TIL that running my zone wiring in the same conduit as the 120V line was the reason for 6 false alarms at the Maple St job | Alarm System Installers - Discusd
TIL that running my zone wiring in the same conduit as the 120V line was the reason for 6 false alarms at the Maple St job
Spent two hours chasing a ground fault on a Thursday install before my old partner pulled the cover and pointed at the line voltage sharing the raceway, and now I'm wondering how many callbacks I've eaten over the years because I never separated my low volt runs from power.
Man, this hits home. It's the same deal as when your wifi router sits right next to the microwave and you can't figure out why the whole house drops every time someone heats up leftovers. You got two things running on totally different signals crammed into the same space and they just fight each other. The code about separating them isn't some nitpick, it's there because people way smarter than us learned it the hard way, same as you just did. Six false alarms is a cheap lesson compared to what could happen if a fault ever jumped the wrong way. Walk into any old building and you'll see the same thing everywhere, folks cramming stuff together to save a buck or five minutes.