shannong Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I have several wireless FirstAlert Smoke Alarms and also have the Insteon Smoke Bridge v.43. My ISY is v.4.3.1. Since owning the Smoke Bridge and smokes, I have had two with a low battery. This did not trigger the Low Bat node of my Smoke Bridge in the ISY. I even placed the offending device a few feet from the bridge as it pulsed the low battery alerts and nothing. Has the Low Bat node worked for anyone else? Link to comment
Teken Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Yes . . . Ideals are peaceful - History is violent Link to comment
shannong Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Hmm... This one will be tough to troubleshoot. Thanks for your reply. Link to comment
Teken Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Can you advise which model you have on hand? Hard wired 120 VAC smoke, battery operated smoke only, battery operated smoke / CO? Have you tried to hard reset the smoke bridge and delink and perform the same test? Or perhaps link to the other smoke detector? Ideals are peaceful - History is violent Link to comment
Teken Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Um . . . What the heck happen to Paul's reply??? Based on Paul's reply now that I think about it I believe he is on to something. The One Link system is supposed to link all smoke alarms to one another. As far as I am aware this is only intended to *alert* in unison if there is a smoke, fire, CO condition. If any device has a fault or battery condition only that single device will do the low battery chirp / LED notification etc. You will not hear the linked devices doing the same otherwise how would you know which device was needing assistance? Since the Smoke Bridge is linked to only one device my belief is a low battery condition is only declared for the single linked device. If so this is unfortunate but seems to be expected behavior and limitation of balancing of declaring which unit needs attention. As can be seen the last low battery alert I received was on October 21, 2013. Mostly due in part to changing out all devices to use high output long lasting lithium cells. Also, depending on the location regardless of battery voltage the unit is replaced with fresh batteries as part of my cUL certification regimen on a annual basis. Link to comment
shannong Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Strange...I don't know what happened to his reply but it was definitely helpful. So yes..... Only one unit beeps for low bat unlike smoke alerts. I'm guessing this just won't work. So far the unit paired with the bridge hasn't had a low bat to test if it works for that one. Wished that I had the old nearly dead batteries to put in and test. I have mostly wireless, one wired, and some COs as well. Link to comment
Teken Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Strange...I don't know what happened to his reply but it was definitely helpful. So yes..... Only one unit beeps for low bat unlike smoke alerts. I'm guessing this just won't work. So far the unit paired with the bridge hasn't had a low bat to test if it works for that one. Wished that I had the old nearly dead batteries to put in and test. I have mostly wireless, one wired, and some COs as well. The Smoke Bridge in my environment is linked to a 120 VAC hardwired smoke in the hall way outside of the bedrooms. The other 120 VAC hardwired unit is in the basement by CEC code. The other ten units are battery only which eight are the smoke / CO variety. Since living through a massive lightning storm about five years ago which took out two 120 VAC Kidd alarms. I wanted to insure if the hardwired units were some how impacted by a electrical event these remote units would still be on guard and ready to protect the family. Since installing a secondary surge protector and a optical relay the above condition isn't much of a concern to me. But you still have to plan for those unknowns in case those strategies fail. Link to comment
paulbates Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Sorry guys. I accidently deleted the post doing too much at once. That was my thought, that the battery alert is local to the sensor, and might not get transmitted. The design of the smoke bridge does not allow it to receive the unit specific messaging from the FA Onelinks, just broadcasts that affect all integrated units. From what I can observe, you will get an alert from the linked sensor not the rest. Paul Link to comment
shannong Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 My FA Onelink connected to AC is actually powered by the same UPS as my Elk. It gives about a weeks run time for them. It makes sense now considering that the unit specific messages are not transported through the bridge to ISY. But until know, had not made that connection. This makes the other nodes beyond smoke/CO on the bridge useless since they're only for the paired device. Link to comment
LeeG Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Smoke and CO alarms sound at all devices and therefore trip the respective Smoke Bridge node. Things like Low Bat that are apparently not sounded at any device beyond the one having the issue would be limited. Link to comment
Teken Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 My FA Onelink connected to AC is actually powered by the same UPS as my Elk. It gives about a weeks run time for them. It makes sense now considering that the unit specific messages are not transported through the bridge to ISY. But until know, had not made that connection. This makes the other nodes beyond smoke/CO on the bridge useless since they're only for the paired device. Its funny you're asking about this problem and another member in the SH forum as well. Our resident Tfitzpatri8 offered up this possible solution so give it a try and report back. http://forum.smarthome.com/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=17063#91751 Essentially he asked if anyone had tried to link all One Link sensors to the Smoke Bridge. Could it really be that easy to obtain the low battery warning when such a condition exists? I will give this a go on the week end and report back if no one beats me to it. Ha . . . Link to comment
paulbates Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 This makes the other nodes beyond smoke/CO on the bridge useless since they're only for the paired device. Correct, and also "test". The topic of smokebridge limitations was pontificated on the homeseer forum a few years back. One of the users tried pairing a separate smokebridge to each detector to try and know which detector raised the alarm. That part worked, but since there can only be one pairing per detector, the results were equally limiting... meaning that it removed the communication to the other onelinks, essentially negating the actual purpose of the product... that all detectors should raise all alarms even if its not theirs.. I am happy with my onelinks and that they work with each other. I can demonstrate that to the family and that provides relief to them. At the same time, I have to be honest and say the insteon integration with the smokebridge, as a function of its design, is thin and limiting. Paul Link to comment
Kevin Connolly Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I realize that I'm replying late to this thread, but I spoke to FirstAlert with regard to this issue. FA told me that all items are broadcast to all connected FA devices...including low battery. That said, in theory, the SB should than also receive these broadcasts. Link to comment
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