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Can I reprogram a fire alarms sound?

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This sounds silly but my fire alarm went off today and it repeats “fire” while going off. I was thinking about the possibility of reprogramming the fire alarm sound like Beavis and Butthead saying “fire” could anyone think of a way to do something like that?

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Depends on the alarm

In reply to Can I reprogram a fire alarms sound?

And what type of Interface it has.

Some may have no interface and need to be dismantled and have the EPROM which drives them inserted into a Chip Reader to do anything.

Others may have a USB/Firewire Connection and make it easy to reprogram but regardless it is going to be some form of EPROM that needs rewriting so you would have to rewrite the entire code and insert the sound you want into that code as the only sound it plays.

How you do that depends on the type of EPROM and it’s not something that is going to take a couple of minutes like a GPS where you just upload a new voice and select it on the screen.

If you want some idea of what is involved the RC Aircraft Ferantinty have a RC Transceiver called the FlySky FS 9th or Turnigy 9X that used to have a big community around where they wrote new code and upgraded the storage of the unit. Not sure if it’s still around as I know the place I bought the boards necessary has stopped making them but you should be able to read about the programming of those things on line. Will not be the same as a Fire Alarm but not all that different either just far fewer user interface instructions.

Most Likely, Not.

In reply to Can I reprogram a fire alarms sound?

Having worked for several high volume electronics manufactures, I would strongly suspect that any ‘code’ for the alarm voice is contained in a ROM section on the controller IC. If there is any EPROM on the chip, it would be dedicated to calibration and perhaps region settings.
The voice could also be in a dedicated chip that only produces the voice.

At best, (and with a bit of research and the right tools) you might be able to change the device settings to a different region and have it shout “Fire” in a different language.

Another option if the alarm uses a separate chip for the voice, would be to get the device manufactures evaluation kit so that you can program a new chip and swap out the chip.

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