I have a FireFighterSLX-AD-T3 Audio Detector installed for two years less than 6 inches from a wired smoke detector system to connect that system to my IQ panel 4 alarm system. It’s located next to the wired detector in my bedroom. (I do have PowerG smoke and heat detectors in addition to the wired system) It has never triggered before. Last night we had a false fire alarm triggered by the SLX-AD-T3 Audio Detector according to the alarm panel. The wired smoke detector did not sound and there was no other noise that could have triggered the SLX-AD-T3 or I would have heard it since I was in the bedroom when the alarm sounded. I’m leaving home for a week in a few days and I’m worried this could happen again while I’m gone and I wouldn’t be able to confirm it’s a false alarm to prevent firefighter dispatch to my unoccupied house and all that would entail. Please let me know any information you have about false alarms with these audio detectors, any testing of the detector I can do or any other adjustments I should do to my system to avoid this happening again. Thanks
In the last couple weeks I actually had a discussion with another tech here about how we do not remember having ever heard a report of the Firefighter causing false alarm without sound input. To my memory this may be the first time I have heard of this kind of false alarm.
It is an audio detector, so obviously any similar tone that might have occurred should be considered, but the source is very specific and the device has proven relatively immune to false triggers in my experience.
Since it has been installed for a while I would first replace the battery, low power levels can cause weird behavior in rare circumstances, but that is mostly a guess.
I would also test an actual smoke detector activation to ensure the sensor is indeed picking up that sound. If it has trouble with that I would replace it. You can place your account on test mode if you have professional monitoring by visiting the system manager here. This will ensure no dispatch occurs when you test.
If you see a false alarm again I would replace it.