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First Alert AC10-500 smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

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    #1

    First Alert AC10-500 smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

    I'm considering replacing my smoke detectors with the First Alert AC10-500 smoke and carbon monoxide alarm. My current smoke detectors require regular battery replacement and frequently alarm erroneously. They are end-of-life.

    I like the AC10-500 because it has a 10 year battery and has a wifi connection. I do not want to use a Z-Wave smoke detector since Z-Wave wasn't designed to push out notifications from a device and polling is problematic. The AC10-500 spec. says it is HomeKit compatible.

    http://www.firstalert.com/component/flexicontent/item/1099-onelink-wi-fi-smoke-carbonmonoxide-hardwire

    I don't want to use this device via the cloud which eliminates the First Alert app. The datasheet doesn't mention any other protocol interface on wifi other than HomeKit. I am thinking of polling it about every 20 seconds for an alarm condition. Has anyone attempted to poll this device directly over wifi with HomeSeer using a custom script/plug-in?
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    #2
    I use z-wave First Alert detectors. They have a reliable heart beat and battery level is accurate.

    Michael
    Michael

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      #3
      Yeah, I'm not sure about the comment that Zwave wasn't designed for this. I have an event where I ensure that I get a heart beat from the z wave smoke alarm every 65 minutes and it's never failed.

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        #4
        When a Z-Wave node sends data to the controller unprompted, the controller does not return an acknowledgement packet. If the message does not make it to the controller for whatever reason, the node does not try again. There is no guaranteed delivery of data in this direction. That's incredibly risky since the transmission medium is RF.

        There is guaranteed delivery when a controller sends a message to a node as an ack must be returned.

        Z-Wave just isn't a robust protocol.

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          #5
          I see. I guess it depends really what you're planning on doing with the information. I wouldn't trust any home automation system to be a true alarm system (i.e., where an event results in the fire or police department being summoned), which is why every UL-listed alarm system does not really on Z-Wave, ZigBee, or WiFi for actual alarm events.

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            #6
            I wouldn't either. I was hoping to get the alarm output to trigger a text message to my phone. I've decided to use a smoke alarm with a hardwired relay output to get this trigger instead.

            Z-Wave hasn't been good enough for me even for non-life threatening uses. For example, I installed a Z-Wave switch to a bathroom fan. I have an event that shuts off the fan if it has been on longer than 1 hour. The controller doesn't always receive the status message that the fan has been turned on, so the event doesn't fire. I added a second Z-Wave controller close by to ensure it's a direct hop from the switch to this controller and it's still unreliable. It's incredibly reliable controlling the switch from HomeSeer, though, but that's because the message gets ack'd instead of hoping for the best.

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              #7
              Sorry- so is this unit compatible with HS using a plugin?

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                #8
                I don't know of any plug-in for it.

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                  #9
                  Thanks.

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