When are "Hard Wired" Smoke detectors going to be supported by Smart Things

Sidjohn1 Ok… Now we are talking … It doesn’t look like its plug and play though… looks like a lot of coding and software to make it happen … I’m not a developer and don’t know Groovy or Java

Whiles it’s not plug and play, there is no need to do addition coding cause all the coding has been done. There are instructions on to get it installed in the devicetype itself, just follow the bouncing ball :slight_smile:

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Halo is planning hardwired or battery options. I believe the reference to the 10 year battery is the backup battery for the hardwired system. The battery version will likely use AAs.

http://halosmartlabs.com/halo-explained/

Halo doesn’t actually “have” anything yet except marketing. It’s all pre-release. No certifications.

Until you can order the product for two day delivery from Amazon, it’s all just marketing. As a consumer, you can’t know what will actually be delivered until it’s certified and ready to be delivered.

The short answer: Soon. Our production line is up and running. We will soon have all the necessary certifications to be called a smoke alarm, and talks with retail and distribution partners are continuing. We’re working hard to launch Halo as quickly as possible.

It may end up being a great product. It may end up only delivering 50% of what it promises. It may never come to market. There’s just no way to tell yet.

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Good point. I’ve edited my post to indicate planned and likely capabilities.

Smoke detectors, whether they are zwave or zigbee, generally will not participate in relaying messages for other device classes. This is a safety feature so that they do not miss one of their primary alerts while they are passing along the message for some lightbulb somewhere. So so even though they are hardwired, they probably will not extend your zigbee home automation network.

I have a kidde remote Lync and already have a topic open asking for an integration which has received no response.

The problem with nest protect is it doesn’t communicate with the other hard wired detectors only other nest protects. Huge miss otherwise I would have one.

I didn’t know that are smoke detectors that played well with other vendors smoke detectors… Thats a pretty unique feature

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You used to be able to mix smoke detectors in residential installs, but not for about 10 years. Detectors that use voice alerts don’t play well with other brands in the US.

That’s not really true. I was under the impression it was actually just open/close of contacts (it might not be) but a quick Google shows how it’s pretty common to mix and match vendors and not have any issue.

It isn’t until you get to fancier models with wireless capabilities and complex message sending where you run into issues.

EDIT: Just saw @JDRoberts post. Voice alerts is part of the more complex message sending I guess. You can still buy detectors without voice alerts though.

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I actually have two Co/smoke voice and the rest or just smoke and all work just fine together.

As mentioned - I believe its more the wireless that do not work across models/vendors.

Any who - Nest could have done something - even a Kidde remote lync style feature would be great.

I have something like the RemoteLync, but it’s from Leeo. It listens for alarms and sends notifications. It also monitors temp, humidity, and functions as a nightlight like a Hue bulb (multicolor capable). When it sends the notification, it also sends a recorded audio clip so you know if its your smoke alarm or a separate carbon monoxide monitor.

$100 on Amazon, down to $60 on eBay.

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For some complicated legal reasons in the US, I don’t believe an audio sensor monitor feature like the kidde remote lync has can be added to a combination smoke/CO detector in the US.

The reason for this is that the audio sensor Would have to be the primary function, or it wouldn’t hear the other smoke sensor alerts, and you’re not allowed to put anything ahead of the smoke sensor’s primary function. It’s a lot of complicated details.

I believe that both the remotelync and the Leeo would be triggered by a nest protect. The sound sensors are brand-independent because they are simply listening for the specific sound patterns mandated by US codes for all smoke sensors. They aren’t picking up on the voice alerts at all. Just the siren sound.

So you can already use the remotelync audio sensor with the nest protect.

RemoteLync communicates with most UL-listed smoke and CO alarms manufactured after 1999, which means you won’t have to install all-new alarms throughout your home.

Leeo’s FAQ lists the specific sound pattern they’re listening for:

https://community.leeo.com/docs/DOC-1090#~prl89bAvfWOz6O

Nest could manufacture their own version, I just think it would also have to be a standalone audio sensor, not a feature added to the nest protect, due to the code requirements for devices which are legally defined as smoke detectors.

If I’m wrong and there is something specific about the nest protect which means it isn’t recognized by the kidde remote lync, just let us know.

I forgot about this way to monitor smoke alarms: the Roost Smart Battery.

For sale on the 30th, for $35.

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I have these on order. Any idea on integration with ST? Will it be possible? Seems like a great opportunity to retrofit smarthome into existing hardwired smoke detectors. Integration with ST would be a very compelling reason to purchase ST for those still sitting on the sidelines.

Once they get IFTTT going you’ll have a few more options :slight_smile:

From the leeo.com website, this cracked me up so much, lol

oh man, alright so back onto this topic, I too would of bought the nest product when i saw it was wired. But it does not trigger your other existing hardwire sensors nor does it get triggered by them. From our point of view this sounds like a no brainer, if you took a standard round smoke detectors today, slapped a zwave module in it that triggered the same time/wave it triggers its own alarm today. Then we would all be set, replace just one of the sensors in your smoke detector groups, and if it gets triggered by either the others or itself it sends a zwave message and done.

But maybe it just isn’t that simple, or why hasn’t it been done yet.

Leeo is on sale at Best Buy. $80 (was $100).

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/leeo-smart-alert-white/4599402.p?id=1219776510181&skuId=4599402

So I was looking into getting my hardwired smoke/CO2 alarms connected to ST, and like others was disappointed when I discovered that the only supported options were battery powered models (First Alert and Monoprice z-wave models).

I did some searching. The Nest is pretty nice and it operates over WiFi, but of course it does not work with any hardwired detectors. The detectors mentioned in this post look good, but everyone’s already mentioned the shortcomings…

So I’ve seen two promising things out there that haven’t been mentioned yet.

Kidde AC Hardwired Wireless Interconnect Smoke Alarm RF-SM-ACDC

The Kidde RF-SM-ACDC extends hardwired systems into Kidde wireless by replacing one detector in the existing hardwired system, but I’m sure the wireless is proprietary. To get support for Kidde wireless in SmartThings, I would think someone would need to make something like the Insteon Smoke Bridge for it. The Insteon Smoke Bridge works with First Alert OneLink btw.

First Alert OneLink WiFi
http://www.firstalert.com/component/flexicontent/item/1099-onelink-wi-fi-smoke-carbonmonoxide-hardwire

This seems like a very promising alternative to getting a Nest Protect that doesn’t interconnect with hardwired devices. They already support Apple products, so it seems like SmartThings should be able to approach First Alert to work on integration but who knows…

All my alarms are Kidde so I’d love direct support for them, but I could easily get a First Alert to Kidde interconnect adapter. They actually have a list of compatible interconnected devices with an adapter in the manual and I believe my Kidde model is listed. :smile:

Nest protect does have a hardwired version, as far as power draw. What it doesn’t have is hardwired interconnect. Here’s their FAQ:

The new HomeKit enabled onelink does not work with SmartThings at this time.

Another option is to get an audio monitor that can send notifications like
Leeo or the Kidde remotelync audio monitor, and work out a way to have the notification send a text to IFTTT and get indirect SmartThings integration that way. But that’s yet another step.