will receive an alarm signal and send out alert notification and/or start automatic corrective action, depending upon how it has been set up.

NOTE: The Smoke/Fire Sensor should be tested manually with the ‘Test’ button at least once per month. Both 9v batteries should be replaced with new Alkaline batteries once per year.

If the PageR Enterprise software does not react to the test of the Smoke/Fire Sensor, check that when the test button is pressed the relay output from the Smoke/Fire Sensor (which connects to the sensor cable) is actually creating a short circuit. This can be accomplished manually by disconnecting the sensor cables at the Smoke/Fire Sensor and checking the output with a multi-meter or continuity tester. If that is okay, reconnect the cable and check it at the Room Alert ID Box.

To check the PageR Enterprise software configuration, an alert condition can be simulated at the Room Alert ID Box by short circuiting the two sensor input channel screw connectors on the top of the ID box. This should trigger an alert notification from PageR Enterprise if the short circuit is made for a period of time greater than the cycle length for the monitored object being tested. If it does not, most likely PageR Enterprise is not set up properly. For information on configuring PageR Enterprise, see the PageR Enterprise User’s Guide & Reference Manual.