Hardwired Smoke/CO Detectors?

I’ve had the Halo from Smart Labs installed in my home and they’ve been working well. I like that they are hardwired with a 10 year life battery backup, so truly they are set it and forget it. Integrated nicely with ST. But recently one has gotten a little flaky so I went to their website and sent a message to support. And then I found out they’ve been out of business for a year!! Weird because their site is still up and looks sort of current.

So now I’m looking at alternatives however the only ST supported smoke/CO detector in the Marketplace is from First Alert, and that unit is only battery operated; not hardwired. I guess z-wave detectors are more likely to be battery powered because the idea of z-wave is you don’t need hard-wiring for the units to communicate with each other. But the obvious downside is you gotta change out batteries much more often, which everyone knows is a pain!

Anyone got any ideas? Hey, let’s buy up all the Halo assets and re-start that company!! We’ll hire better management though …

Thanks in advance!

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In the area I live in, battery powered are against code/law. Must be wired with battery backup.

Nest has ones that meet this, however their ability to integrate with different eco systems is confusing given their recent announcements. I am using the NST Manager integration now with ST.

Other than Nest / Halo, the two options I’m aware of are:

  1. Install new “dumb” hardwired detectors, adding the appropriate relay to listen to the wired interconnect and connecting it via a contact sensor with dry contacts:
  1. Buy a LEEO / Ecolink FireFighter listening device which will alert ST if it hears an alarm tone from a dumb detector.

I was hoping to install Halo one day since they seemed to have all the features I wanted, but they went belly-up before I got there and it doesn’t seem like a wise move to get one now that there’s no support…I’m waffling between the two options above now, my house is approaching 10 years old so it’s time to replace all the detectors put in by the builders. I could stick a relay in while I’m touching everything, but I have BRK / First Alert and the relay doesn’t distinguish between smoke / CO signals. It looks like the FireFighter does, so for a few dollars more and a couple hours less of my time it seems like a good option.

This should work with standard smoke/CO detectors:

Your best bet right now is the eco-link audio sensor. You just get any hardwired smoke/CO sensors you want. The eco-link listens for the specific Beep pattern required of Fire Sensors or Co Sensors in the US, and then sends an alert signal via Z wave to your smartthings hub. You typically need only one per floor, or in some households with just one per house.

You could even use nest protects if you like those and use their own app but Also get the alert from the Ecolink to smartthings. Because the audio sensor doesn’t link directly to the smoke sensors, it doesn’t matter what brand they are or what other features they might have. It’s just going to respond to the noise.

Although there is currently a community – created integration with nest protects, it is likely that that will stop working as Google removes third-party integration from nest products beginning this fall. :disappointed_relieved:

There are some other options where people wire in a zwave relay to monitor activity on the wire sensors, somewhat the way Konnect works, but the audio sensor is a simpler method.

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I am surprised (slightly) that First Alert has not already been mentioned.

See - https://www.firstalert.com/product/wi-fi-photoelectric-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-with-10-year-battery-hardwired/

This is a hardwired alarm with battery backup Smoke and CO sensor.

I had considered getting some myself in view of the Nest debacle but unfortunately First Alert are like too many US firms apparently unaware that the world is not flat and they will not fall off the edge if they leave the shores of North America. As a result they do not make a 220V version suitable for Europe.

Discworld

Dear First Alert I have some genuine all American green backs awaiting your realisation the world is round.

It is that, but that model does not integrate with SmartThings.

As far as why they didn’t Make a U.K. model, very few companies make smoke sensors for both the U.K. and US because the differences go way beyond voltage and both regions have a long certification process to make sure their requirements are met.

Even the sound patterns are different. The UK requires a long tone, rising in volume with each repetition. The US requires a “bee bop” two note tone with equal volume throughout each repetition, but a differing volume for the two notes. There are many other differences as well.

We have previously discussed this in the forum with regard to why Fibaro, an EU company, doesn’t make a US version of their smoke sensor. They announced a US version about 5 years ago, but never did end up bringing it market because of all the regulatory issues.

Thanks for the explanation @JDRoberts

I had previously contacted First Alert and they did not mention any of that. Also I had previously seen one of their battery versions on Amazon.co.uk although it is no longer listed.

I had suspected the tones might be different and this confirmation is good to know because I had also seen mention of the Eco-Link which I would now think would be unlikely to work with UK alarms.

Still too many US firms clearly think they live on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. :grinning:

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Correct, the eco Link audio sensor sold in the US is only designed to recognize the US tone patterns, it would not work with a UK smoke sensor.