Customer Reviews

First Alert SA501CN2 ONELINK Wireless Battery Operated Smoke Alarm, 2-Pack

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wanted to put one downstairs and then upstairs within 30 feet. I know the instructions say that building structures can cause a problem with it, but it really does not work well at all in the one case that I am using it for which is my small church. I moved around to different locations throughout the building seeing if setting off one would set off the next, but it did not work in most cases. It almost has to be line of sight. Originally, I was only going to need two, but after the line of sight problem, I had to change it to four and then added a combination smoke/Carbon Dioxide talking alarm.

Purchased two smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and two smoke-only detectors for different areas of the house. Units function as advertised but found to have what I consider to be very limited range.

Setup was simple, and everything worked perfectly during short range tests. However, when units were placed 25' apart with a single wood stud/drywall wall between them they wouldn't communicate. Tried to relocate slightly in case I was getting interference from wiring in the wall, but no luck. Also tried different units in different positions/orientations in case transmission was direction or there were variations in signal strength between units. No luck.

FirstAlert customer service was friendly but had no real solution other than to reorient or reposition the detectors. They said the expected range is about 30'. Not for me.

Overall I'd say they're good products with good features (haven't had them long enough to comment on battery life). However, the limited range limits placement options and/or requires a relatively dense network of detectors.

PS: Smoke-only and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors WILL work together in a network. However, the smoke-only detectors don't have ability to "say" carbon monoxide. If a carbon-monoxide detector is triggered and relays an alert to a smoke-only alarm, the smoke-only alarms only has the ability to say (for example) "evacuate... smoke in bedroom!"

I have 4 of these smoke detectors installed in my cape cod home and it makes me feel safe. When one goes off, they all go off and the voice says whether there is smoke or CO2 in the house. ONCE they went off when there was smoke in the kitchen. The rest of the time they go off, mostly in the middle of the night for some mysterious reason, saying, in a VERY loud man's voice, "Change the batteries in the Kitchen smoke detector" or "Change the batteries in the hallway smoke detector" etc etc. I currently have two of them lying on the floor with the battery drawers pulled out which stops the voice and the beep--beep--beep letting me know the batteries, installed maybe 2 or 3 or 4 weeks before, are used up. The detectors are still lying on the floor days later because if I install new batteries then I will be woken up ever sooner by those batteries wearing out. Still I rate with 3 stars because these detectors make me feel safe. What's wrong with this picture? One is in sight laying on the floor as I type this. I use the brand and number of battery recommended by FirstAlert and I do not test the smoke detectors monthly because that would use up the batteries even more quickly.

UPDATE: 10/25/2011 I had tried the suggestion of someone to switch to lithium batteries. He said his batteries lasted several years that way. I got lithium betteries for my 5 detectors. One got used up in 2 days, another in 2 weeks! Today I called First Alert 800-323-9005. A nice man asked for the model # SCO500 and the manufacture date (9/2/2005). He said he knew what the problem was. Those smoke detectors drained the batteries too fast (uh, no kidding!) and they were recalled in 2006!! How was I supposed to know that? Anyway, he is sending 5 replacement new ones to me and a label to return the old ones. I had actually bought 7 originally but the 2 I threw away because I thought they were the problem cannot be replaced. sigh But I am ecstatic that I am getting 5 replacements and now I can have great smoke and CO2 detectors in my house that WORK and LAST. I am psyched. How is a person supposed to know when something gets recalled that they own unless they get a letter in the mail?

As another reviewer stated, these devices do not communicate with one other over any moderate distance - which means either having more detectors than necessary to creat a daisy chain, or doing without the intercommunication capability.

We live in a very old house with very thick walls. We always worried that we would not hear the smoke alarm if it went off in another part of the house. Now, we do not have that concern. If the alarm goes off in the basement, within seconds, we hear it all through the house. Great idea for older houses that have many levels and cheaper than an alarm system.

Just recieved this item/order in the mail.... The invoice says Model SCO501B2, However, after checking the model number on the units, They are Model #SCO500,Date: 2009 Dec 05, which I think may be recalled. Have contacted the seller, will update with the outcome later.

Just noticed this online:

Units Included in voluntary recall

If your First Alert® ONELINKTM battery operated alarm has a model number "SA500" or "SCO500" and a date code prior to March 3, 2006, it is covered by this voluntary recall. The names "First Alert®" and "ONELINKTM" are located on the front of the alarm. The model number and date code are located on the back of the alarm. If you have a First Alert® ONELINKTM alarm that is hardwired, model "SA520", it is not covered under this recall.

I ordered this product about 4:00 p.m. one day and received it on my porch by noon the very next day. The instructions are easy to follow and it comes with a DVD if you prefer to watch the instructions rather than read them. The alarms are extremely loud and communicate well to each other. I have four installed in my house and may add two more. I have only had them installed a few days, so I will see how well they continue to work in time. The manufacturer gives it a five year warranty. So far, the dual pack is the best way to go as it makes them a little more affordable.

The wireless signal is NOT strong enough. Two smoke alarms in adjacent bedrooms with a closet in between them have trouble communicating with each other reliably in test mode. 50 feet of range as advertised in the instructions is not obtainable. We have a small single story house (1500 sq ft) with standard wood construction (no metal studs or metallic wallpaper). We bought 4 onelink detectors and after about 2 hours of troubleshooting we got them all to communicate with each other in test mode MOST of the time. I sure hope they decide to work if we ever need them to!

The Kidke wired smoke alarms in the house were constantly chirping. No matter what I did, changing the wiring harness, changing the battery backup, the problem would go away in one and within a day or 2 would start in another unit. I've been without smoke detectors for 4 years because of this issue. Until now...

The Onelink Smoke Detectors from First Alert are great. I was able to easily replace the base plate of the Kidke alarms with the First Alert ones. Then it's a matter of programming the alarms to the first one you put batteries in. Testing proved that they are all talking to each other. Liked them so much, I bought more to put in my parents house.

So far all has been good and hopefully will never need to hear these go off, except when testing. I highly recommend these if you don't want to deal with the price of an electrician coming in to rewire your house for wired units or just updating an older home with a system that communicates wirelessly. No interference with our WI-FI network either.

These appear to be well made smoke detectors, which I required due to my need to arc weld in my garage; and without losing spare minutes if there happens to be a fire smoldering after I leave, or when I am asleep. (Just having a lone smoke detector in the garage would be of minimal use, since the chances of hearing it would be pretty slim).

So, I bit the bullet and spent the over eighty dollars to buy these two units so that I could place one in the garage and one in my bedroom, with the idea that if the garage unit went off the second alarm in my bedroom would be wirelessly triggered to also go off.

However, due to the extremely limited range of these detectors, as also mentioned in other reviews here on Amazon, this was simply not possible.

So, I tried the closer kitchen area, which was only 35 feet and one wall away from the garage unit. No dice. Finally I had to place it directly on the house side of the common wall, within a few feet of the garage based unit on the opposite side, to get them to reliably trigger.

Even with this severe range limitation, they appear to be the only game in town for wireless, stand-alone smoke detectors; so I have no choice but to be content with my purchase!