Review on White Hardwired Smoke Detector BRK 7010B with Photoelectric Sensor and Battery Backup by First Alert by Fernando Beck

I use the 7010b in all four bedrooms and in my office. I use an SC7010b carbon monoxide and smoke detector in the upstairs and downstairs hallways and a 3120b dual photoelectric and ionization detector above the living room. For three years I had both false alarms and no alarms. The sequences of beeps and flashing LEDs used to convey status are slow to read and hard to remember. My home is in Northern California and as I write this, fires are raging nearby. It is important that we have a working smoke detector. The 7010b devices are photovoltaic and prone to false alarms. The alarm will also sound if the internal sensor gets dusty. For some reason this false alarm always happened in the middle of the night. This way I can confirm that the connected alarm clocks are effective in waking up the whole family. This may be because anxiety is accompanied by our dog's howling. With only 8 alarms, half asleep and a fast heart rate, I need to figure out which alarm is the culprit. To do this, you need to find an alarm that flashes red three times every 45 seconds. 45 seconds is a lot when you just woke up at 3am and have 8 alarms to check. Why 45 seconds? I assume the product manager thought this was a good number? The alarm clock just rang, for goodness sake! Why not keep blinking? When I finally identify the alarm, I take a ladder, remove the alarm from the ceiling mount, remove the battery, and then go into the garage and blow compressed air through the unit. Then I put the battery back in and reset the smoke alarm. If it's just dust, then everything is fine and I can sleep again. In 3 years I had to replace 2 out of 5 7010b units. One of them was replaced twice. Defective devices got stuck in an alarm state and sounded as soon as they were connected to battery or mains. After the first reminder, customer service sent me replacement devices free of charge. Given that a small amount of dust will set them off, I'm pretty sure they'll protect us by successfully detecting the smoke. It's probably a good idea to set up a maintenance routine about every 6 months to blow the dust out of them. Compressed air tank https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Off-Electronics-Compressed-Improved-Version/dp/B07QJY6MKD/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=canned+air&qid=1598330708&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=247095401011 1.sr 8-8-3 may be a better option than actually removing the device for cleaning. Hopefully by the time these devices need to be replaced, First Alert will improve their user interface and support Wi-Fi.