Hardwire smoke/carbon monoxide detector

vseven - SmartThings_VSeven - master

Grab the “modified-zwave-door-window-sensor-for-smoke.groovy”. Should work for any generic z-wave contact device including the EcoLinks.

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Been a while, but I am going on vacation soon and I wanted to get everything working properly. Here is my completed Smoke/CO sensors. all tested and working (multiple times and ways). If anyone else stumbles across this thread, Id be glad to describe the process. Thanks to everyone that helped me…

Before


cut a big hole in my new ceiling
double box installed and wiring mostly complete. had to jump a 14/2 from the detector that was already in place and bring it into the new box to hook to the switch.

open/close sensor installed (I used the normally open circuit for my installation)

after everything was installed and connected, I changed the sensor over to use the custom device handler and then tested it all again (smoke test and magnet test). Everything works like a charm. PS my brushless cordless drill kept setting the sensor off while i was screwing it all together.

Just buy a Halo from Lowe’s with a coupon. It will do what you want. The Kiddle module with open/close sensor did not work reliably for me. Halo with coupon is not much more $.

Mine is working great so far.

Not everyone wants a combo smoke/CO in all locations. I replaced a combo smoke/CO with a Halo in my living room, but did this mod in my kitchen where there’s a smoke (only) detector.

I am happy that your configuration is working well. You do not have a sensor for CO, right?

If you do the math, a Halo at Lowes is $80 with coupon. A Kiddle/FireX smoke interface module, CO interface module, two open/close sensors, junction box, etc, the Halo is probably less money and never requires a battery change on the sensor(s) (I think is why mine stopped working, but to wife-proof it we just scrapped the project and got a Halo for the four legged friends’ safety).

The Halo just works.

The way my first alert brand system works is all of my detectors are wired together through out my house (two of which are CO/smoke) all are on the same circuit with only one traveler wire. I integrated the smart sensor on only the first one. Since they are all wired together if any of the smoke or the CO/smoke detectors trigger, then they all trigger and I get a notification. The notification wont differentiate between smoke and CO, but I am not too concerned about that. As long as I get a notification that something is wrong i am happy and If i am at home when it happens then the CO makes a different noise so I will know. I feel like the system is pretty fail safe. or at leas as fail safe as the detectors themselves. Im not too worried about changing batteries, I made it very accessible. I did look at the Halo system and decided to go this route first.

My whole setup was $42.37

Again, I have what sounds like the same interconnected system that you have and tried the fire module/sensor configuration. All worked well; setup was simple. The problem was that when the alarm when off (false alarm), the batteries in the sensor were dead (despite 100% reporting). As you probably know, Smartthings is not the best system at sensor battery reporting even with custom device handlers. Of course, the simple answer is to just replace the battery. But, for say $40 (difference in cost if not including CO module and extra sensor), I’d just rather have a reporting Halo detector that will trip the entire interconnected system and/or report when the other detectors are tripped. I never have to remeber to change a battery. I do applaud the person that originally devised the workable reporting system.

A) Don’t rely on it working, just have it as a notification just in case. Mine for example turns on all the lights and exhausts in the house along with notifications. Figure it would help to get out of the house if there was a fire/smoke.
B) Change your batteries in your sensors like you are supposed to in your smoke detectors, once every 6 months, and you shouldn’t have to worry about a dead battery.
C) Instead of a battery powered sensor use ST_Anything or Konnected for a always on relay from the Kiddie module to your SmartThings hub. That’s what I switched to.

that’s what I am more interested in. Just an extra amount of warning in case something does happen say while we are asleep. In the event something happens while we are gone, I hope that I get a notification so I could check my cameras and then call the fire department, but if it fails then no one is home to lose a life and if we are home then I still have the normal smoke detectors. I don’t disagree that the Halo is a great option, I just feel like the route I went is all that I need for the purpose intended. Also I agree, I change all of my batteries out every 6-8 months and I don’t foresee that being an issue.

See, we have a cat for which I need the remote alert to work without issue when I am not at home so that I can notify authorities immediately. I simply can’t rely on batteries if I don’t have to.

Oh, plus the Halo let’s me use it as a hall nightlight so that my cat does not trip on hall lights in the middle of the night.

That is understandable

Hi,

I have firex i4618 smoke detectors at 10 locations. I want to change three locatikns with combo smoke and CO. Do these combo and smoke can be in same line? Which relay and sensor i can use?

Thank you in advance

I like this idea - but i have also read that it’s not recommended to mix detector brands on the same interconnected circuit. Does anyone have any thoughts on this ? Thank you in advance :slight_smile:

Well, there are a couple realities here. First, there should be enough smoke detectors in a house with interconnected units by code (depending on your state I suppose) that if one goes and is not interconnected, they all will. I think I have 12 detectors in my home. In my case, by code, there is anoher detector about four feet away from my Halo. The second reality is that brands want you to use all their brand and do not want liability associated with interconnecting with another brand. The Halo sets off my FireX interconnected detectors and they trigger the Halo. Again, I cannot speak to all configurations. However, the first point should probably be valid. Find a place where two detectors are close and use of of those.