THE SMOKE DETECTOR COLLECTION.

[lawnkit22]

someone likes their radiation =)

[gocountry1391]

does 1970's smoke detector beeps when it was battery low

[nesatlas]

Who knew smoke alarms could be so exciting!

[chrinFinity]

This is neat, there are a lot of kinds. But this doesn't cover installation :/

There's a great guide to installing smoke detectors on livingwithmyhome.

[tubemaster2701]

TPIR Car Cue/Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour Theme

[tubemaster2701]

this may sound like a weird question, but where'd you get the music for this video from? I've heard it before on a television gameshow.

[coffeeandsugar20]

Can you test the Entronic 12.6v smoke? I recently replaced one from my house that had been shot for about 10 years before replacing it. I tried testing the horn but a no go. I grew up with this thing and never heard it and I kinda wanna hear it :(

[JME1973]

What year would your old Entronic be from? In this video that alarm looks like it is from the 1980's. I have never heard one either so it would be interesting to hear one of these go off. I wished I had saved the smoke alarms from my parents old house when they replaced them with newer alarms around 1997 or 1998. All the alarms were from the mid to late 1970's including a Sears and 2 Dicons. The one Dicon alarm made the worst screech ever when it went off.

[coffeeandsugar20]

The house was built in 1979. It also looked exactly like the one in Gamealarm's vid. Except it was full 120VAC, no battery backup. Also, Edwards apparently made horns for Entronic.

[JME1973]

Wow it would have been neat if that alarm had have worked. I have looked all over the internet and even at rummage sales and thrift stores to find the old Dicon like my parents had in their old house. No such luck yet but I am still trying. My Dad threw it out before I got a chance to snatch it. The house built in the early 1970's but we moved in around 1981. Would you know the kind of alarm I am talking about? They were huge things too. The thing sounded like a person screaming in pain.

[coffeeandsugar20]

I can imagine it. Also, apparently NLind says that the Entronic vigilante smoke detector sounds the same as the GE Home Sentry 8201-301. I still want gamealarm to test it. I never got to hear it before when I was growing up.

Also, check your YouTube PM's for the entire history of Entronic.

[JME1973]

Thanks for sending me the history of Entronic, coffeeandsugar20. I haven't read all of it yet but will after I type this. The entronic would have the older buzz then. These kinds of alarms bothered me back in the day but in a way the makers of snoke alarms should have stuck with them. They were serious sounding and made you jump 20 feet in the air, The piezos dont have the same effect.

[JME1973]

Thanks for the history of Entronic. I didn't realize they were that old. The alarm looks alot newer than it actually is. Also I have never seen too many First alerts from the 1970's. I have been on the lookout for those too. It is interesting to see smoke alarms through out the last 30 plus years. Some I never heard of. I think they were much more interesting back then than they are today even though they sounded awful back then.

[JME1973]

Sorry to ask you another question coffeeandsugar20, but with the Entronic vigilante, did you need to test it with smoke? I know most early smoke alarms were tested that way. The ones my parents had all had test buttons. I did however forget to mention that we also had a Westclox smoke signal and that had no test button. The smoke signal was square shaped and also made a very high pitched screech when it went off.

[coffeeandsugar20]

Yes, you did have to test it with smoke. It had a very strange ionization sensor.

[JME1973]

Oh okay I thought so. I didn't see a test button. So it sounds like these alarms had a brass squealer horn from what NLind mentioned above. How was the ionization chamber strange? Up until now I had thought this alarm was newer but again I didn't realize it was from the 1970's. It is an interesting alarm along with the Teledyne one that looks like a giant space ship.

[NLind]

Actually, the 9-volt models sound like the 1st Gen Stopper IIs, a rather high-pitched squeal. (listen to the stopper in my NAC test vid.) Haven't heard the 120VAC or 12.6V ones though.

[western9876]

im a fire alarm engineer and the disturbing thing is that i still see the old ones being used when they are 20years old! double there life span

[Chibiusa1986]

I hate the ones that buzz.

[Jibjub80]

I thought that this music sounded like an 80's TV theme. I grew up in the 80's, and I had a bit of a fixation with the theme songs for various programs. My parents would actually record them for me on my tape recorder, so I could play them and listen to them. My favorites were Dynasty, St. Elsewhere, Knots Landing, Dallas, and Falcon Crest.

[Jibjub80]

Hey Gamealarm,

Where did you get the musical accompaniment for this and your other videos? Was curious about this one, and the video labeled "fire alarm vintage smoke detectors?" I like the music. It is unusual.

