Can you power these with potatoes?

sunnievann wrote:Booooo for not being lithium battery powered smoke alarms!!! Would actually be a good deal if they were maintenance free lithium battery powered... (Cruises on over to homedepot.com...http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202433885/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053)

I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't use 2 AA lithium batteries. My guess is that they'd last 7 or so years, or the lifetime of this alarm.

Installed 6 of these last time out, working good! You can tell which detector sets off the rest because its red light keeps blinking until you reset it. Roomate burned the bacon one morning...

getting 2 more :-)

portezbie wrote:doesn't this make it so you can't tell where the fire is? Sounds unsafe.

You may not be able to find out where the fire is, but the point of the linked alarms is to give you faster notice, NOT to improve your fire fighting abilities.

The idea is that when you need a fire alarm most, say for a large, rapidly developing fire that starts when you are not well aware of your surroundings (SLEEPING), your first priority is getting out ASAP, not fighting the fire.

missellienc wrote:Thanks... with my luck the wireless signal from the ceiling fan will trigger the smoke alarms which will then screw with my security system which will automatically dial the fire department. Hopefully something will also send a signal to raise my garage doors so the fire department won't have to break down my front door to see there's no real fire.

By far the funniest comment on here tonight! I can't stop laughing! Thanks, I needed that after a long day where I DID NOT get my taxes done and had to file an extension.

I actually own two of these and 3 of the Smoke/Carbon Monoxide alarms which are all networked together. You program each individual one to say where it's located (they have pre-programmed locations like bedroom, basement, etc). Once one goes off, they all alarm and announce where the alarm is coming from.

The battery life is pretty good too from what I can tell. I'm using the original Engergize AA's they came with and they are still holding strong at just over 3 months. I purchased some Eneloops and Sony slow drain batteries to test them afterwards.

I would recommend these to anyone.

I took my dead 9 volt batteries out of my smoke detectors so I could replace them...it seems like I just did that a few months ago, but in reality - I think it was 2 years ago! I just don't have 9 volts lying around like I do AA batteries. So I'm in for a set and will hopefully not let that happen again!

And for those questioning not knowing where the fire is when all alarms sound off simultaneously, the idea is that the detector closest to the fire (which could be at the opposite end of your house) will trigger the detector closest to where you're sleeping to give you better chances of getting out earlier than waiting till the fire is outside your bedroom door setting off that detector!

Wow -

had the detectors in my house all had a Decal Like these do I would not have a need for 6 new detectors.

You see - I was away for a awhile and my wife let me know while I was gone she was going to paint the ceilings.

She thought the detectors would look way less ugly if she had them all painted to match the ceilings. LOL

I have no detectors at the moment - and I do not have 100.00 wooter bucks to complete the order soooo..

I just will never sleep I suppose.

I should probably get do not paint stickers for all of the things in the house that do not need painted.
Just to be safe.

Some building codes require smoke alarms to be "connected by wires". So this could be added but may not be proper to replace existing wired smoke alarms. Could be an issue if you burn down or try to sell your home. But it wouldn't be a bad addition to existing alarms. Smoke alarms do save lives.

kenny3552 wrote:Fire Marshall Bill says buy these

A Pennsylvania TV station recommends wireless alarms, too:
http://www.wnep.com/videobeta/c319012e-43dc-43e4-9c20-b8db95ae74c6/News/Wireless-Smoke-Alarms-Offer-Homeowners-Options

Spend the money to protect your family! this is a great deal for a high quality item. Your 5 dollar old POS smoke alarm needs to be replaced by these.

jmzombro wrote:Some building codes require smoke alarms to be "connected by wires". So this could be added but may not be proper to replace existing wired smoke alarms. Could be an issue if you burn down or try to sell your home. But it wouldn't be a bad addition to existing alarms. Smoke alarms do save lives.

You are correct. We buy/fix/flip about a dozen houses a year and on a couple occasions the building inspector wouldn't allow us to use these. One other did allow us in a different suburb though, so I guess just check with your local building department.

All Chevy Volt owners should buy 3 packs of these, you will need them.

I work in audio and a lot of the bigwigs have decided that relative to the FM hearing curve, the most accurate and safe monitoring (best practices) means calibrating for around 83dB. Remember that sound pressure level is logarithmic, so for something to sound twice as loud, you don't have to get very far from the first measured level.

85dB isn't all that loud in absolute terms. Here are some sources that provide some idea of where 85dB sits on the spectrum.

