A review on the Ademco 1689.
(Click below to read more.)
This unit dates back to the introduction of the SA76RS in 1977. Based on BRK's 77R platform of smoke detector, it was practically revolutionary at the time, serving as one of the most popular examples of early 9VDC battery powered smoke alarms in the late-70s. In 1978, First Alert had released a new model based on their current platform, being the First Alert SA77RF. This model brought a slightly deeper form-factor to the unit, along with an added daughter-board for transmitting radio frequencies to a central receiver. This wasn't a first to my knowledge, though I don't have much of it. However in 1979, First Alert had axed the SA77RF in favor of the SA78RF, which this unit serves as a rebrand of. It featured mostly similar circuitry (horn, etc), though this unit shares an ionization chamber with BRK's newer 79R platform, introduced in 1979 as a more energy-efficient variant of the previous 77R's, which used mechanical horns as opposed to these new models, which used a piezoelectric horn like modern units of today.
This unit is a rebrand of the SA78RF, as I mentioned earlier. These units were a mystery up until about 10 or 11 months ago, when collectors like BA&F Vintage & NLind got their hands on these units. At the time I believe we knew the Ademco variants existed, though I think I am the first to have owned an example (well, three examples) of that.
These were installed in the house I live in now as part of a renovation (if I had to guess) sometime in 1982 or 1983, they were used for a bit, and then previous owners stopped putting batteries in these since there was a security system installed in 1992, adding low-voltage photoelectric smoke detectors to the home. I'm very surprised that the previous owner(s) didn't take these down after all this time, but I'm also kind of glad. Even though these most likely haven't had batteries since Clinton was impeached, they seem to still work after all this time, and the main 1689 featured in this video has been powered for about 7 hours as I write this and I have tested both with the button, and both seem to work. Now there is a third 1689 that is still on the ceiling, yet to be removed. I believe I'll give that one away, though I'm not entirely sure yet.
The 1689 is noy the only product they rebranded from BRK. In fact, I have an Ademco 627, which is a rebranded BRK 1800 (if I had to guess).
Thank you for watching this video, thank you for your time.
4 авг 2024
