First Alert ZCOMBO-G

[Guest]

I would have to go check, but I seem to recall when reading the manual when installing mine that there was a way to temporarily silence the alarm. I do not recall if it required pushing a button, or rather if it could be done through a zwave action from Homeseer. If the later, then it would be a simple task to create an easy way to do it, perhaps via an Alexa voice command.

[RoChess]

They silence quickly via the TEST button on the device, but they are Z-Wave non-listening, so there is no way to control them and only allow you to get alarm status.

It only happens on `heavy` cooking though, such as bacon, searing steak, etc.

In a way I am fine with it, because it verifies that they are functional as I'll never be able to keep up with the weekly test we are all supposed to do

Did more research, and will probably go with this 760CFM model -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FYB60FS (with CFK1-TM ductless kit) which "blows" the existing crappy NuTone 160CFM one to dust, and should prevent future cooking from setting of the alarm.

[racerfern]

I just installed a new microwave and moved the dampers to have it exhaust out the back. There had been a Nutone old wall exhaust fan years ago that vented outside. I opened up the wall in the hall behind the kitchen and with a few pieces of 3"x14" of Lambro ductwork from Amazon connected the new exhaust point to the 50yo duct in the wall. Closed up the wall and done. It's powerful and quiet with no more alams.

[mrceolla]

Though I did have one the other night that started chirping about a low battery, but with no indication on the zwave side. Battery level was 77%. Changed the batteries and it stopped.

I just had this exact same thing happen. 77% hit and I started getting 1 chirp per minute. I have a second one at 78% right now. Is it safe to assume that my 2nd unit will start chirping at 77% as well? This is the first time I've had to change batteries in mine. Will they ever hit 77% or lower and NOT chirp? Wondering if I should update my battery check script to alert me at 78% instead of 25%.

I thought these batteries were lasting an awfully long time based on their slow percentage decline. I guess not so much.

[johnpeterson]

I have 7 ZCombos and all of them will start chirping between 75% and 80% I never watched close enough to see if 77% was the magic number. When one of them hits 78%-79% I go ahead and change them all. One trip for the ladder and keeps the life of the batteries in sync.

[drhtmal]

I just installed a new microwave and moved the dampers to have it exhaust out the back. There had been a Nutone old wall exhaust fan years ago that vented outside. I opened up the wall in the hall behind the kitchen and with a few pieces of 3"x14" of Lambro ductwork from Amazon connected the new exhaust point to the 50yo duct in the wall. Closed up the wall and done. It's powerful and quiet with no more alams.

I hope that is not a load bearing wall you cut apart to route that duct work.

[racerfern]

drhtmal LOL, it isn't! On the right side you see the original Nutone fan box below and straight up is where it went through the ceiling into the attic and beyond. I "simply" added a couple of 90s. Who woulda thunk the house had a fan back in the day buried in the wall. I just saw the duct in the attic and ran with the idea.

[mrceolla]

I have 7 ZCombos and all of them will start chirping between 75% and 80% I never watched close enough to see if 77% was the magic number. When one of them hits 78%-79% I go ahead and change them all. One trip for the ladder and keeps the life of the batteries in sync.

Thank you for the confirmation. I will adjust my Low Battery Alert script.

[RoChess]

I'm still on all the original batteries, and will replace them with Energizer Lithium ones when they stop functioning.

Don't have much history to go on though, as this is my oldest one:

FirstAlert Sensor Alarm
Last Heartbeat: 5/19/2020 5:11 PM
Last Sleep: 1 hour
Battery Level: 91% (20)
Battery Rate: 0.0% per day
>100% to 91% in 216 days
>0.04% per day [15% per year]
Battery Life: 216 days
Status: Healthy

But they already are paying for themselves, because that first model is in my office and has never sounded the alarm, the hallway one keeps getting a whiff of the kitchen cooking with bad ventilation and has been triggered multiple times (burned popcorn, bacon, etc.):

FirstAlert Sensor Alarm
Last Heartbeat: 5/19/2020 4:22 PM
Last Sleep: 1 hour
Battery Level: 92% (20)
Battery Rate: 0.0% per day
>100% to 92% in 169 days
>0.05% per day [17% per year]
Battery Life: 169 days
Status: Healthy

I'm actually shocked that sounding the alarm all those times used only that little extra battery, because we're talking like 20 triggers. Those crappy stand-alone sensors used before I put in Z-Wave ones would have already required multiple replacement by now with a dead battery.

The SDJ-Health plugin does not just keep track on battery level it also monitors when a device stops providing updates. That last one covers the use-case where a device dies even with batteries at say 72% and lacks the battery-juice to send over a status update.

[johnpeterson]

SDJ-Health plugin is a great way to monitor the ZCombo (and other battery devices). It's tracking of the heartbeat gives me a much higher confidence level with these critical devices.

I noticed that SDJ-Health didn't automatically recognize the last time I changed the batteries and I assume that it was due to the setting "Battery New Increase" defaulting to 50%. Since these only go down to ~75% it will never have a 50% increase in the battery level. I set mine to 5% increase and we will see what happens next year. You can manually set the battery change date within the plugin tab.

[langenet]

I just installed the new z-smoke z-wave plus unit; my third unit - though my other two are a few years old and the first version of these. I have created the heart beat events as detailed earlier in this thread. For those who are using these newer devices, do we still need to create the heartbeat event?
The reason I ask is because just after adding , I see in the log the following which seems like this isn't necessary anymore.

Setting wake-up interval for device Node 51 Z-Wave BRK Brands Notification Sensor to 12 hours and 0 minutes

Thanks

Robert

[RoChess]

The SDJ-Health plugin will auto create the heartbeat sensor entry, and it might just take a little bit of time for everything to settle in. You can "force" it though via the fire-alarm test-button, which I usually do myself after I try to muffle the agonizing loud sound that will start when you do that 😱

[langenet]

Has anyone tried to replace a defective unit with a new one. One of my original z-smoke detectors looked like failed with a message indicating the Co. reached end of life. So I picked up a new unit and wanted to know if I can use the z-wave replace node function. Interestingly enough, the newer units have 5 child devices insteard of the 3 from the early units. This probably complicates this.

[Rupp]

Has anyone tried to replace a defective unit with a new one. One of my original z-smoke detectors looked like failed with a message indicating the Co. reached end of life. So I picked up a new unit and wanted to know if I can use the z-wave replace node function. Interestingly enough, the newer units have 5 child devices insteard of the 3 from the early units. This probably complicates this.

I'd recommend just removing the old and including the new one and adjust the events. It seems if the old and new have different child elements the replace can be problematic.

[jgreenberg01]

I would really like to use these, but they are only battery powered. My home is new construction and came with wired units which I would like to replace with Z-wave units.

No one seems to make hard-wired Z-wave smoke detectors though.

Has anyone tried to step down the 120v AC power running to existing hard-wired smoke detectors to 3V DC so the First Alert unit can directly replace the hard-wired detector?

I'm assuming it uses 3 volts because it requires two AA batteries.

What would be the downside to doing this?