Z-wave sound sensors to monitor existing smoke/co detectors?

Devices & Integrations
1

As with most people, I already have numerous non-zwave smoke/CO/explosive gas detectors throughout the house. Instead of investing in a new set of z-wave compatible detectors, wouldn’t it be great if there’s an App/Device that can monitor the frequency of those detectors and alert me if any of them is activated? Sounds pretty straight forward and would be way cheaper than retrofitting with new z-wave devices.

I leave my pets at home during the day and would love the peace of mind of knowing when any of those alarms sound.

Are there any devices out there today that can do what I want? Z-wave sound sensors? Apps to analyze the sound frequency, etc?

2

None that are zwave, but there are two that are Wi-Fi and can work well.

The Leeo is a newer style device, looks well engineered, and has an IFT TT channel which makes integration with SmartThings quite easy.

4 star review average at Amazon.

There’s also a slightly older device from kidde, the remotelync. Costs more, does less, and has lower ratings at Amazon. But still worth a look, especially if you can find it on sale.

(Btw, these work because in the United States the specific audio pattern of a residential smoke alarm or CO monitor is mandated by law, and the audio sensor can be set up to recognize just that pattern. But the smoke alarm has to be one of the newer ones, I think it’s since 2001 or 2005 that use that pattern. If your smoke alarms are very old, check to make sure that they’re using the same pattern.)

1 Like
3

Check out this thread - you can connect a z-wave sensor directly to your smoke alarms.

1 Like
4

for a device type to make the z-wave device appear as a smoke alarm in Smart Home Monitor, look for @Mike_Maxwell 's post in this thread: [RELEASE] Universal Virtual Device Type and Translator

1 Like
5

The relay method will only work if all of the detectors in the home are both hardwired and wired together. Otherwise you’ll need one relay for each smoke detector circuit. They might all be wired together, they might not.

The audio sensors like the Leeo will work even if the existing smoke detectors are battery-operated, not hardwired.

So it just depends on The exact details of the current set up. :sunglasses:

1 Like
6

I can recommend the Leeo, had a smoke event in the kitchen, soon as one of my alarms went off the kitchen Leeo emailed and called me, then the hall alarm went off nearly in tandom and my bathroom Leeo heard that one and did the same.

I have each setup as their own house under my account to get finer control. Both alerted seconds before my Insteon smoke bridge alerted.

1 Like
7

I really don’t understand why a company like Leeo doesn’t open up their API. It makes me not trust them. You would think they would want to grow and this is a major way to do that. They would go fromj “works with iphone, android, ifttt” to “works with A TON OF LOGOS”.

I don’t trust them because I suspect their software is not scalable (think myQ) and / or not secure.

8

I personally don’t have a problem with a smoke sensor or an acoustic smoke sensor like this one that doesn’t have an open API. They have a specific job to do, we expect a very high reliability from them for that job, and the equivalent of IFTTT outbound integration seems to me to be sufficient.

9

Is there a way to use IFTTT and have it work with Smart Home Monitor?

10

I don’t know. A read only API shouldn’t be an issue.

11

You can do some things. :sunglasses:

The Leeo alarm triggering can act as the “if” in an IFTTT recipe

Then you can use anything in the SmartThings channel for the “that” including a switch coming on.

It would be easy to have that trigger SHM as a contact or motion sensor. I’m not sure what options you have with a smoke sensor, though.

12

How about Fibaro smoke sensor

13

Last I heard this was available on the EU zwave frequency, but not yet released in the US. Has it come out here yet?

Also, I don’t think it monitors existing smoke sensors, which is what the original poster was asking about. I think it just is a smoke sensor.

14

@pizzinini Thanks, I ordered an extra contact sensor and I will try to wire it up to my existing hard-wired smoke detectors. That seems to be the best, reliable and cheapest method I can see. Now I just need a way to open my patio door automatically to let me pets out when the alarm sounds :slight_smile:

15

Some gate openers were on sale for Prime Days, coulda grabbed one of those, rigged it up, thrown a relay z-wave module on it…WAF would probably be low now that I picture it in my mind…

Edit: That chicken coup thing would probably be easier to modify as I believe it’s already linear, kinda pricey, but hey, it’s your pets safety after all!

16

I have it set up to turn on all lights, unlock door, open garage door, turn off heaters, water heater and gas fireplace.

1 Like
17

As it would be great to have sound sensor running z wave You don’t need one - You need Fibaro UBS - Universal Binary Sensor. You just have to attach it to your gas sirens. Whenever they go off UBS sends message to your Controller. It’s fairly cheap and easy to install. Hope it helps.

18

Hey Chase,

Would the alarm have to be hardwired? I am trying to find a good solution for notifications for my natural gas alarm in my kitchen which is a standard kidde plug in. I came home from work yesterday and my kitchen was full of gas from a crappy range install from two days ago.

Thanks

Slaw

19

You’ll probably need to get a standalone explosive gas detector like the one made by Kidde. Then use a separate sound monitor like the Leeo Smart Alert Smoke detector.

You will have to then use IFTTT to connect it to Smart Things.

20

Is this available in the US ? I can’t seem to find any references to it on their site or Amazon.

Thanks,
Scott