Smoke-alarms / POE - text alerts, home automation

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DrStein99

If it does not exist ? I am probably building it.
Feb 3, 2018
115
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New Jersey, USA
Does anyone here have experience with the wired-power smoke alarms? My brother in-law has them at his house, but they look like just low-voltage wires connecting to rechargeable smoke alarm device. I want to take mine a step farther.

I would like to replace my smoke detectors with POE / rechargeable smoke detectors. Are there any with sms-text alerting? Is there open-source hardware I can use to save me some money? I have hardware / servers, I can manage applications to run centrally. Can anyone comment, give advice - is into this type of stuff?
 
Last edited:

PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
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2nd that. Don't DIY your smoke alarms...

Just go with a zwave enabled smoke detector. There are battery and hardwire versions out there, including long life battery versions (7 year).

Then set up Home Assistant with a USB zwave controller to monitor it. Its easy.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk
 

DrStein99

If it does not exist ? I am probably building it.
Feb 3, 2018
115
4
18
50
New Jersey, USA
I was not planning to write firmware and build a smoke detector from scratch, and fabricate my own sensors. I was just looking for something that was available or close to being able to integrate that with my own custom automated system.
 

matthelm

New Member
Sep 19, 2013
15
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Chicago, IL
Correct, NEVER DIY smok... ur, ah, wait a minute, you never said anything about DIY smoke detectors.

If you find some POE / rechargeable smoke detectors like you were asking about, please report here so others can be told to never DIY smok... ur, ah, wait a minute, you never said anything about DIY smoke detectors. (Oops, I repeatedly repeat myself, but I did read the first post, correctly, twice!.)


Sorry, I Digress, oh, if you find some, post here so other can do the same thing!

I looked a while back, and from what I saw, they all used non-standard (read $$$) power systems, or batteries that when they ran out, tried to use wireless (with no power as battery is now dead) to report that they were out of power. I never found any that were better (99% were worse) than the cheap ones at Walmart.
 

DrStein99

If it does not exist ? I am probably building it.
Feb 3, 2018
115
4
18
50
New Jersey, USA
I started searching on my own. After 30 minutes and $125+ costs, I stopped and decided to ask here. I just figured there were enough handy people that would have done this already.

I will probably end up just hot-wiring power source on $9 walmart smoke detector, tap off the alarm line - into my device(s) and call it. At that cost I can afford just to buy 2. 1 in original not modified condition. The second detector I hack apart for system integration. This way, either / or fails should still give an audible alarm, which would probably be better than having only 1 smoke alarm (outside of the cost of these 9-volts of course. I prefer to use the 18650's scrapped from laptops).
 

zhoulander

Active Member
Feb 1, 2016
181
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IMO get a Nest Protect and use IFTTT. They're a little more pricey than ZWave detectors but the stock app is decent. They use regular mains power and have Lithium battery backup.

IFTTT
 

epicurean

Active Member
Sep 29, 2014
785
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2nd that. Don't DIY your smoke alarms...

Just go with a zwave enabled smoke detector. There are battery and hardwire versions out there, including long life battery versions (7 year).

Then set up Home Assistant with a USB zwave controller to monitor it. Its easy.
Any feedback with regards to using Openhab instead of Home Assistant? Just as easy as you say?
 

fohdeesha

Kaini Industries
Nov 20, 2016
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fohdeesha.com
in my experience OpenHab is much more powerful, but a little more in-depth to use/set up. I am using it in a virt cluster paired with an industrial PLC for high-availability home automation. This includes hardwired smoke detectors integrated with the system like @DrStein99 is asking about, but it was not a quick project.

You MUST follow NEC rules for smoke alarms (and everything else), and get it inspected. Even if you think you did everything to code the inspector will find something you didn't think of, and this process is a good thing. In my case I ended up using Bosch commercial smoke and heat detectors with relay output (this is the output connected to the PLC) hardwired with 3 seperate power sources (AC lab UPS, utility power, and a 24VDC battery backed system that powers the entire PLC system). They must have local sounders so even if your central system, wiring, or anything else fails, they can still alert people. FPLP certified wire, certain termination types, etc. It's not a project for the faint of heart and you CANNOT skip getting it inspected

the upside is now my central automation system is aware of them so you can easily build automation rules around them. For instance I get a text alert when they haven't been tested in the last 30 days, if they go off it automatically trips the emergency relays on all my UPS's (the EPO port, to disconnect any and all loads as well as the battery), I get a text about which detector went off, it turns on certain lights required for house egress if it's night time, it shuts off the HVAC if it was running so it does not cycle smoke throughout the house, etc.

There's more info here but it's a little outdated: Fohdeesha/home-automation
 
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mstone

Active Member
Mar 11, 2015
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I was not planning to write firmware and build a smoke detector from scratch, and fabricate my own sensors. I was just looking for something that was available or close to being able to integrate that with my own custom automated system.
You're talking about rewiring the power source for the smoke detector. Good luck explaining that if you have a fire and the insurance company sees it on the report. (They are really not going to care how sure you are that it's not a problem.)
 

marshek

New Member
Jul 12, 2022
1
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if any one is still looking in 2022
YoLink make some good products that use a LoRa (long range) wireless hopping tech to communicate with hub.
These are a good possible solution, plus part of an environmental monitoring system.
Pair a hub with a POE splitter, and its operated all on a network with NO subscriptions needed or power cords.

From the Home Assistant community it looks like they are open to help develop a integration for those willing.
 
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