Just bought a couple of the zcombos, can’t wait for smartthings version two to try them out
Yep, it dropped to 98 today and updated, thanks…
Why wait? They work great on V1…
Just doesn’t make sense to me to buy a product when their newer version is due out very soon
I have some of the zsmoke alarms from Lowes. Every once in awhile they send a “testing” message that seems to be random. Wouldn’t mind so much but it sends an alert to my phone and is usually in the middle of the night. Any suggestion for turning off this “testing” alert so it doesn’t keep waking me up, but will still alert me if there’s a smoke in the building?
Out of the five I’ve had for over a year, one has done this once. Don’t know the cause nor how to prevent.
Take it back for a new one…
Any idea how to make my siren go off if a smoke alarm goes off? Since ST is unable to make the other smoke alarms if one goes off, I will never hear the one in the basement if I am in the bedroom upstairs. If I could trip my siren when an alarm goes off, I will hear that for sure.
That is strange, all I see is options for Alert Me (Push and Text Notifications), Turn on Light, and Unlock Doors?
Using SmartAlarm, you can have your ZCombo or Zsmoke set off your siren.
Hi,
I am curious if others have had a similar experience to mine with the ZCOMBO alarms.
They paired just fine, but weirdly, the other night one of them - just one - triggered on both smoke AND CO within 60 seconds of each other (1:19AM), with a message in my iPhone ST app: “is Testing Smoke” and “is Testing Carbon Monoxide”.
It never cleared, nor did our phones signal an alarm, but we noticed the message in our phones notifications.
We have 5 of these units throughout the house, and NONE of the others have done this.
Is this a self-test, and nothing to worry about, or is this the units way of signaling a real problem in ST?
Note that a check of the room did not reveal ANY indication of a problem with any electrical outlets and none of the appliances use gas - all electric.
Or, perhaps this is a defective unit that needs to be returned and replaced?
What do you guys think? I’m a newcomer to ST and home automation, and this seemed like a no-brainer, but I’m concerned about the poor level of documentation and lack of clarity in the log messages.
Thanks in advance,
Bjorn
Those messages are what the device sends when you push the button to test the alarm, so it sounds like some kind of error/malfunction in the Z-Wave part of the device. That’s not normal and I would consider returning or replacing it just in case it’s defective and has further problems.
Okay, thanks for the input. I’ll return it, as it does seem a bit flaky.
Does a smartthings capable smoke alarm/co2 detector/alarm exist where multiple detectors can be linked in a way so that if one alarm goes off, the others do too?
I had nest protects and after having to send the 4th one back for repair because they suddenly started going off randomly, I decided it is time for a better solution.
How often does the Z-Wave smoke alarm from First Alert actually “wake up” to check for smoke? Can anyone confirm whether this device is in fact a “WakeUp Device” - RSS Role Type typically used for Z-Wave battery powered sensors OR is it a “FLiRS Device” - LSS Role Type typically used for battery powered door looks, window coverings, etc.?
I want to make sure these devices are safe and at the same time want to understand what my realistic expectations should be for battery life.
I read somewhere that the cheap z-wave smoke alarms from EverSpring and sold under a whole bunch of different brand names actually may be WakeUp type devices that allows for the auto-wakeup mode in their smoke alarms to be adjusted from ten minutes to max of one week with factory default setting of one hour. Not 100% sure whether or not this means what I think it does, but if so, YIKES!!! Does not seem safe or like that would be in line with Fire Code.
I believe the tradeoff for FLiRS devices is that since they are awake far more often, they have way less battery life. But more frequent check-in for smoke just sounds like it would be safer.
And speaking of battery life, how long is the typical battery life of the First Alert zsmoke and zcombo devices when used as part of the smartthings ecosystem?
Not sure if I can help, not sure what the specs are… but I’d be happy to do a lit-match test for you. I’m pretty sure the device will push notify straight away.
I think you’re confusing z-wave “wake up” versus detecting smoke/CO. When there is no smoke, the alarm will wake up the z-wave radio every so often to “check in” with the hub. My First Alert detector seems to check in about once per hour and report battery level.
However, the instant smoke / CO is detected it sounds the alarm, wakes up the z-wave radio and reports in.
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Is it a First Alert with Z-Wave? I have a mix. The Z-Wave Fist Alerts work fine the non Z-Wave First Alerts, not so much.
This has probably already been asked, but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer… so, here goes…
I live in a 2 story house that has 7 hard wired smoke/co detectors installed. They are not smart devices. When one goes off, they all go off…
What I want… for them to be connected to my hub! well duh!!!
Ok, I want to buy one (1) smart detector, non-battery operated, and wire it into the existing system.
Here come the questions:
- If any of the dumb detectors alarm, will the smart one alarm?
- Will the smart one tell the dumb ones to alarm if it goes off?
- Or should I just reconfigure a contact sensor or something along that lines inline with one of the dumb detectors to trigger if there is an alarm anywhere in the house? I believe this could be done with a battery operated door/window sensor hard wired to the communication wire. Basically a work around instead of having to replace 7 alarms at 50 bucks a pop.
*** about #3*** No, the sensor would not be set up to trigger anything. It also would not affect the communication of the devices among themselves. And yes, I know how to do it properly when it comes to hacking the electronics… I was in the Navy… I have an awesome set of tools (what movie???).
Please give me your input, feedback, remarks, or whatever… I’m open to all of it.
oh yeah… and please… recommend a device for me… thanks.
Brand and model on the current hard wired nonnetworked ones?
BTW, if what you are looking for is primarily away from home notification, kidde has a really interesting solution which is a plug in networked device that just listens for the other alarms to go off and that is capable of sending notification. It’s intended for a retrofit situation. Gets decent reviews.
It’s not a smoke alarm itself, it will not trigger the other smoke alarms, but it gives you a notification capability for your existing alarms, which is often the main update people are looking for.
In the US, by code, smoke alarms have a very specific acoustic pattern, which is why this works. I just don’t know if it’s the same pattern in UK. It runs on Wi-Fi.
Because it can send multiple text notifications, you can use IFTTT for indirect integration with smartThings now in the U.S., and once that is fixed for the UK.
I like this one for a lot of retrofit situations, and if you’ve read my other posts you know that fire safety is a big deal for me. This is just a nice clean approach. There is one thing to watch out for, which is like a lot of Wi-Fi devices, it really works a lot better when it is not connected through a wifi extender, but that’s something you can test with him and see if placement makes a difference.
So that’s just one option. Literally plug and play.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Kidde-RemoteLync-Home-Monitoring-Device-21026465/205843011
As for your relay idea, sure, several people have done that. Usually with a relay and a door sensor. The issue with that is you have to match it based on model. And you’re paying for two devices anyway. So the plug-in ends up costing about the same, and should work any sensor that meets the US code.
You can search the forums, there are multiple topics on using the relays. Here’s a good one. I’d add any additional questions about the relay method to that topic.