Hi all,
I'm looking for a fail proof smoke detector.
Do you have any recommendations for a device that works with C8?
Thanks,
I use Nest Protects exclusively. They are the best on the market that I've found. I integrate them using ecolink firefighters. Now there are some other interconnected ones that you can attach dry contacts to and integrate that way.
3 Likes
I'm on my second First Alert model ZCOMBO, which is Z Wave Plus. The reason it is my second is that the first reached its end of life. Fortunately, I haven't had to test it in reality. I can't say for sure about the C8, but the C5 I had it on originally and C7 it is on now seem to be perfectly happy with it.
I'd get those but they're not hard wired right?
I'm actually looking for Zigbee 3 or Z-Wave plus device that can be connected directly to C8.
That would be the First Alerts but they are battery and I don't believe they interconnect. There are some battery zigbee ones on aliexpress as well as the frient (smoke only no co)
For myself I prefer hard wired.
Yes, the First Alert is battery powered. However, the hard wired ones don't do CO. We also have a hard-wired one in the house, but it is not one that can be connected.
Yeah so this is the dilemma you face. Get either battery non interconnected or get hard wired interconnected and either use ecolinks or wire in the contact sensor.
What does it mean interconnected device?
If the smoke/CO detectors are connected to the hub, do they really need to be interconnected? If one is triggered, the hub can signal via a siren device or devices, send alerts via pushover or to to other devices. I don't really see the need for interconnection between smoke detectors if one is using them with Hubitat.
1 Like
Interconnected in this case means that if one smoke alarm is triggered, it will trigger all of them to sound an alert.
1 Like
Do you want to rely on HE to save the life or you and your family? I don't. Bringing mine into hubitat is simply for an automation but I wouldn't rely hubitat signalling another device. I sleep hard when I sleep. My kids mean too much to me. Yeah, interconnected is what you want. Hubitat is not meant as a safety device.
4 Likes
I guess our situations are different. The detector is right outside our bedroom door and is quite loud. The hard-wired one is on the ceiling just above it. I have two alarms that would be sounding rather loudly. Hubitat would only add to the noise when it sounds the siren and then turns on all the lights. We live in a small house that is single story. If we lived in a huge, multi-story house, I might have thought differently about it.
You still need a battery operated alarm for those instances when the power might go out and the hard-wired ones (unless they have a battery backup) would not be of much use.
Hardwired smoke detectors should always have a battery backup for exactly this reason.
With newer models that contain 10-yr sealed lithium batteries and last the entire useful life of the detector itself, it’s a no-brainer.
2 Likes
Also code calls for new build and rennovations to have interconnected smoke alarms. We we did our reno the inspector tested each one even though each one set off all the others.
My strategy is similar to Rick’s.
I buy dumb smoke detectors made by well-established brands that are UL compliant and meet the specific needs of my house (with respect to placement of the detectors, battery vs. mains power, smoke only or combo w/ CO, etc).
Then I install Ecolink firefighter devices that listen for the smoke/CO alarm patterns and generate events that Hubitat can utilize.
2 Likes
The Zen55 is also an option to consider... I recently replaced my aging Halos with some dumb interconnected alarms and wired in a Zen55 on the last one. It works great.
3 Likes
Where I live, hard wired and inter-connected is required by code on all new construction and has been for very many years now.
3 Likes
True for most (all?) places in the US, AFAIK.
But there are a lot of apartment buildings and houses out there that pre-date such updated code requirements.
1 Like
