First Alert Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Alarm Setup

Configuration Z-Wave
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has anyone done some tests to confirm the values? I’ve been scouring the web but this forum seems to be the only place with any potential data regarding alarm type and levels.

the CO part will be hard. i was devising of crafting something like a box near the exhaust output from my old truck to capture enough to trigger the co alarm.

smoke is easy enough. just need to fry up some bacon and let the grease smoke a little bit after. :slight_smile:

obviously CO is super dangerous so, no looking for anyone to go into harms way. just curious if someone has been able to confirm that these are the values. (1 for smoke, 2 for CO, 12 for both)

when i do the built in test function, i get a value of 12 for the alarm type and value of 255 for the level. once the test completes, the alarm type goes back to 13 and the alarm level goes to 0, until the detector wakes backup to report its battery level. then the alarm type is still 13 and the alarm level goes back to 255

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You can pull the alarm values and levels from the zwave specs.

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You can pull the alarm values and levels from the zwave specs.

That’s true for newer smoke alarms, but unfortunately not for the original ZCOMBO (there is a newer one). The original one implements V1 of the Alarm class, and the values reported are manufacturer specific. I’ve never seen any documentation for it. The new version (ZCOMBO-G?) supports the standard notifications.

@champ26 If you’re looking for confirmation outside of this forum regarding the values, you could also compare with the SmartThings device handler, which looks to use the same values as posted here.

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Check the device handler from Smart Things. I think I mentioned it in an earlier comment. The values are easy to spot in the file.

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First off, thanks for the great info in this thread. I was able to set these items up and while I haven’t tested the alerts, the device seems to at least make sense and report data.

Secondly - I’ve had one of these for about 2 years and had it setup with another Z-Wave controller. Earlier this year the batteries died and the smoke detector started chirping the low battery alert. At the time the battery level was reporting something like 75-77%. Has anyone else had a battery get to that point yet and can confirm that level? I setup an automation when the batteries drop to 78% to remind me to change them so I don’t get a low battery beep at 3 AM, but I was a bit surprised that it started going off when the batteries were still at such a high %.

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How often are you testing it? It only sends a battery report when you test it.

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Ah, I did not realize that. I thought it sent the battery status more often than that. That’s annoying… I guess I need to be testing them more often! Thanks!

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I’ve been fighting one of these devices for the better part of a month. Today, magically something happened.

Up to today, I was unable to ever get more than a single entity (battery), no matter what I tried. I had tried the thing with pulling out the tray and holding the button and re-inserting the tray. I had tried ZWave refresh and ZWave heal after restarting. I had excluded and added the device countless times. Even a couple of factory resets. I had edited the XML file, even sticking with other people naming conventions just to ensure that I didn’t muck anything up.

Today I was about to give up for good. I decided one last try. Here’s what I did, and it magically worked on the first try.

I excluded the device from my ZWave network. I restarted Home Assistant (I’m using HASSIO), and waited for the ZWave component to show as fully started.

I securely added the ZCOMBO device again, watching the log the entire time. About a minute after the log files stopped rolling, I went back to the ZWave control panel in HA and I hit “Save Config” (a thing I have literally never done before).

Then I rebooted hasio (yeah, I rebooted the entire thing).

When it came back up, I had 3 entities as children of this device, and they all worked.

I added in the templates, and things seem to be working as expected.

I should clarify I don’t think it added this securely, since there is no NONCE activity in the OZW log file for this device.

But I’ll take it.

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Yeah, I didn’t know that either.

I was in the same situation a couple of weeks ago. The battery level was in the 70’s and all of a sudden the low battery chirp started. :confused:

Good to know tho. Thanks!

Yup…

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I did not test these yesterday and I got a battery update on both of my devices, then, this morning, they went back to 100%. Go figure.

Untitled 12

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My battery status seems to update without my testing. When I first set it up, the battery was at 97%. Now it shows 95%. I’ve not tested since I finally configure the unit.

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I honestly haven’t watched mine closely since I replaced the batteries. I think it’s been updating because the battery level is at 93% now and i havent tested it either. But i don’t know how long it’s s been at that level tho.

I really don’t have any idea how it’s supposed to work.

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Two questions, is this for the “oneLink” device or will it work for that? Also, can you trigger an alarm with this? I just read an idea on reddit and I love it, using the fire alarm as a siren for security and I’m interested in knowing if I can SEND/trigger an alarm.

Thanks!

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Has anyone created a template for the newest version of these? I just picked up a 3 pack from Costco and they are zwave plus and they have more entities:

battery_level
carbon_monoxide
sensor
smoke
sourcenodeid
system
alarm level
alarm type

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Rolling with this for now for my gen2 devices

## Downstairs First Alert (Gen 2 Zwave Plus)
- platform: template
  sensors:
    smoke_downstairs_status:
      friendly_name: Smoke Downstairs Status
      value_template: >-
        {% if is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_smoke', '3') %}
          Test
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_smoke', '2') %}
          Smoke
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_carbon_monoxide', '2') %}
          CO
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_smoke', '6') or is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_carbon_monoxide', '6') %}
          Silenced
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_carbon_monoxide', '5') %}
          CO_EOL
        {% else %}
          Idle
        {% endif %}
- platform: template
  sensors:
    smoke_downstairs_health:
      friendly_name: Smoke Downstairs Health
      value_template: >-
        {% if is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_system', '5') %}
          Healthy
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_system', '1') %}
          Malfunction Detected
        {% elif is_state('sensor.smoke_downstairs_system', '0')  %}
          Malfunction Clear
        {% endif %}

EDIT: Updated, simplified and appears to be working… ill keep editing this one until i get it right.

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Are you in the US? Where I am (in PA, USA), the model is NOT z-wave plus-- I ordered directly from First Alert due to your post, so I’m disappointed that I spent ~$150 on something that has problems and won’t integrate well. Costco reviews also indicate that their model is NOT z-wave plus and does NOT have sensible home assistant entities. Please let us know.

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did you try them yet? I did similar, ordered before I realized there was a newer Z-wave plus model, (Amazon defaults to the older one unless you make a choice at the bottom) so I was disappointed as well, but after a little trouble generating the initial entities (the process someone mentions of repeatedly pressing the button to wake it back up helped) I used the example templates and all is working well… also tested a little and all seems to be working fine so not AS disappointed… will definitely make sure to order the newer zwave plus ones if I get more

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The ones I ordered from Costco earlier this month are Z-Wave Plus. They are the new model.

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I bought directly from the manufacturer and got the old model. I installed two of them before realizing. Hopefully they accept a return :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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https://www.costco.com/first-alert-z-wave-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm,-3-pack.product.100487243.html