Review on Enhanced Z-Wave Plus Siren Alarm: NEO Smart Siren with USB Charge, Strobe Alerts & Backup Battery - SmartThings Compatible (Blue) by Jeremy Meza

I was looking for a basic Z-Wave Siren to replace a failed siren in my home automation system. This can be operated with mains or battery. So it will be an improvement over a dead one that runs on battery. I found this siren to work as expected. Right out of the box, I was able to connect to the network and get it up and running with no issues. Siren settings were easy to adjust to choose volume and tone (I used a loud police siren tone and switched to a quieter tune to test). I want to use AC as the main power source and a battery as a backup. However, it was not clear which voltage converter is suitable for this dong. The company has not responded to my request for information in this regard. Since the battery was 6V, I figured if the transformer could supply a little more than 6V, the device wouldn't be drawing current from the battery with the AC on. But I couldn't test this because my transformer only put out 5.8V. It's disappointing that the siren didn't come with a transformer (given how difficult it is to find a micro USB transformer that isn't 5V). I hooked it up to a 5V power supply first and it seemed to work fine, although the battery level was only 22% on the report. I think using a USB port for power is a bad idea. The plug sticks out at the side. The connection is difficult to hide. I drilled a hole next to the connector and covered the cable with circular tape. And the cable runs through the wall into the closet where the sockets are located (see photo).