1. OSHA considers it safe to have 8 hours per day of exposure at 90dB

2. A reasonably accurate loudness chart

3. Wikipedia's loudness chart, which is of mixed source quality but nonetheless might be useful

And the farther away you get, the sound pressure drops off rather quickly. Especially since higher frequencies tend to "beam."

Not a fire marshal or a building planner or anything, this certainly doesn't constitute legal advice or whatever, and for that matter I don't know how 85dB compares to other products on the market. But I personally would much rather have a conventional (or dual carbon monoxide + smoke) detector in every room. Costs very little compared to, say, your life, for example, and as at least one other person has mentioned, having these linked might make it more difficult to determine the source of the fire.

rmeden wrote:Did you know you're supposed to replace your smoke alarms every 10 years?

How old are yours? I just replaced all the ones in my house. ( wired, not wireless )

Just last week a youth pastor and his one year old son were killed in their burning home near Grand Rapids, MI. Had smoke detectors. They had working batteries. They were over 10 years old and no longer detected smoke. Very tragic. If your's are over 10 years old - replace them. NOW.

portezbie wrote:doesn't this make it so you can't tell where the fire is? Sounds unsafe.

It doesn't matter where the fire is you should get out of the house. I think the point history warn everyone on all levels.

I bought 6 of these a year or two ago. They are very good, and actually extra easy to install since they have a separate base that screws to the ceiling that they lock into.

They take AA's, not 9v which is great.

The only issue I had, is that when one of the units batteries start going, they all start going, and they all start signaling low battery which is annoying when walking around the house with an armload of batteries.

These are great value for the price. In the future I may hard wire all my detectors to the house AC... but for now job done.

Oh, and these don't seem to be as sensitive to errors in the kitchen however one day I was painting with a halogen work lamp directly underneath and it tripped that unit.

portezbie wrote:doesn't this make it so you can't tell where the fire is? Sounds unsafe.

It doesn't matter where the fire is you should get out of the house. I think the point is to warn everyone on all levels.

sdc100 wrote:We have the model with smoke detection and CO2 detection and have been very impressed. First, the photoelectric detector really is less prone to kitchen false alarms than ionization sensors. Secondly, the 2 AA batteries lasts as long as the 9V batteries used in most detectors but cost MUCH less. And because we have 2 apartments in the same building, knowing where the fire is located is important. The voice alarm is loud and clear, and one study showed that voices are more effective than sirens for waking children (probablt because they've gotten used to sirens fro watching TV and playing video games).

You have a CO2 alarm? Better hold your breath!

I have a pair of these. They work as advertised and are easy to install.

I used 4 of these units in my home for 5 yrs (before going to a monitored system). I was very happy with their performance. I never had one instance of wifi, cordless phone, or any other wireless system interfering with, or setting off these units. It was nice to know that if I had had a fire in my office over the garage that the alarm next to my bedroom would also sound an alarm.

bbeal wrote:Amazon it. Do it.

That's not the same product -- you linked to a hardwired one. This is the link to the proper one....

http://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-SA501CN-Wireless-Operated/dp/B000FBQC1U/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1303217320&sr=8-4

What is Woot becoming Target, this does not look like a deal to me???

Are these hard wired for power backup too??

elition wrote:Mine started beeping about a year ago, so I took the batteries out and that was that.

Kicker? I work at a local FD, so I'm safe.

Mine start beeping intermittently as a warning that the battery is low and needs to be replaced. A nice feature if you forget to change batteries.

This is a good deal; as previous comments have said this is a bogo. I have them in my house, the only complaint I have is that they very "delicately wired". If you have multiple power outages in your home in a year due to storms and the like, it greatly reduces their lifespan. They continue to chirp "low battery" at the most inconvenient times, ie. 3am, even if you just changed the battery 2 days before.

If these use wireless I have to wonder how often you need to change the 2 AA batteries. It would seem they would only last a couple months. Even if they were not constantly transmitting they would need to always be listening to see if another alarm has gone off.

original AA batteries that came with mine in 2009 lasted about 18 months to 2 years. This is similar to 9V detectors. Also these are ideal for linking to outbuildings and hard to reach areas

sdc100 wrote:We have the model with smoke detection and CO2 detection and have been very impressed.

I think you mean CO detection.

We have one of these in my daughter's room. She was watching a movie on a portable dvd player that is controlled primarily via a remote control. She accidentally pointed the rc upwards while pushing a button on it. The alarm went off and hilarity ensued.

kmartind wrote:I don't know what's in Lysol toilet bowl cleaner but I'm almost 100% positive that it's not a fire nor does it release carbon monoxide. Worked around the problem by switching cleaner brands.

