Unraveling Accessory Relay Module Dangers to Help Life Safety Systems Installers

Just because alarm relay modules “can perform” a particular function does not mean that you can use them in every application.

Unraveling Accessory Relay Module Dangers to Help Life Safety Systems Installers

Adobe Stock image by Adisorn

Since 1837, the alarm industry has grown by leaps and bounds.

Invariably, this has included a dizzying array of equipment, including but not limited to relays of all types. Given that, relays still have a critically important function in today’s industry. Yet, just because the relays “can perform” a particular function, that doesn’t mean you can use them in every application.

Alarm contractors across the United States have a duty to comply with the equipment manufacturer’s specifications of each of the products they select and/or install.

In one example, the instructions for a 120-volt accessory relay module states in pertinent part that the relay should not be used for supervision of an alarm for life safety applications, and the specifications further state that if supervision of an area is necessary (almost like it was optional), a smoke detector connected to a fire alarm panel should be used.

In other words, and in accordance with its specifications, if you are looking for life safety and supervision, you can never connect this accessory relay module to a UL Listed 217 smoke alarm, only smoke detector(s).

Any alarm contractor who still believes that they can connect an accessory relay module to smoke alarm(s) in a home just because it “works” is, in actuality, prohibited from performing this task according to the equipment manufacturer of this product.

Accordingly, to the extent that you have installed an accessory relay module at your subscriber’s homes and configured them as elaborated above, you need to take immediate steps to correct this serious misapplication of technology now.

In other words, if an alarm contractor does install this accessory relay module in order to connect existing UL-217 smoke alarms in the home to a control unit, this act would be a violation of the equipment manufacturer specifications, NFPA 72 (National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code Standards), NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code), and the statutory duties of the adopted fire code in the state where the work is being installed.

Along those same lines, the warning from the equipment manufacturer that the accessory relay module should not be used for life safety applications, coupled with the warning that the relay module should not be used if supervision is necessary, is clear and convincing evidence for anyone who still thinks that it’s OK to use an accessory relay module just because “it works.”

How to Handle Your Relay Module Installations

The additional focus needs to be made on the use of the word “should” by the equipment manufacturer because, under NFPA 72, it indicates “a recommendation or that which is advised but not required.”

On the other hand, the word “shall” denotes a mandatory requirement, so one can only wonder why the manufacturer did not indicate that it’s a “shall” and never a “should” option for the use of their accessory relay module with regards to connecting it to a control unit for the monitoring of UL-217 smoke alarms.

Foreseeable trouble is evident under the technical focus of this misapplication of technology and danger, whereby if the interconnecting wiring between the smoke alarms disconnects and/or opens, the accessory relay module cannot supervise this change of state. In the event of a fire under these conditions, whatever is connected to the relay will no longer be fully functional.

On the other hand, if a consumer removes a smoke alarm from its base and forgets to reinstall it, the accessory relay module would not be able to technically detect this material state.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the smoke alarm(s) loses AC power, while the units’ backup batteries will operate, the smoke alarm(s) interconnected accessory relay module is no longer functional because it requires 120 volts of AC power for operational functionality. Each of these foreseeable scenarios needlessly puts the consumer and all occupants in the home at an increased risk of not getting an early warning or any warning whatsoever in the event of a fire emergency.

Interestingly, according to the equipment manufacturer’s specifications of this product, the relay portion of the module can be used to activate auxiliary warning devices such as inside lighting and internal sirens or bells.

Glaringly, with over 44 years of experience in the industry, I have never witnessed a household installation that was professionally installed whereby lighting in the home turned on when a smoke alarm(s) activated through an accessory relay module, or whereby a bell or siren in the home was activated as a result of a smoke alarm application that was solely based on the accessory relay module’s interconnection to the bell or siren.

Conspicuously, the manufacturer remains silent about the “power supply” that is to be used in this application as well. Nonetheless, I find these so-called applications to be both idiotic and illusory.

On the other end of the technical spectrum, alarm contractors can never abandon the criticality of supervision on any fire alarm system because doing so exposes the system to an undetected failure and increases the risk to consumers and their families of serious personal injury and/or death in a fire emergency.

Make sure that your systems are always supervised and only use equipment that is listed for its intended function.

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About the Author

Jeff Zwirn
Contact:

Jeffrey D. Zwirn, CPP, CFPS, CFE, SET, ITFAS-I, ITFAS-II, CHPA-IV, NFPA 3000 (PS), MSYL, MBAT, SSI Hall of Fame, writes Security Sales & Integration’s “Security Science” column. He is also president of IDS Research and Development, an alarm and security consultation, expert witness and training authority providing nationwide services on all issues related to alarm and security matters. He can be reached at 800-353-0733.

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