Smoke Alarm Categories

Beyond the sensor type of smoke alarm, there are various smoke alarm categories to meet the various legislative and building requirements of building across Australia.

These can be broken down by how the smoke alarm is powered and what kind of backup battery the alarm has. As mentioned, different alarms are required for different uses in Australia, these can come down to the state legislations, the size of the home, when the home was built and limitations on technology available.

Here is a breakdown of the most common smoke alarm categories you can find used in Australia.

Stand-alone smoke alarms

Stand-alone smoke alarms are the most traditionally known smoke alarms. They are smoke alarms that can be easily surface mounted on a wall or ceiling and are solely powered by solely 9V backup battery or a sealed, non-replaceable 10-year lithium battery. Although these alarms cannot be used in new homes, in states that allow it, these alarms can be used in homes built before the hard-wired requirement.

See LIFPE9M and LIFPE10LP

240V Smoke alarms

240VAC Smoke alarms are required to be installed in all new homes as of the Construction code change in 1997. 240VAC smoke alarms primarily get their power from 240VAC. However, all require a backup battery in the event of power failure, which ensures the alarm will always sound in the event of a fire.

Backup batteries can be one of the following.

  • 9V DC replaceable battery
  • 10 year rechargeable battery
  • 10 year non-replaceable lithium battery

240VAC smoke alarms will also be interconnected with an interconnecting wire to each other, so that when one sounds, they all sound.

See LIF6800, LIF6800RL, LIF5800ACF and HG3000.

Wireless Smoke Alarms

Wireless smoke alarms are a smoke alarm that can be wirelessly interconnected to other wireless smoke alarms or 240V smoke alarms to meet smoke alarm legislative and safety requirements. They must always be powered by a non-replaceable 10 year lithium battery. These alarms are a great solution for various situations where a smoke alarm must be interconnected, but no interconnecting wire can be run.

See LIF6800DCW