haha wtf...flash setting off smoke alarm?

So last night I was monkeying around with my flash in the living room, just trying different things and stuff....anyways...the flash kept setting off the fire alarm...has anyone else run into this? Any reason? It's really trippy. I wonder if it's like light-activated or just 'cuz it's a flash? I dunno....pretty funny, though.

Wrong forum?

Old fire alarms used to have a test feature, where you could hold a flashlight up to them and they would go off. Your flash may have the same effect.

crazy...haha...it was pretty funny (probably pissing the upstairs ppl off lol)...yeah, I thought about putting this into the flash forum, but thought it's not really a technical question and it's as much about the smoke detector as it is about the flash itself haha

If your smoke detector is battery operated, you can just go to your local home improvement store and buy a new one with a battery for around $10.

It has to be some sort of test feature mentioned by snails.

Your average residential smoke detector ionizes the air to detector smoke, so a flash won't effect it.

The other type uses photoelectric light that is either blocked or reflected by smoke to cause an alarm. This may be effected by a flash, but the light shouldn't have direct access to the sensing chamber. I should try this, I have a photoelectric smoke detector here I should try it.

Part of my duties on board ship was testing of fire alarm detectors. There were two types - one was for smoke and the other for flame and heat. To test the smoke we used a special gas canister. To test the flame and heat detector heads we used a strobe light.

Sounds like the detector head you are setting off is one of the flame/heat type.

Typical flame detectors are IR & UV and are not usually used in apartment units. Ships, engine dynos, and military aircraft hangers yes.

It's probably reading the strobe as a flare up. I used to sell for Brinks Home Security and we sold smoke/flame detectors. They see the instant burst of heat and can go off sometimes.