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How do I program for a 4-wire smoke detector on a DSC 1616, 1832, or 1864 system?

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The programming steps for a 4 wire smoke detector zone can some extra steps, at least for the first such zone, since it requires you to do the regular zone programming as well as setting up a PGM for sensor reset. The sensor reset is needed to power down the smoke detectors for 5 seconds in case they go off whether from testing or in a real emergency or even from severely burnt popcorn. This is because the detectors have a latching circuit that stays in the alarm state until powered off and back on. Sensor reset functions by entering *72 on the keypad. 

To program the PGM follow these steps:

  1. Enter programming by typing in *8 and the installer code on a keypad.
  2. Go to programming section 009.
  3. Generally PGM 2 will be used to power smoke detectors since it can provide more current than PGM 1, 3, or 4. So use the right arrow key to scroll past the first 2 digits that appear. These are for PGM 1 which we don’t need to change.
  4. The next 2 digits are for PGM 2. These need to be set to 03 for sensor reset.
  5. Press # to exit programming.

Because 4 wire smoke detectors have separate power and initiating, in addition to wiring to the PGM, they can be wired to any regular hardwired zone. Multiple smokes can be wired in parallel to the same zone or each one can be wired to separate zones or any combination. All zones that the smokes are connected to need to be programmed and activated in the appropriate partition as normal using zone type 08 most commonly.