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Smoke alarm (optical) from #AliExpress failed the smoke test. It feeps loudly when pushing the test button, but when held into some nice fire smoke, it does exactly nothing, despite patience.
So always test with a real life scenario. The test button only checks the batteries and the beeper are working, not the actual sensor.
I sent them a nice video and expect a refund. This isn't because it's from China, the same can happen with any.
Got refund, left 1-star warning and did the obvious, crack the thing open.
Test button works, status LED flashes and yet, never mind smoke, even shoving some tin foil inside the detector causes no alarm.
It has what looks like an IR LED and a photo diode, but the LED isn't lit. It's not even powered. Great battery life, I'm sure.
This is a complete fake that can never work. 1000+ sold, proclaims the listing. That's a lot of potentially burning to your death.
Heh, apparently even the Atlanta fire department didn't test theirs, before distributing 18500(!) of them: https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2011/CPSC-Alert-Counterfeit-Smoke-Alarms-Distributed-in-Atlanta
I guess they trusted in the UL label, which of course counterfeiters definitely would never fake.
@yngmar optical smoke sensors really only work on smouldering fires, not on hot burning fires. It's one of the drawbacks of the optical tech. You need an ionization detector for hotter, cleaner burning fires. Ideally you want a combination of both or dual-sensor alarms.
@earthshine I'm quite aware of the differences. Optical ones work on smoke, or more precisely, anything obstruction visibility, such as steam or even an inconveniently placed mote of dust.
That is why I wrote "smoke". Which I assure you, there was plenty of (on purpose, for this test, which the alarm failed).
I do put some effort into my writing and would appreciate the same when reading.
@yngmar @earthshine A vape will set off most smoke alarms when close enough (not suggesting you take up vaping to try this if you don't already, but I have managed to do this myself (in a controlled fashion with a standalone smoke alarm, not getting places accidentally evacuated which has also happened)
Don't you hate it when you're just trying to add to the conversation and you get a dick response!?
@yngmar@social.tchncs.de
We use incense sticks to test the alarms in the house easily. Works on CO² as well if you hold it there for a bit and are a little more careful.
#FBPE @yngmar I saw some Enterprise Java once.
I was trying to find the line of code that actually did something particular.
However after spending some hours tracing through dozens and dozens and dozens of layers, each of which did nothing but call the next layer, I failed to find a single line of code that actually did *anything*.
(Yeah, I know. The bit I was looking for was probably completely invisible to the debugger, having no existence in any Java source code, having been written in XML, and injected via some AOP mechanism, probably also written in XML.)
@yngmar fucking damnit. Now I have to check that the fire alarms in our house provided by the previous owner's estate are actually real.
@CorvidCrone Incense sticks or vaping was recommended, if you don't want to start an actual fire. For optical detectors, that is.
@yngmar
You can also buy test sprays at hardware stores for a few bucks.
@CorvidCrone
@yngmar Wow, that's bad!
@yngmar Absolutely despicable.
@krahabors @yngmar
This is what we have to look forward to as our democracy is disassembled before our eyes.
The conservatives are eliminating regulator and oversight functions in our governments around the world.
Who you gona call?
#democracy is more than how we vote!
@yngmar thank you I recently found out that some rule changed with HUD or maybe with NH rental standards and now they have to install a smoke detector inside my bedroom.
I would never buy a smoke detector from AliExpress or Temu or whatever, but my landlord might. I’ll make sure I test whatever they install.
@maggiejk No matter where you buy it, test if it works :)