First AlertBRK RM4 Smart Relay for First Alert

I needed to connect hard wired First Alert alarms to a remote monitoring system using the 4th signal wire. This relay works great with the Konnected controller and Home Assistant used legacy alarm panel wiring to hookup to Konnected. Can now get notifications on the Home Assistant app and auto email the entire family if smoke or CO alarms are going off when we are not at home.No subscription, 100% free!

Finally got this wired up to my first alert smoke/CO detectors and have it successfully signalling my Konnected + Home Assistant setup when triggered.However, install was very confusing to me because I wasn't sure how to do it in a code-compliant way. By the very nature of the relay having connections from 120V/high voltage (i.e. the smoke detectors) to low voltage (the alarm panel/etc), I could not figure out how to safely isolate the high and low voltage. I ultimately just placed this into a junction box with some 14/3 romex from the smoke junction box ran to it, and then also wired in my low voltage connections. But my understanding is mixing low and high in the same box without a divider is not allowed (which would cut the wires in half :)). I don't know how you'd get around that at all!

I bought this to integrate my smoke detectors into my home automation system. I paired it with a Schlage RS100HC V N N SL Home Door and Window Sensor with Nexia Home Intelligence (Z-Wave). Using the Normally Closed contacts on the RM4 (they open when alarming) I was able to integrate it properly.I now have a scene in vera that generates a phone call when the alarm sounds (or is tested).Be aware that this is NOT a good integration with a fire alarm panel as it REQUIRES 110v to be present to operate. If your power is out (and the detector is operating on batteries) then it will NOT trigger the alarm.The only real struggle I had was with its size. It's bigger than I expected. Getting your 110v wires, the RM4 and the zwave sensor in a standard ceiling box was quite the challenge. I had to shorten the wires and really work hard to get it to fit.If you're more interested in this sort of thing, go to micasaverde forum (just google those two words) and look under the security section. I have a full writeup there.

Firstly, this type of thing is intended for the First Alert brand. We have 3 interconnected fire alarms on line voltage with internal battery backup (if one detects fire or smoke, all of the sirens go off). When I was replacing the home security system main board (died during lightning storm) with a "smart" system, I noticed that there as an extra unconnected cable that was labeled as "upstairs fire alarm". I cut the power at the breaker and opened up the upstairs fire alarm to pull out the wiring. I found the other end of the security system cable in the box. Adding this relay is fairly simple (be careful to make sure the wire nuts have a good grip on the wires) and allows the fire alarm to communicate with the security system. Now, if the fire alarm goes off, all of them sound (code-compliant), but I can also get a notification to my phone (e.g., if I'm not home). The smart system has optional monitoring, so the monitoring company could also call emergency services if we're not home. Fitting this into the electrical box is a tight fit, so you might want to check if there will be room for this in the box or not. I could have also gone up into the attic to install there, but that would have been much more of a pain.

Works. I have this integrated into my HomeSeer system via HomeSeer ADIO-100 Analog / Digital System Interface using the 'normally open' wires of the BRK-RM4 (connected to the digital I/O side of the ADIO). A tight fit into the ceiling 'box' of my First Alert smoke detectors, but not a big deal. The "test button" of my smoke detector also triggers the same connection, so I was able to easily verify proper signaling and resulting alerts inside of HomeSeer to my phone (using the excellent PushOver plugin).

It was easy to connect and worked as designed. I used it to connect my interconnected BRK/First Alert smoke and CO detectors to SmartThings, with one end connected to the smoke/co detectors, and the other connected to the Z-Wave Door and Window Sensor with Nexia RS100. I then added a custom device type in SmartThings to make the contact sensor show up as a smoke/co detector. It fit well inside the gang box with the contact sensor.

This Relay does not work with a 120Vmagnetic door closer. It claims to work with additional devices, but it doesn't. Not working for the application it designed for, I couldn't give it a zero star. I would.

This came in very handy for her fire alarm system