I have 7 wired smoke detectors in my house and it is time to replace them all.
I'd like to take this opportunity to bring them to the "next level".
Basically what I have in mind is:
Integrate them with my ring alarm system so I can have the central station monitoring for fires besides burglary.
Integrate them to HE - if it makes sense but ring alarm is the priority.
Anyone with a similar setup or who has found a reliable z-wave/zigbee smoke detector out there?
Ring has this listener but... it is a fire alarm, would a listener be a reliable choice here?
As for z-wave detectors, first alert has been manufacturing one for ages, is it still a good option in 2021?
I've chosen to stick with traditional wired smoke and CO alarms, super reliable and cheap/easy to maintain and replace every 10 years. To integrate them into Hubitat I originally followed this method when I was on ST and it works in HE. It uses a alarm panel step down transformer.
Since then I've taken it a step further and tied my wired smoke alarms into Hubitat via a Konnected board:
Either way works, the Konnected method is super reliable given it's all wired but if you dont already have the need for dry contact alarm sensor monitoring its probably overkill.
If you need/want a open/close sensor for method 1, I can find my old one to sell you. DM me.
I tend to agree with keeping the "dumb" detectors. They are cheap, are available hardwired, and easily replaced if one goes bad.
That contact sensor/relay is one viable way to do things. Many used to do it this way.
Another option is the Ecolink Smoke Detector "listener". It can make any standard detector smart by listening for the particular chirp frequency/pattern and sending that to the hub via Zwave. They make these for US version of Zwave, not sure if there are international frequencies available if that is what you need.
The good thing about either of these methods is you can pair the detectors to two hubs or two systems by using two different sensors. A Zwave device can only be paired with one hub, so if you had a Zwave detector you could only use it with Hubitat or only with your alarm system.
I'm assuming they need to be replaced because they are functionally end of life. If that's the case, then you must replace them even if they do not, as Nest Protects do, brick themselves (sometimes well before the actual time lapsed from manufacture).
For others who may read this thread and are thinking about replacing still viable smoke alarms because you want to add smartness to them, consider this. Newer smoke alarms no longer have the ability to silence nuisance alarms if smoke exceeds a 4% obscuration level. A human telling the alarm that this is a nuisance alarm caused by frying bacon is not good enough. For this reason, I am no longer able to have a smoke detector in any room adjacent to the kitchen, despite having detectors there for decades previously. Moral of the story is to hang on the smoke alarms as long as they are still in their useful life. You may not like the newer ones.