[uwtitanfan]

The music here is an underscore version of the theme from the match game-hollywood squares hour from 1983. The full version of this music is still used today as music for news cars on the price is right

[CassetteMaster]

AWESOMENESS! But where do you get the 12.6 volt battery? I have one that uses that, the case got lost, though. It might be somewhere around, it's radioactive material is Radium 226, and it I believe is that Sears one you showed. I'll probably make a smoke detector video soon.

[Jibjub80]

My uncle has an old hardwired detector from the 1970's, with a red light which shines steadily when powered.  It has a low pitched buzz, similar, but not exact to the square photoelectric detector that you posted. Do you know what brand this one might be? He would always disconnect it, because it would buzz whenever he was cooking, and it got to be excessive.

[gamealarm]

I would need a better physical description of the alarm to be able to answer that question. Also, how was it disabled? Was it unplugged or unwired, or did the cover just have to be removed?

[Jibjub80]

It looked similar to the Sunbeam Centurion, but it had a cover which was completely removed to gain access. It also had a circular test button which was clear when disconnected, the red light lit up when in use. It was hardwired, but it had terminals in the interior of the detector which could be disconnected to silence it. It had no battery backup, it was strictly electrical, and the buzz sounded similar but not exact to the Smoke Sentinel photoelectric alarm. I want to say it's an old Firex

[PooleSilly]

@Jibjub80 i bet u it`s firex!!!!!!!! could u post a vid of it and test it leaving it sounding 4 a minute or 2!!!!!!!!!

don`t ask why but i do have an obsession w smoke detectors and so many beeping ones but very few

buzzing ones!!!!!!!! i would luv more buzzing ones posted!!!!!!!!!! anyway if u don`t mind could u do that

[bubby910]

what is that little circle on the bottom right of the Genral Electric 120 VAC smoke alarm.

[gamealarm]

It is the "AC POWER" indicator pilot light.

[JME1973]

What years are the Fyrnetics and Entronic smoke alarms from?

[JoshuaMouncer]

is the last smoke detector on the video called a filiancer?

[NLind]

It's called "The Vigilante"

[ericmpp]

Hello gamealarm,

Could you possibly make a video for the Entronic and Fyrnetics smoke alarms?

[JoshuaMouncer]

all these alarms are cool design

[bi0boy]

excellent video and collection! Would you be able to make a video testing the 120vac and 9vdc GE's? I would really appreciate that.

[UkRailPics]

Ive just bought a Kidde Carbon Monoxide and Smoke combination alarm. The voice is really funny! We got it cos the old First Alert Late 80's alarm ran out of sensitivity

[firealarmfan55555]

someone make videos of the following smoke alarms:Sears, sunbeam centurion, teledyne, and jamson code one.

[gamealarm]

I used to have the Sunbeam detector on my celing in the living room. My good friend said it looked like an oversized cereal bowl on the celing!

[JME1973]

Yeah that Sunbeam alarm does look like an oversized ceral bowl. Did that also have the screechy buzz of the older alarms? Is that also late 70's. My parents had a Sunbeam alarm in their house but it was a smaller square one. Also do you have any info on the older Dicon alarms? The very first ones that came out in the mid 1970's and had a very screechy buzz similar to the old Sears alarms. My parents also had one of them in their house. I cant find anything online about them.

[gamealarm]

I didn't even know Dicon made detectors in the 70's. The Sunbeam Centurion in my video is from the late 70's, complete with the brass screetcher horn. By the way, that red thing is not a test button, it is a spring-loaded metal flag that pops down when the battery is removed (9-volt). Sunbeam then came out with the Centurion II in the early 80's. It was much smaller, and looks very similar to the origional Firex or Code One detectors of the 1980's.

[NLind]

I have a couple of Centurion IV's. Also that same red flag was used in the Pyr-A-Larm Guardian FB-1 alarm.

[NLind]

I do not yet have the 120VAC GE.

Second GE: Has a mid-ranged buzz sound, something like a Simplex 4001. I can make a vid of one of mine.

I do have the Code One. 5/6 pattern.

I do have the Signal One, It's at my sister's in Cali.

I have all the rest except the Sunbeam. (I have newer ones, though)

The Teledyne came in two flavors, one that ran on 6 AA batteries, one that ran on a 9-V battery. They made a very high-pitched buzz, like the

older Stopper covers (reference my NAC Test vid)

[JME1973]

The Teledyne alarm sure looked like a unique one. Were they early or mid 1970's? They don't look like they were from the late 1970's to me. Also what was the difference between the First Alert alarms from the early 1980's and the late 1980's. Both alarms look exactly the same. Did they sound different in the early 1980's because I can't remember.

