alarm
I have a smoke alarm that keeps beeping every 30 minutes or so even after I replaced the battery. I'm thinking it's probably time to replace it.
I'm trying to figure out if it's hardwired or battery powered. How do i tell?
There is a 9v battery that needs to be replaced, but I think both hardwired and battery smoke alarms both have 9v battery for backup power.
My suggestion is that you try pressing in (or up) on these two tabs:
And then that the lower part of the unit will hinge down. The hinge edge being along here:
You should find an installers manual for the main panel and read it thoroughly. But I will give you my thoughts below.
First off, your black wire is connected to the positive terminal not the negative terminal according to your picture and wiring diagram.
Secondly, I am suspicious that this detector ever worked since there is no second wire connected to the power supply terminals. According to the label it takes 12 volts DC to power it and you can't do that with just one wire.
Without seeing any installers manual, I would say the black and white are 12 volts DC power and the red and blue are the common and signal wires.
So test for voltage between the black and white wires. If you get 12 volts move the white wire to the other power supply terminal. Usually the auxiliary contacts would be for another system to be notified that the detector is in alarm. The red and blue should probably go to the ground and signal terminals and the auxiliary terminals are just that, auxiliary. Then see if the detector works.
Notice on the backs of either detector they don't show any wires connected to the auxiliary contacts.
Best Answer
If it is hardwired then there will be a cable going to each smoke detector. It is usually pretty obvious. If you don't see anything then see if you can remove the smoke detector from the ceiling. If you can remove it easily (typically by twisting it slightly and then pulling away from screws and/or a mounting bracket) and it comes off (except possibly for a small mounting bracket) then it is battery powered. If you try to remove it and find it is hanging by a cable the it is hardwired.
If all that doesn't make sense, post a picture of it and we'll see what we can figure out.