I'm in the market for new wired (for power), smart smoke alarms. I previously had 10 Nest Protects which I was very happy with, but the first one expired and I anticipate the next 9 will do so soon.
What I loved about the Nest Protects is that they:
Let me silence the alarm from the App, especially when it's a false alarm or low battery alarm
Also have CO detection
Have pathway lights that can be set to light up when walking around in the dark
Talk to each other so that any alarm in the house will make them all sound, guaranteeing that no one can sleep through them.
Unfortunately, it looks like Google got out of the smoke alarm business and recommended a First Alert smoke alarm, but I couldn't pair it after multiple tries and the reviews I read on it had other issues that were concerning.
So I wonder if maybe I should get something that is compatible with Hubitat, since most of my smart home devices operate through it. I also use Alexa and Apple HomeKit so compatibility with those would also be a plus.
Would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations.
You listed the reasons I like my Nest Protects. I have been studying that same issue. What to do about yet another one finger salute from Google. Since my home uses wired smoke alarms, I figured to get non smart but wired units and use a single Zooz Zen55 to bring them into Hubitat or Abode if possible. But since I have yet to need to do that, I can't say. Yes that works.
One of the reasons I started a new thread is that I tried looking for a Z-Wave First Alert detector on Amazon. I got a lot of hits, but I'm not actually sure which one, if any, is the one they were referring to.
If I understood correctly, the device you are suggesting listens for a Fire Alarm chirp and can sent notifications through the app. But that only solves half my problem. Many of our celings are high so I would want the ability to silence the alarm remotely which I can't do with a non-smart detector.
You can no longer purchase a smoke alarm that can be silenced through an app or physically at the alarm if it detects above a certain threshold. That threshold is easily reached in or near a kitchen.
Yes, but some ceilings are so high that this is difficult.
Also, I hated how my old dumb smart alarms used to always go off at 2am when the battery was low. The smart alarms I've had don't do that.
Fortunately my smoke alarms are located away from my kitchen. Though in retrospect I'm not sure if the design of this was such a good idea. I haven't had any false alarms from normal cooking activity.
Can anyone give me a link to the Z-wave First Alert detector on Amazon? I've tried searching for it but I'm not sure which one it is.
Even if I can't get all the features I want, I still need to replace my alarms.
You could switch to Qolsys powerg smokes and have an alarm panel. You should be able to silence those from the panel. You can also integrate an IQ4 into hubitat. Bonus you get automated fire response.
Typically, you do not put smoke alarms in kitchens. You can put heat alarms in kitchens to alert on range fires.
I'm not sure why Amazon is out of them, but I just bought 3 of the SMCO410 10-year sealed battery units from Best Buy. They were the only online retailer I could find that had them in stock. Unfortunately these don't meet the OP's requirements as they are not interconnected with each other. I'm not sure if there's a hard-wired version either. This link says maybe next year: https://support.firstalert.com/s/article/hardwired-zwave
I'll be retiring my EcoLink Firefighter. I had been using that to bring my Nest Protects into Hubitat but they're all expired now. All of my current detectors are the older Z-Combo or the new SMCO410 units, so they connect directly to the hub.
I would do dumb smoke detectors that you can buy at any hardware store. Most of them are now the 10 year battery permanently sealed variety, so you shouldn't have to worry about batteries every year.
Use the Ecolink mentioned above, especially if you don't have hardwired detectors. Otherwise I would suggest the Zooz Zen55 to get the detectors into Hubitat.
The Ecolink has worked fine for me, but does take a battery, and has to be mounted in a particular orientation and proximity to one of your detectors.
The Zooz wires into your existing interconnect wire for the smoke detectors. This doesn't take any extra batteries, so theoretically is more reliable long-term.
I said in or near a kitchen. Many homes, like mine, have an open floor plan for the public areas such as kitchen, foyer, living room, dining room. That's nearly half my house. I've yet to find a location where a smoke alarm won't trigger on frying a veggie burger, for example.
I hear you. Like my open floorplan. Solved the smoke detector problem by adding an exhausting to the outside range hood for the cooking smoke instead of recirculating that air through a filter.
Per their website, it (the wired version) integrates with Nest Protect also. Does that only mean if you still have at least one nest?
Also, in our county (if not in the whole state), we cannot use battery only devices unless the house was built with them (meaning without the wiring) originally. So, I cannot use the Zwave one regardless.
