Blimey! A WiFi smoke alarm for twenty quid!
gadget IoT Smart Home · 11 comments · 550 words · read ~993 times.
After my rant a few weeks ago, I finally found a cheap WiFi smoke alarm.
A few disclaimers before I get into this review:
- It was shipped from China, not from the UK as stated.
- The device doesn't exist on the manufacturer's website.
- Stock on Amazon keeps appearing and disappearing, so may be difficult to get.
If you're happy with those limitations, let's crack on!
This is the CS01W / CS01-7203. A WiFi enabled smoke and carbon monoxide detector. It is available online for about US$16 on Alibaba.
It looks and feels like a normal smoke alarm. It is small, light, and noisy.
Powered by 2 AA batteries, it is utterly unremarkable.
Tuya are the company behind literally hundreds of smart devices. Everything from breast-pumps to washing machines. You name it, they've stuck a WiFi chip in it. Their app is a bit spartan, but does the job. It was simple to install, set up, and then send my WiFi password to the smoke detector.
Replying to @edentThe app is… not bad! Good tutorial on how to configure. Easy settings. Quickly configured. pic.x.com/wldylapp0l
Testing
I waited until my wife burned her dinner (this isn't the set up of a joke - she likes her steak smokey!) held the alarm in the vicinity and BEEEP! BEEEEEEP!! BEEEEEEEP!!!!
Yup! That worked! At the same time as it was screaming at me, my phone buzzed with a notification:
So, at a basic level, it works! I didn't have a way to test its carbon monoxide sensor.
Why??!?!?
I sometimes listen to very loud music on headphones. I would like my phone to gently buzz and tell me to escape if the house is on fire.
If I'm away from home, I want to be able to call the fire brigade, or my wife, or a neighbour - to see what's going on.
The WiFi functionality is to supplement the audible alarm - not to replace it.
I'd also like to integrate it into the rest of my smart home. Yell "Alexa, turn off the alarm". Or have it switch on all my smart lights when it detects smoke. Or automatically tell my robot vacuum cleaner to escape to safety. You know. Stuff like that which proves I'm living in the future. Sadly, Tuya's platform doesn't work that well. Although some things seem to integrate with Alexa, the smoke alarm isn't one of them.
Thoughts
As a basic smoke alarm, it seems to work. In my brief tests, it also sent my phone a push notification - handy! The app isn't as polished as Nest Protect - but the thing costs a fifth of the price.
But it is severely restricted by the fact that is an obscure product. When I started writing this review, there were half-a-dozen sellers of it on Amazon. Now there are zero. It occasionally pops up on eBay, and then disappears. So you'll need to get it on Alibaba.
If you can find it - and are happy with the limitations - grab it!
| Verdict |
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Gadget Review: X-Sense wireless interlinked smoke alarms
Sounds like you need an Internet connected decibel meter to hear the alarm and then ifttt it to your lights. Just don’t play any loud music. 😂
Haha we’ve been down this road- I think on balance a WiFi alarm is probably better than the neglected, batteryless nothing that some have 🤣
And is - presumably - pretty failsafe.
Alex Gibson says:
Thanks for this review. I've instantly bought one - hopefully the affiliate link does its thing. I have a lot of 3D printers running in a workshop outbuilding, where we will not likely hear the current smoke alarm. A wifi link gives me good options to try to force some sort of integration. I've just plumbed in an 'untrusted' network at home so it can go straight onto that with all the other Chinese devices, Alexa, etc.
Have you looked if you can flash the esphome firmware? Or just do tuya local with home assistant?
esphome-devices.com/guides/tuya-co…
github.com/rospogrigio/lo…
Cracked one open already to see what’s inside?
@edent says:
Not yet. It's very light, so feels like a small PCB. Might see if there's a non-destructive way in.
But does it send a low battery notification to your phone at least a few days before it starts beeping at 2am?
Sadly wouldn't meet the regulations coming into force in Scotland early next year (battery powered devices must use a tamper proof life time battery). I've just spent a fair chunk on FireAngel Pro alarms and know there's a smart bridge for them.
SH says:
I'd be interested to get an update on this in a few months, as I'm considering getting one of these. My current dumb smoke detector lasts about a year or 2 on a 9V battery, I wonder how long this would run on 2 AAs.
wow and wow. Like you I have been appalled by the lack of cheap Wifi smoke detector except the impossibly expensive Nest. If it runs Tuya there is a fair chance its ESP8266 inside and can be re-flashed with the infamous Tasmota upon which our and many other Smart-homes are built. I have sent your article link to my partners finance committee test order approval inbox 🙂
Mike says:
I just bought one of these and in distinctly unimpressed. The pairing instructions are vague, to say the least. Worse though is that I cannot get get the damn thing to pair.
I only bought this because it's the only battery-powered CO detector I could find.
I guess I'll try to pair it a few million more times, then it's going back for a refund.
Useless