light, gravity, spacetime relativity frame of referance, Einstein
Great question. You can watch a few how to DIY on youtube. Good luck.
Do not clip the ground wire off. The grounds are required to be continuous, so they should be connected (spliced) in each of the boxes, and then neatly tucked back into the boxes out of the way. After you have properly connected the insulated wire (no copper showing outside of wirenuts), you can put some electrician's tape on the ends for extra safety and your peace of mind if you wish. You are correct to run 3-wire cable to interconnect smoke alarms (except for the power feed to the first alarm, which only needs to be 2-wire cable 2 insulated wires plus a ground). The NEC (National Electrical Code) requires that the circuit breaker be sized in accordance to the wire size and type. Where 2 different wire sizes are used, that the circuit breaker shall be sized to the Smaller wire size. This means that if you are using 14 copper Romex (NM-B or NM-C cable), that you can not legally connect this to a larger than 15 amp circuit breaker or fuse. From a practical standpoint, smoke alarms carry very little current, so it would really not be a big issue. It sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck
