Since a new law went into effect at the start of 2020 requiring a smoke alarm on every floor, I went out and bought the smoke alarm mentioned in the title. It seems to work well so far but I can’t figure out if there’s a way to manually trigger the siren contained within the alarm. (It seems the z-wave one can’t but the zigbee version can?)
The idea being that if one smoke alarm is triggered, that the other ones would be triggered as well. If this is not possible with the current one that I bought, then could anyone point me to one that would? I heard the Fibaro’s can do this but frankly they have horrible reviews with a lot of false positive triggers. My requirements would be z-wave compatible, can be triggered from the controller, and no false positive trigger events.
Most smoke detectors only function as sensor, not as actuator. You either want linkable smoke detectors or invest in one or more alarm sirens.
In the latter case, you can use Z-Wave sirens and assign them to one alarming association group defined in your Z-Wave smoke detectors. Or you use another technology to add audio alarms in your home and operate them though openHAB. E.g., by using text-to-speech through your smart speakers…
Regarding the false positives on certain Fibaro smoke detectors, I understand that this mainly applies to the 1st generation, not to the 2nd.
Keep also in mind that there will always be false positives, e.g. due to accumulating dust or due to insects. Smoke detectors should regularly be cleaned, to avoid dust interfering with normal operation.
Good smoke detectors should have a fine grid to hinder dust and bugs entering the detector.
What you want to avoid, are false negatives. That’s why you should replace them after 10 years or after a fire.
Obviously false negatives are far worse, but I’ve heard stories with Fibaro’s having false positives every other week, which let admit, would just result in the batteries being removed and that will have the same effect as a false negative, which is a shame since I’m very happy with their wall plugs.
I’ll clean them monthly by the way, and I think I will go the way of a separate siren or smart speaker to solve my issue mentioned in the OP.
