Hardwired Smoke Detector Alarm with Front Load Battery Backup | Model i12060

We had the 2006 version of these Kidde smoke alarms in our house that were installed by the builder. 10 years later, it was time to replace a couple of them (they'd broken when I dropped them from the vaulted ceiling onto the hardwood floor - I was detaching them to clean out spider webs, oops) and these Kidde i2060 smoke alarms were the replacement model. They work just as well, and we've been happy with them. The only way I could be happier is if spiders and their cobwebs didn't trigger a false alarm, but that rarely happens, thankfully. The older model alarms were more prone to that - these i2060 alarms are less prone to false alarms, it seems.Another reason for my 5 star rating is that Kidde has good customer service. This year, we were doing our maintenance on all the alarms - changing batteries, blowing out any cobwebs - and on one of the alarms, the plastic clip broke on the wiring harness, the clip where it plugs into the alarm. The plastic just crumbled, it was on one of our 11 year old Kidde alarms. I emailed Kidde telling them what happened and asking if it was possible to just buy a wiring harness from them (because the alarm was fine, I didn't want to have to buy an entire new alarm just to get the wiring harness if I didn't have to). I got the generic auto-response email from Kidde saying they'd received my question and were working on it, and a few days later I got a package in the mail from Kidde with two new wiring harnesses, free of charge. (Their site's customer service question form required my street address to submit it.) It was nice of them - they could've simply said, Nope, we don't sell them on their own, you'll have to buy a new alarm - but instead they took a moment to mail two new wiring harnesses to me so I could repair my 11 year old Kidde alarm. It was a thoughtful gesture that I appreciated.

This was the second one of these I’ve installed. Installation is relatively easy but you will be working overhead. This alarm is a replacement for one of the units in my old system. It came with a choice of adapters to allow it to integrate with various systems. With the correct adapter attached it plugs directly into the existing wiring. I chose this unit because the battery door is on the surface—you don’t have to twist the unit away from the ceiling or wall to get to the battery compartment. I will definitely continue replacing my old units with this one as long as they are available. And, I would recommend it to a friend.

I ordered several of these to replace the old smoke detectors which had begun to go off very frequently without reason (probably just worn out). We have been very pleased with these. They are not screaming at all hours! I love the front load battery feature as I am the one who always gets to change the batteries! Much easier than having to take the whole thing down from the ceiling as we have 16 ft. ceilings and I am 5 ft. tall. I always have to drag a ladder in from the garage to do that job, but it is much easier to change the batteries in these than the old ones. I installed them myself, which was very easy. We're very happy with them.

Thanks to other reviewers who have covered some of these topics (you have saved me a heart attack from middle of the night false alarms!!!)! I want to built on those with my experience.My Problem:Occasionally, ~1-2 per year (that I know of), I would have a false alarm, always in the middle of the night. I have 7 of these in my home, all wired together. In my most recent experience, a power outage, combined with a malfunctioning (covered below) unit had all alarms going off while I was away from the house for 5 hours.Solutions / Ways to troubleshoot:1a) START INVESTIGATING GARAGE UNIT FIRST (if you have one)Reviewing Section 2 of the manual "Locations to Avoid", AVOID INSTALLATION IS THE GARAGE. If you have a unit installed in the garage, the problem is likely here. My house was built ~ 5 years ago and I believe at the time in my area it must have been a requirement to have a unit installed in the garage (all my neighbors do too). In my problem described above, I eventually found the garage unit was the culprit (more troubleshooting on that below).Why is the garage bad?-- Instructions reference "because of engine combustion". I've never had my car set the alarm off, but OK, makes sense. Also possibly related, most people keep lawn mowing equipment & gas tank in garage. Not a chemistry person, but maybe gas fumes from lawn container sets it off?-- Bullet point 3 of "Locations to Avoid" section lists "areas that fall below 40F and above 100F."Did either of these conditions cause my alarm on those days / times? Not directly. It was night, between 40 and 100, and no car was running.Overtime did the temperature range make it more susceptible? Possible.1b) GARAGE / BUG PRONE AREASSection 6: Recommends cleaning unit with vacuum or air compressor. While not expressly mentioned in the instructions, I have seen several reviewers comments mention spiders / insects being attracted to the smoke detector innards. I haven't read the science backing this, BUT looking at the unit I took down from my garage, there is DEFINITELY A LARGE AMOUND OF INSECTS INSIDE. The inside of the alarm can't be accessed so removing critters is difficult if not impossible (air compressor, maybe works, but can't see anything to prove everything is gone). Since my alarms happen at night, when I would think insects are more active, I'm more inclined to believe this is trueDid bugs in my alarm cause the problem? BELIEVE THIS IS THE CAUSE FOR NOW2) REFERENCE LED BLINK CODES TO FIND CULPRITSection 4 of the manual talks about all the Standby / Alarm / Alarm Memory conditions shown via LED blink frequencies. With this information, you can:a) Find which alarm was triggered during the alarmb) Find which alarm triggered the alarm up to 13 hours after the eventDid the LED blinks help me find the garage unit was the trigger? YES! Only the garage unit was showing the blinking red LED frequency illustrating the night before it was the trigger.WHAT DO I PUT IN MY GARAGE IF I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THIS IN THERE?Kidde's website references there's something like a heat alarm in areas like this. I haven't looked into it much, but the interface is the same as the AC plug for the smoke detectors so integrates just fine.

Updated: 7/5/2020 - Looks like replacing the wires, using the ones that came with this smoke detector works prefectly!! It recently beeped again, but after changing the battery and resetting the smoke detector, it stopped beeping. I will continue to buy this smoke detector again. I love the convenience of replacing the battery without having to take the unit down.After 2 weeks of installation, it started beeping. Switched out the wires with those came with this smoke detector, and no beeping do far. It has only been 2 days. I also tried using only the battery and no beeping. Hopefully, this fixed it. I will update this review if anything changes.