First Alert 3120B vs First Alert SA320CN

I bought seven of these to replace the wire-connected units in my house. A few key advantages over the comparable Kidde PI2010: Most important is that the LED tells you which one sounded the alarm AND which one needs a new battery. If you have ever stood in a house with wired alarms at 2 in the freeekin' morning, trying to pinpoint the damn -bip- every minute, you will know how much swearing this feature eliminates. Trust me: This feature is a must

They say they're trying to make sure everyone can protect their family, but if everyone can't buy enough to properly protect their home, their limit just makes sure nobody can protect their family.

This is a pretty good smoke detector. We ordered six of them to replace increasingly annoying, late-night-chirping, 10 year old units by another manufacturer. We wanted a dual sensor (photoelectric and ionization) detector with 10-year batteries but were unable to find any that fit the bill, and so settled for the 3120B - at least the batteries were AA instead of the more expensive 9 volt. We've had a little trouble with them - the reason for four stars instead of five

Because I had "new" smoke detectors installed in my home and because the "Push to Test" feature worked, I could have been clueless for as long as 10 years that they were in fact inoperable units. The only reason I learned otherwise is because I nearly burned down my house using a vintage toaster (my bad) the second week after I moved in. I thought it was a fluke that neither of the Kidde smoke alarms went off since they were located in bedrooms (not the kitchen). But then I had a near miss a few weeks later when the damper (newly installed!) stuck closed on first use of my fireplace

Strip 1/2" off the ends of the new wires. In my case, two of the wires were pre-stripped, but the orange interconnect wire needed to be stripped. It is easier to do this before you start installing the detector on the ceiling 4. Remove the old detector from the base by rotating it counter-clockwise

I would leave the current alarms where they are and simply place the new SA3210s elsewhere on the ceiling but 1) dear wife doesn't want more clutter on the ceiling and 2) the battery would still need to be changed as before which is the reason I went with the 10-year lithium model in the first place. (Alternate Headline: No more ladder climb for 10 years!) Good luck. It seems like this is a good unit to purchase if you can install it easily (i.e

Purchased qty 6 of the BRK3120B photoelectric/Ionization, qty 2 BRK SC7010B Carbon Monoxide/Photoelectric, and Qty 1 BRK HD6135FB 135F fixed 15F rise heat detector. All of these are AC/DC battery back-up detectors that are wired off same AC circuit and all have their Orange wires all connected in Parallel as interconnected so any alarm event will sound every detectors alarm. All were tested for this interconnection and all worked as designed. They all replaced FireX G13 20 year old detectors and one older heat sensor

It's your loss. DO NOT BUY THESE!! I expected better from First Alert. UPDATE: Oct 4, 2020. Today I checked the battery in my Monoxide Detector which is hardwired, but has a backup battery

Lastly, be sure to replace any brand of smoke detectors after 10 years from their manufacturing date (usually found on the back of the alarm). Good Luck - I hope this helps.

I was pleased with the customer service from Amazon, but not with the product being already two years old when I purchased it, since it said that the product had a limited lifetime warranty of 10 years and a lifetime of about 5-7 years. I would order the product again in the future, but would be sure to check the manufacture date again.

Customer service asked me to clean them with a can of condensed air once per month. If it still happens to call back. I've noticed that all of the false alarms have been with the windows open, mainly at night. I hope there is not a real fire because these alarms are crying wolf

I have an elderly father that runs his space heater almost all of the time during the winter so I wanted an early warning in case of any problems (the heater has tip over protection, but clothing or bedding could accidentally fall on top of it). At any rate, it remains to be seen how well it will function (and I don't want to have a fire to find out) but I'm counting on a brand name product functioning in an emergency. My only complaint at this point is that the green "heartbeat" LED is very hard to see when it flashes. The red LED is better when the unit is tested via the button

The next day, I heard 3 chirps come from the guest room, silent for about 15 minutes, and the 3 more chirps, then nothing for several more hours. This same issue repeats itself in the master bedroom, and my son's room (all units on the upper level of our house). According to the owner's manual, 3 chirps every five minutes means a malfunction and you should replace the unit immediately. I had just barely purchased the units and they're already malfunctioning? My issue with this is that it isn't happening every five minutes, it is completely a guess when the next chirp will be

Still it was a bugger to figure out how to open that swing door and really glad I kept the old pieces. I'm not technical and reading those instructions was useless to me and couldn't figure out how to install the 9 volt battery. After sitting with it for a while I finally got it and the new alert fit right into that old mounting bracket. If it was a new install I certainly wouldn't get this one again

For the price of these, you expect top quality but I've personally had better luck with cheap $15 each builder-grade USI ones over the course of several decades of home ownership.

Given the price, corners had to be cut somewhere and one of those is the material its made of. This is the unpleasant feeling, flimsy plastic that will break at the slightest touch. The door that pops open for the battery doesn't open easily, is too tight for getting a battery in and out easily, and feels like it will snap all too easily. Overall this smoke detector seems to work, but for peace of mind and ease of use, I would skip this and opt for a more expensive and higher quality device