[Federal3t22]

oh yes. The older First Alerts had electromechanical horns in them, giving them a screechy buzz. The newer ones from the late 80's on had piezos in them giving them the fimilar beeping. Also the older First Alerts were bigger, and the newer ones from the mid to late 90's have "First Alert" stamped on the cover

[gamealarm]

In response to your question on the G.E. 9- volt smoke: The black sounder you see in the picture is a super-loud elecro-mechanical buzzer. Oddly enough, it has a sticker on the buzzer that indicates it works on 12 volts dc. My grandparents on both sides of my family had these alarms in their homes. Maybe they appealed to older people?! - LOL

[gamealarm]

The G.E. detectors shown were manufactured in the late 70's. In the earlier years of the 80's, they cut down on the size, and used that "tweeter horn" piezo. Around the mid 80's, Black and Decker bought out their smoke alarm and put their name on it. Just a few years later, the newer "Flamebuster" smokes had the red test button in the center, and a more normal horn sound.

[gamealarm]

In the late 1980's, B&D lost the cover for a new one that fit almost the same type unit as before. The new unit was famous for the silence button, and the cover had a sleek, modern-day look to it, this time with a big, clear centered test button with a flashing LED behind it.

[gamealarm]

Finally in the early 1990's, the "Flamebuster" was replaced with the "Slimline" version, which was entirely different - it was basically a Code One 2000 with a square cover. These (Black and Decker's) brand did not last long. And that is the whole story of the evolution of the smoke alarm with the round red button. R.I.P.

[JME1973]

Okay thanks for that info on the First Alerts. I do however remember seeing alarms which I think where made by First Alert that had the emergency escape light on the side and not the middle of the alarm. Where those earlier alarms? I never heard them go off though.

[gamealarm]

In the early 1980's, First Alert had the smoke alarms with the side-mounted escape light. The only ones I ever ran across had the pulsating piezo alarm sounders, although I once had a Sears smoke alarm from the early 80's, with components almost identical to what First Alert made at the time, with a brass screetcher horn and escape light in the middle. I found it at a thrift store - never seen one like it anywhere before. Unfortunately, it broke, and I pitched it.

[NLind]

I think I know what alarm you're talking about. It has lovers on the side. I've got one too, although non-working.

[JME1973]

You have an old 1970's Dicon alarm? I know this was a Dicon alarm because when my Dad was replacing all the old alarms about 10 years ago. I saw the name on the inner part of the alarm. These were popular alarms back then because I knew several other people who had them in their homes. I wished I hadnt have thrown it out.

[gamealarm]

My Teeledyne alarm is the one with the six "AA" batteries. I bought it off of Ebay. It is one weird, massive detector. No test button, either. I was going to mount it in our hallway-that never happened. My wife hated how the thing looked, so I installed it in my domain: the basement work area.

[JME1973]

Thanks for info on the GE alarms. Yeah those Teledyne alarms are weird looking. Exactly how big are they because in that pic it looks like something that E.T. rode in. LOL! I thought that big round thing in the middle of it was the test button. Do both teledyne alarms looke the same? Teledyne is a name that I associate more with dental products. Bye the way do you actually use your Teledyne alarm as a warning device? Must still work good.

[gamealarm]

It still works (the Teledyne), but it does not seem as sensitive as most. I believe they use radium 226:1.0 microcurie in the ion sensor. That was used in the earlier days of smoke detection, and is no longer used. And yes, that s.o.b. is big - it has to be 9 or 10 inches in diameter. I do not know if both models look the same-sorry.

[willbill808]

Hahahaha! Appropriate music!

The Teledyne smoke alarm looks scary!

And most of these brands I have never heard of or seen.

The Entronic 12.6V looks like an Ademco heat sorta

[JME1973]

My parents had one of those old Sears alarms in there house back when I was very small. I remember it made an awful screeching beep when it went off. Its a far cry from the way smoke alarms sound today. I don't seem to remember if the First Alert alarms sounded different in the early 1980's then they did in the late 1980's. Too me both of the first alert alarms looked identical. That Teledyne alarm looked more like a space ship or a ufo than a smoke alarm. What year was that one from?

[NLind]

Late 70's

[alarm56]

The first alert at 2:30 is in one of my vids

[Federal3t22]

Does any of the GE smokes make a mid toned buzz? My grandparents (father's side) had a 9 volt GE like that in their house . That thing gave me the creeps back then. My girlfriend's mom has 3 newer style rectanguar shaped GEs in her house (with horn shaped piezos). I'm going to try to swap one with a new smoke.

[gamealarm]

The G.E. 120 vac smoke alarm was the only model that had one of those higher-pitched brass horns. The 12.6 volt and 9-volt had the mid-toned buzz.

[firealarmfan55555]

make a video on the second GE smoke alarm