First Alert ZCOMBO - Only provides battery level

I picked up a couple of First Alert smoke/CO detectors, model "ZCOMBO" and added one of them to my Zwave network.
To my surprise, the First Alert ZCOMBO only provides battery level to Indigo. There is no other status information regarding either smoke or CO detection.
I was hoping to fire a trigger based on smoke or CO being detected by this unit.

I am concerned because this was recommended elsewhere on the Indigo forums, and wanted to make others aware of this rather serious limitation. This model is on the list of supported hardware for Indigo.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated!


I am providing the devices details from the Indigo log below:

Z-Wave Indigo Device "smokeCOLivingRoom" Z-Wave Properties:
Indigo Z-Wave Version: 2.0.124
Node ID: 55
Model: Sensor Alarm
Model ID: 00000000
Manufacturer: Unknown
Manufacturer ID: 0000
Protocol Version: 3.52
Application Version: 0.05
Model Definition Version: 0
Library Type: 6
Class Name: Sensor Alarm
Class Hierarchy: 04 : A1 : 00
Command Class Base: 71
Command Versions: 20v1 80v1 85v1 86v1 70v1 71v1 72v1
Encryption Status: Not Supported
Multi-Endpoint Types: - none -
Multi-Endpoint Classes: - none -
Multi-Instance Counts: - none -
Features: routing, battery, beaming
Neighbors: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 33, 38, 39, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 53, 54
Associations: 1:[1]
Config Values: - none -

Can you set a trigger for type Z-Wave Command Received > Incoming Command Received from Device?

Then do Edit Event settings... and in the From field select your device and the Received field the event you are looking for?

Not sure if this will work for you but probably worth a try?

The "edit event" for the event "incoming command received" has the following options:

* Battery Level Update
* Any Command
* Match Raw Packet

Does not seem to be anything usable...
Thanks for your suggestion.
Bill

[matt (support)]

Model ID: 00000000
Manufacturer: Unknown
Manufacturer ID: 0000

During the sync process that module didn't report a valid manufacture ID or model ID (so Indigo couldn't match it against its device definitions). Try re-syncing it again to see if that fixes it. If it doesn't then I'm wondering if the one you got is marginal – they should always report model and manufacture information. If it still fails then copy/paste the Event Log results showing the sync.

Per your suggesting Matt, I re-synced. Observed the the same result.

I am posting sync log and device details here. There were two errors during the sync process.


Dec 3, 2019 at 11:18:23 AM
Z-Wave Syncing - started for "smokeCOLivingRoom"
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved module neighbors list: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 33, 38, 39, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 53, 54
Z-Wave Syncing - assigning return route to "055 - smokeCOLivingRoom"
Z-Wave Error Syncing - failed to assign return route
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved protocol version 3.52, app version 0.05
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved class hierarchy: Routing Slave : Sensor Alarm : -- (04 : A1 : 00, base 71)
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved command classes: 20v1 80v1 85v1 86v1 70v1 71v1 72v1
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved encrypt commands: - none -
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved capabilities: routing, battery, beaming
Z-Wave received "smokeCOLivingRoom" status update is on
Error device "smokeCOLivingRoom" state key onOffState not defined (ignoring update request)
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved group 1 associations: [1]
Z-Wave Syncing - group 1 association to interface already exists (skipping)
Z-Wave Syncing - retrieved battery level of 100%
Z-Wave Syncing - complete
Z-Wave Indigo Device "smokeCOLivingRoom" Z-Wave Properties:
Indigo Z-Wave Version: 2.0.124
Node ID: 55
Model: Sensor Alarm
Model ID: 00000000
Manufacturer: Unknown
Manufacturer ID: 0000
Protocol Version: 3.52
Application Version: 0.05
Model Definition Version: 0
Library Type: 6
Class Name: Sensor Alarm
Class Hierarchy: 04 : A1 : 00
Command Class Base: 71
Command Versions: 20v1 80v1 85v1 86v1 70v1 71v1 72v1
Encryption Status: Not Supported
Multi-Endpoint Types: - none -
Multi-Endpoint Classes: - none -
Multi-Instance Counts: - none -
Features: routing, battery, beaming
Neighbors: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 33, 38, 39, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52, 53, 54
Associations: 1:[1]
Config Values: - none -

Dec 3, 2019 at 11:19:26 AM
Z-Wave received "055 - smokeCOLivingRoom" status update battery level 100%

[matt (support)]

Try excluding and re-including it with your Z-Wave Controller / Z-Stick. It doesn't look like you did previously, but make sure you do not use encryption during inclusion. You might also want to try the sync with the ZCOMBO in the same room as the Z-Wave Controller / Mac to rule a range problem (doesn't look like that is the issue, but won't hurt to rule it out).

I was able to get the ZCOMBO smoke/CO detector to work properly. The trick is to press the "test" button until the ZCOMBO begins beeping, then execute press "Define and Sync" on the dialog box for the ZCOMBO. I installed three ZCOMBOs ands this procedure worked every time.

During normal operation, the ZCOMBO sleeps and never reports status. This preserves the battery life. When you press the "test" button, the ZCOMBO reports its battery level, which is updated in Indigo.

The ZCOMBO is a good deal in terms of price, and is available online for ~$37 right now. I think the reliability of First Alert smoke detectors is solid.

Thanks to Matt and everyone who made suggestions, I wanted to update this topic, since there are not really many choices for Zwave smoke/CO detectors, and this is a very critical aspect of HA.
Bill

[matt (support)]

Hi Bill,

Great – I'm glad you got it working and thanks for the follow-up post with the steps you did.

I have 7 of these and had a similar issue. For some silly reason , I hit the sync button in Indigo when the Smoke Alarm was sleeping. Realizing that it wasn't going to respond, I canceled the sync. From that point on the Manufacture ID and Model ID were missing, which caused issues as noted above. Additionally, HomeKit Bridge started notifying me every hour that there was smoke detected. In order to fix it, I had to reset the device and re-sync it. I didn't specifically exclude it first. The process to reset the device is as follows and is documented in the First Alert ZCombo Z-Wave Specification:

"When the ZCOMBO is powered up with the test button held down for 10+ seconds, the ZCOMBOwill reset all Z-Wave settings and leave the network.Upon factory reset, the ZCOMBO device will turn of the power LED for ~1 second and will long beep the HORN."

Incidentally, to put the device in Learn Mode, power up with the test button held down until you hear a chirp. Usually this is within the first second after pushing the drawer in.

To "power up" the device you open the battery drawer, pop the batteries out, put the batteries back in, then push the drawer back in while holding down the test button. Actually popping the batteries out proved to be an important step for me (although I never went back to test if this step is actually necessary).