Strange electrical + fire alarm question

I'm in the proccess of moving to a new place this weekend. Once I got there with my 2 girls I plugged the 400w ballast in and the fire alarm went off a minute later. I unplugged the ballast the the fire alarm went off.
I walked up to the fire alarm and took it off the ceiling. It was not a battery alarm, it had a feed from the building's electrical system.

So I guess I'm wondering, how can the alarm tell if my ballast is plugged in? Can it maybe sense the amount of electricity being pulled from the outlet?

BTW***The alarm is 2 rooms away, it is not close enough to feel the heat from the ballast.

My girls are sleeping in the dark tonight

your light could be over drawing the circuit and the under power is making the detector false... time to get some voltage meters and check things out. you may have to run a dedicated circuit for the light.

Actually it should be code for the smoke alarms to be on their own circuit all wired together so that if one goes off they all go off, at least thats code here. Look a little closer and you may see that it has a battery in it also for backup power. Maybe try plugging in some other high amp appliances and see if they do it as well. Vacuum, circular saw or whatever else you may have.

Its the alarm itself, replace the 9V battery, If that doesnt work get a new alarm. It has nothing to do with your light. Crazy coincidence I guess.

Thanks for the replys

There is only 1 alarm, and I tried it 3 times. Each time it went off a minute or two after I plugged in the ballast, each time it turned off when I unplugged it.

I am finishing moving today, so I'll try maybe a large TV or a powerstrip with computer/moniter.

Dude, its not your light, to ease your mind, plug a vacuum in on the same circuit as your light and see what happens. But Im telling you, its the alarm.

Well a vaccum and other appliances dont draw quite 400 watts.

Try a microwave, they pull like 1100 watts instantly.

Very strange, and yeah that fire alarm should be on its own cicuit any where in the country Its code.

ganjagoddess said:

Well a vaccum and other appliances dont draw quite 400 watts.

Try a microwave, they pull like 1100 watts instantly.

Very strange, and yeah that fire alarm should be on its own cicuit any where in the country Its code.

Click to expand...

Damn GG, what kind of vacuum are you talking about, a dust buster? Most vacuums are in the 10-15 amp range. A 12amp vacuum like mine pulls roughly over 1400 watts, a 15amp vacuum will pull roughly 1800 watts. Any standard vacuum will pull more current than his 400w light. Im assuming your in the states and using 120volts not the 240volt other countries use.

Do they really? I can imagine those motors needing that much juice....

Oh well I guess im wrong, I was kinda just taking a stab at it hahah.

No worries GG, I know you know more about electricity than most people, seems you did a nice job with the electrical for your grow.

put some fans up when you plug in the ballast. i'm wondering if the alarm can sense the heat off the ballast. maybe that combined with the power draw is making it a little stupid. if not then take it down but put another up somewhere so you don't burn.

Well, I hooked it up to a different outlet and it works just fine. Somehow that outlet was screwed up? I dunno. Either way, Thanks for your ideas!