Get out of here?! That's insane. I'm going immediately to set fire to my Lysol products to see what happens. Also I'll be switching to Clorox.

That said I have two non-wireless First Alert CO/Smoke detectors and they've worked perfectly with zero false alarms, except in the most extreme cases (actually setting fire to something inside the house).

Don't judge me, sometimes it happens.

dijital101 wrote:I think you mean CO detection.

Can you imagine how many batteries you'd burn through on a CO2 detector? Actually, probably not even one since everyone in the house would murder each other first (OH GOD THE BEEPING!).

I purchased a set of two a few years ago, the Smoke/CO combined alarms, and added a third afterwards. DH is a firefighter and is really impressed by these. Firstly, there have NEVER been any false triggers, cooking, other wireless devices interfering, nothing. The only time they've gone off is when the batteries need replacing, and it tells you exactly which one to change. We have tested with smoke (don't do this yourself kids) and they work perfectly, telling you what floor the smoke was detected first.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Personally, I'd spend more and go for the CO's, but regardless, these items are winners, period.

Use quality batteries; Kodak's drain extremely fast, Rayovac next, Energizer's decent, but Duracell's have always been the most reliable IMO.

EDIT: Purchased my smoke/co pair from Woot in Nov.08 for $79.99. I'm pretty sure we've only changed the batteries once or twice; definitely no more than that.

Wow- this takes me back. When I was a kid in the late grmblegrmbls my grandfather moved to a small house in town. We installed a smoke detector- he'd never had one before. Two weeks later he called up to tell us that his food had never tasted better- he was too short to reach the alarm to disable it, so he learned to take food off the stove before the alarm went off.


So yeah- it actually works like that.

kmartind wrote:If my airbags went off every time I tried to make toast I sure as heck wouldn't replace those things either. Now I just need to find a center console mounted toaster to find out.
How bad (or good) are these with regard to stup1d false alarms? I have a couple of different brands and one is a combination carbon monoxide and smoke detector (Kidde talking wired+battery+interconnectable smoke/CO detector). That one immediately went nuts with both carbon monoxide and fire alarms when I used toilet bowl cleaner to clean the toilet in the bathroom off the hallway where the detector is mounted. I don't know what's in Lysol toilet bowl cleaner but I'm almost 100% positive that it's not a fire nor does it release carbon monoxide. Worked around the problem by switching cleaner brands.

". . . nor does it release carbon monoxide."
Actually it probably could if you have "hard" water with a lot of limestone in your area. The Lysol cleaner we have contains hydrogen chloride solution, aka hydrochloric acid. So hydrochloric acid + calcium carbonate (limestone) will give off carbon dioxide and probably some carbon monoxide too. The HCl makes Lysol effective at cleaning hard water deposits - the ring that forms around the water line of the toilet. Most other brands of toilet bowl cleaners I've looked at only contain chlorine bleach - basically overpriced Clorox.

A couple months ago my husband woke me up just before 5 in the morning saying, "THE HOUSE IS FULL OF SMOKE!" Our house has 6 functional ionization type alarms and none of them were sounding. After airing out the house and discarding the remains of the chicken stock I had left simmering and forgotten, I started searching for information on smoke detectors. I found out that this not sounding for smoldering smoke fires is typical of ionization-only alarms. Smoldering fires are very likely when you have an electrical fire. And smoke doesn't necessarily wake a person up. There area lot of instances where people died in their sleep from smoke inhalation and their alarms never sounded.

We added some photoelectric alarms next to some of our ionization alarms (which are better at detecting the high flame fires.) When it is time to replace all the detectors, we'll install combo alarms.

The vast majority of houses have ionization-only alarms installed, because they are cheaper to manufacture than photoelectric or combo alarms. IMO, this leaves a dangerous gap in one's fire protection. If you have ionization-only alarms, please, please add in some photoelectric alarms or switch them out for combo alarms which detect both ways.

Woot Woot Woot

AA batteries --> WIN
Also very easy un-mount / battery replacement.

in for 1

If these feature the IR sensor like the fire + co2 model then you want to keep it facing away from where you watch television. The IR sensor will pick up your remote controls and set off a test of the unit. They have a built in IR sensor to make it easy to test, the whole point is to just use a TV remote or something to start it.... but in a home this becomes really annoying really fast if the unit is put somewhere that detects the remote control IR by accident.

We had our unit randomly testing itself for 2 weeks before we finally figured out that we were causing it with our remote controls... it was on the complete opposite side of the house but still being set off by our remote controls, once we moved the unit to face away everything was fine.