This might not exist yet, but I’d like to find a smoke detector that checks three boxes:
10-year sealed battery
Provides “early warning” when smoke is detected
Connects with HA
In my jurisdiction, smoke detectors are required to be hardwired OR have a 10-year sealed battery. We have old Nest Protects right now, and I really like the “Head’s up” warning it gives us when things get a little smoky while cooking. However, it doesn’t comply with local laws as it has replaceable batteries.
Does this unicorn of a smoke-detector exist yet? This First Alert Z-Wave-Plus gets close, but doesn’t have an “early warning” sensor.
I would be open to a separate device that can provide the early warning, but I haven’t been able to find that either.
This’ll be your sticker I don’t know any that exist and honestly checking the battery is more than ‘is there a good battery’ it’s a service check. I’d let this one go. Not servicing the battery will lead to bad habits. You still need to visit the device annually to clean it, blow it out and I even run a simulation with canned smoke to verify the sensor media. (am an ex firefighter, yes smoke detector test smoke is a real thing. )
The nest protect hardwired was the closest I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately it’s discontinued… I have to replace all 5 of mine in 2028…
Personally I’m so bummed out by the smoke detector / carbon monoxide detector options out there for the 10-year batteries. My state requires that all detectors be hardwired together. The only ones that I’ve found that have any kind possible ability to be linked into HA are from Kidde. Got some at one of my properties and they all (but one) stopped talking WiFi about 1 year into using them. Still work just fine as detectors though. There’s an HA integration that will talk to the Kidde cloud to get state so it can be integrated into HA but with their horrible connectivity it’s not too useful
Kidde seems to have decided no longer do their own cloud thing and are moving to integrating with Ring, which I refuse to use. Wish I could find a Z-wave 10-year multi detection device that meets the hardwire requirement.
Yes, annual maintenance still occurs, but given that these are in an STR I don’t want even the hint of batteries going in the middle of the night for guests which has happened a few times at other properties even with me regularly checking and changing batteries on the devices.
I’m pretty convinced when my nests EOL I’m just going to hardwire smoke + CO detectors then monitor the interconnect line with either a ZWave relay or esp32 depending on the detector capabilities.
Ill miss the path light and sound detection tbh… Really will but I’ve got two years to solve that problem… Future Nathan is gonna hate me.
The 3rd checkbox can more or less be achieved via the “Ring Alarm Smoke & CO Listener”, which is z-wave, sitting next to your typical detector, be it hardwired or 10-year battery powered.
So maybe with that, more options would become available to you… before your unicorn detector showing up in the market.