First Alert SA521CN ONELINK Hardwire Wireless Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup

by First Alert

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

In the event of a fire every second counts. If a fire were to begin in your basement and the alarm there sounded, you may not hear it right away if you're sound asleep two floors up. With traditional battery-operated alarms, you lose valuable time waiting for the smoke to rise to another alarm, on another level, before the alarm on your floor sounds. But with First Alert ONELINK alarms, if one detects danger, they all sound. This can alert you sooner, and it increases your chances of getting out safely.

Until now, alarms that could signal each other were only available in homes with hardwired alarms requiring installation from an electrician. But First Alert ONELINK alarms communicate without wires.

The First Alert ONELINK SA501CN alarm uses photoelectric sensing technology which is environmentally friendlier and which reduces nuisance alarms, making it ideal for cooking areas. It is also great for sensing slow smoldering fires quickly. The alarm includes a low battery warning and a super bright escape light. You can easily expand an existing interconnected 120-volt AC system by replacing one alarm in the series with this alarm. The test/silence button both silences a non-threatening alarm or low battery warning and allows you to test the unit's functionality. The AA batteries are easy to install in the convenient pullout battery drawer. Two AA batteries included.--Bree Norlander

What's in the Box
One smoke alarm, two AA batteries, and user's manual

Product Details

Smoke Sensing Technologies Information [46kb PDF]

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Fire Detection and Protection Fact Sheet [27kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000EVO9D4
• Item model number: SA521CN
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,752 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
  • #29 in Home Improvement > Safety & Security > Fire Safety > Smoke Alarms

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have for Older Homes, September 6, 2008

By 

JMR (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: First Alert SA521CN ONELINK Hardwire Wireless Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup (Tools & Home Improvement)

Our home was built in the late-70's so we had a hardwired smoke alarm on each floor but they were not interconnected, not to mention they didn't have a battery backup. If we were sleeping, could we expect to hear the alarm on another floor, on the opposite side of the house? That's a bet I'm not willing to take, so we spent the extra money on two of these. We also plan on buying a couple of the battery only ONELINK alarms to expand our safety and coverage without hiring an electrician to install.
To program, you insert batteries and close the battery door on one unit; then you insert batteries on the second unit, press a button on the second unit, then press a button on the first unit. Inserting batteries and programming took under two minutes for two alarms. My (getting better but still not what I'd call "handy") husband had the alarms installed in under five minutes each. So, I'd consider them pretty easy to install.
During testing, they communicated well together and they seem loud. Of course, the real test for any fire alarm is during a real fire but I'm not really into burning my house down for the sake of a review. Therefore, I'm giving it five stars and calling it done!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unpredictable?, November 26, 2009

By 

JHN (Nebraska USofA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Alert SA521CN ONELINK Hardwire Wireless Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup (Tools & Home Improvement)

I have 7 of the First Alert SA520 Onelink units that were installed in my home 2.5 yrs ago. They were easy to set up although getting power to each unit in an older, 3-story home was the biggest challenge. They link to each other well. You may wish to install them in a particular sequence if using many of them on different floors. That way when the first one goes off, you might have a fighting chance of knowing which one it is since that one sounds off first. The reason I say this is because ours have begun going off in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. It has happened 4 times in about 4 months, and we never know when it will happen. They start sounding the alarm but shut off after about 20 secs, by themselves. We thought we had one defective unit but after removing it several days ago, they went off again tonight (6pm). All the other times have been when we were dead asleep, and boy is that a shock! These units are LOUD!
Gave it four stars for loudness and ease of setup. Minus one star for this bad habit I've described. Anyone know what might be causing this? Can they be tripped by RF interference? Says on the back that they "have to accept interference even if detrimental." (Who thought that one up?)

FOLLOW UP LATER.....
I discovered that the unit that was giving me trouble was near a ceiling fan on a dimmer switch that must have been sending dirty power into the circuit while it was running (as motors can do). when the fan is not running, i haven't had the problem with the false alarm. my suggestion is to narrow the search to find the one sending the alarm and take it off of the line power and run it only on the batteries to see if a dimmer or motor is causing the problem.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars worth the $, high-quality, easy, so far so good, July 11, 2010

By 

Jiminy Cricket (downstate NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: First Alert SA521CN ONELINK Hardwire Wireless Smoke Alarm with Battery Backup (Tools & Home Improvement)

Bought 6 of these to replace my 13-year old BRKs. Easy to install. The wireless "mesh" interconnect feature was very easy to set up and seems extremely well designed. [The sensors in your "mesh" all recognize and talk to each other so that any sensor can trigger any or all the others, but they all ignore any sensors not programmed into their little network, i.e. they supposedly ignore the neighbors sensors. Also, if one sensor is remote, it only needs to be able to reach one other sensor in the net. It does not need to be able to reach all others...they will relay the alert.] They can also easily link into any existing hard-wired interconnect system in addition to the wireless.

Also I like the combination of battery backup and hard-wired power.

I also like the one button operation. Press the button to test, and press it again to silence any alert. So far so good. I think they are definitely worth the extra $ for trouble-free reliable detectors.

I also like the fact that they are optical (non-radioactive). But the instructions recommend to have both types (optical and radioactive ionizing), so I think I'll be buying 2 more of their ionizing type, one for each floor. Ionizing is supposedly better (than optical) for kitchen and wood stove areas.

I'll update this review if my opinion changes, but so far so good.