Been awhile but:

When we did smokes, it required a Fire Department inspection, along with a permit if inside the city limits.

ALL smokes had to be tied together so if one went off, they all went off.

I do recall we usually had the electrician wire smokes and we installed a relay from his smokes (we specified the brand, since not all smokes will work with the relay).

When we did install smokes, it was done with "fire wire", as opposed to the standard 4 wire.

ALL wiring was done with color coded 4 wire. This made it a lot easier to wire the panel, since one color was for doors, one for windows, one for motions, etc, etc.

Windows were looped in banks (rooms usually) when we needed space in the panel.

Doors were always dedicated zones, as were motions.

Sirens were only inside, unless it was out in the country. Then we used both sirens and strobes.


I'm sure there's more, but it has been a long time.

I didn't see a product like this on DSC's page, but I didn't scoure the entire website. I don't know if Honeywell offers one like it. But, if you can find something that works with a system you want to use, this would be an easy solution for smokes. You could just let the electrician put in their own smokes and not worry about it, then just add one of these (if the system you choose has something for it).

[Link: 2gig.com]

What app is used for remote arm/disarm?

The security panels we use (Paradox) have their own app. Their integration into an automation system is limited but does work if you are willing to get into RS232 scripting (we wrote our own Crestron module).

Alarm.com, DMP has Remote Keypad, DSC, Hoenywell has Total Connect, DSC has their own, Interlogix has Ultrasync, and there are more as well.