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Pro tip: I thought running a 4-wire smoke alarm off a 2-wire circuit with a resistor would be fine for a quick fix in a Reno condo.

The alarm chirped every 30 seconds for two days straight until I went back and ran the proper wires, which taught me that shortcuts with power supervision always come back to bite you.
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3 Comments
henry_anderson54
That's not a pro tip, that's a hostage situation. Your smoke alarm was basically screaming for help.
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sullivan.quinn
Sometimes a quick fix is all you really need.
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shane_carter
People forget those circuits are supervised for a reason. That chirp wasn't just an annoyance, it was a system check failing over and over. It's like bypassing a check engine light because the car still runs. The whole point is to know when something's wrong before it's too late. Your quick fix basically broke the alarm's ability to tell you it was broken.
1