Smoke alarm to turn all lights on

I have a First Alert Smoke and Carbon Monoxide detector. It is connected to the Smartthings controller. I am using the ‘Notify Me When’ app to send me a text. That works. I thought it would be a great idea if I could program it to ‘turn on all lights’ if the smoke detector went off in the middle of the night while I am sleeping. I cannot find a way to do that using the iPhone app. Is there another app or am I missing something? This should be doable and useful.

Hi @Mundar, you can do all that with Smart Home Monitor:

Thanks, I’ll try that.

Should I replace ‘Notify me When’ with Smart Home monitor?

Yup, that’s what I did. Works perfectly.

Thanks, that seems to be the thing to do. So, I tell it to send a sms to my phone and to turn on all the lights. Not much can go wrong there, but Nothing happens. With the ‘notify me when’ app it did send a text upon testing the smoke alarm, so that capability is there. In ‘Notifications’ it acknowledges that the alarm was tested. So, maybe the commands are not being executed because it knows it is only a test. Should I buy some canned smoke or maybe have my girlfriend cook something?
Paul

In addition to turning on all lights you may consider to turn off Thermostats, unlock doors… Everything that reduces fire hazard and makes it easier to leave or for the fire department to come in.

Perhaps even turn off home entertainment. Thanks for your input. I do not have control of those devices yet. I have some notes about the smoke alarm. A few weeks ago, I burnt the toast. I thought 'Oh crap, that will set off the smoke alarm." It didn’t as it would with the old detector. After breakfast, I did an unscientific test. I went out side and wadded up three sheets of paper and set it on fire. I held the smoke detector a couple of feet away in the path of the smoke. It did not alarm. That bothered me and I performed the same test the following weekend. No alarm. So, the weekend after that I handed my iPhone to my girlfriend and said video this. I did the test and naturally and embarrassingly the alarm sounded. By that time I had already contacted First Alert and they graciously sent me a new detector and were genuinely concerned about the lack of sensitivity of the unit. The new detector arrived and detected smoke immediately upon testing. The moral of the story is to test your smoke alarm with some sort of ‘real world smoke’. Also, pressing the ‘test’ button does not simulate dimming the lights and sending a text - that requires real smoke. Another thought, how would you test for carbon monoxide? Maybe start the car and hold the detector in the path of the exhaust?
Paul

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The best way to test a smoke detector is with the test button/sequence provided by the manufacturer. Testing with live flame may actually not set off the detector right away because in most cases those are generating heat but not a lot of smoke.

If the smoke detector doesn’t go off when you expect it to, try the test button. If that fails, change the batteries. Try the test button again. If that fails, contact the manufacturer.

It’s not at all unusual for things like burnt toast to sometimes set off a detector and sometimes not. Sometimes it’s the specific type of bread, sometimes it’s the amount of butter on it, sometimes it’s the air currents in the room. It’s just not really comparable to a real house fire ( and of course you don’t want to test with a bigger fire.)

In fact newer smoke detectors are much better at not going off for very minor things like burnt toast. This has been an often requested feature in the past, and new technologies are better at distinguishing these from real emergencies. :sunglasses:

http://www.live-safe.org/2012/09/07/testing-is-key-to-keeping-smoke-alarms-working/

Thanks JD for the information and much as I suspected. The First Alert ZCombo does not send a text and turn all lights on when pressing the Test button. I would like to test that function periodically.

My smoke detector turns on all lights and sends me a text message even though I never set this up. There are no routines associated with the smoke detector. I do not see anything in Smart Monitor either. How do I disable turning on all lights for my smoke detector?

Hi @Harlan_Lau

Follow these steps to configure response in STHM