Need recommendations for new smoke detectors

[edlentz]

I am looking to replace the First Alert Zcombo devices I have (3). They just don’t seem to work that well for me. I have tried to default them and re add them with no luck at all. They are manufactured in Jan of 2018. When they did work I was skeptical of the info I got as far as battery life. So what is a good device at a reasonable cost, I am in the US

Thanks

[NathanCu (Nathan Curtis)]

They’re due to be replaced on 2028 no matter what anyway… (sensors are 10 year lifespan)

When my Nest Protects die (3 yrs) I plan on going back to standard (Northamerica) hardwired co/smokes (i have a hardwired smoke loop in the home) and adding a ZWave relay like a Zooz zen55 to capture the alarm.

[stevemann (Stephen Mann (YAML-challenged))]

What I would like is a smoke detector that I can silence from Home Assistant. It gets annoying when the smoke detector is the dinner bell. Joking aside, she is a wonderful cook, but when she is frying meats, especially fish, the smoke detector reliably goes off.

[NathanCu (Nathan Curtis)]

That’s a recurrent ask but difficult under NFPA rules. One should physically verify and last time I checked 23.8.2.11.3 limits remote silence to portions taken offline. (a feature rarely in residential)

So technically now possible after the 22 code revision but would take a ton of money to implement in code compliance therefore I doubt it goes in the cheap stuff.

Man I wish Halo was still around.

[wmaker (Tommy Long)]

Just as an FYI, here is a write-up I did a couple of months ago for new detectors I installed:

First Alert Z-Wave Smoke / Carbon Monoxide Detectors don't show up in Home-Assistant

It was way past due for me (in the U.S.) to replace my very old AC wired Smoke detectors and I also needed to update to code by adding detectors (battery operated) to all the bedrooms. I choose two First Alert, models for this project: I. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector - Battery Powered Model 1044807 (aka ZCombo - 2nd gen). ZWave+ Smart Start 2 AA batteries Sensor Type: ‎Electrochemical (CO), Photoelectric (Smoke) Here are some of the various things you’ll find on the HA Device Page [im…

[CO_4X4 (Colorado Four Wheeler)]

I’ve been very happy with my First Alert’s, they have worked quite well and the battery life has been excellent. Like any battery detector, they have woken me up a few times when the battery gets low in the middle of the night, but other than that they do work. What’s not working on yours?

[edlentz]

Hi CO_4X4

I have two older models 2018 and a newer one 2022 (Zwave Plus) They are a PIA to connect to the network, at least the 2018, I am going to try the 2022 model tonight. I am not keen on the reporting of the battery life, but I am finding that that is normal for all the Smokes out there. If I get the Zwave Plus model to connect I will probably get replacements to be consistent The information on connecting to a network is sparse at best from what I can find. I asked ChatGPT and it gave me info totally different, that also didn’t work with the 2018 models.

[CO_4X4 (Colorado Four Wheeler)]

Poor battery reporting isn’t exclusive to First Alert, in my experience 50% or more of all Z-Wave and Zigbee devices don’t report battery properly and/or frequently. However, this is often overcome with Z-Wave by forcing an update from the device.