Thank you. I work with my hands for a living (I'm on my wife's computer/account), and have never been so confused by a single linear switch in all my life.
Thank you so much for this! The instructions on the back are very misleading. I wonder how many people have had a false alarm, then fiddled with that switch, then thought they had permanently disarmed, thrown away, and then spent money replacing. 😳 This helped me realize how it all works. 🙏 First Alert really needs to write much better directions on the back! 🧐 And their user’s manual online doesn’t explain any of this. 🤷♂️
This was my first RUclips posted, I believe (I seldom post since I'm such an amateur), but after 4 years, I'm glad this video is still helping others; unfortunately, they kept on selling them (I saw them advertised recently, but don't see them on Costco.com, so maybe they've stopped), and, like others, mine only lasted about 3 years, before it gave out and started beeping. I haven't replaced it yet, either, which is not a good thing. I think I will pay more and go with a Z-wave device that can go with my Ring alarm (but NOT First Alert!)
Spot on. The instructions DO NOT tell the installer to move the button into any sort of direction for activation, but only to push the button under the tab for deactivation at the end of life cycle. Morons at First Alert who wrote the instructions need a beating.
Thank you so very much . What is wrong with the company that they do not explain this ? You should receive a royalty check from first alert every time someone uses your video! Thank you !
Just slide the button up (or down) as far as it can go towards the tab so it turns on. The tab stops the button from deactivation position. You'd have to deliberately break the tab with a screwdriver and keep sliding it further to deactivate the unit. Just slide it to the tab as arrow indicates. It will be fine.
And my P1210 bought at Costco June 2019 has a label that reads Deactivate toward the top, then Activate a half inch below it and an arrow below that pointed upward. My thought is that I Activate by sliding the switch up to have the plastic move in the slot to where it stops in the slot. But that doesn't seem to activate it. Can't see or hear anything happen when I press down on the "Test/Silence" button, which is tiny unreadable text in the mold. On top of that the twist lock mechanism to hold the device the wall mount is strange. I can't figure that out to get it to lock. This is some of the worse design I've ever come across. I'd imagine there is huge pile of returned ones sitting at every Costco store.
Why are smoke/fire alarms so mysterious and confusing to use or install. They chirp in the middle of the night and have their own "chucky" personalities. I hate this thing.... I absolutely hate this demon of an alarm. It's "Chucky!"
Thank you thank you thank you for this video! I bought it at Costco too and mine has the yellow tabs with the same labeling. There should be instructions to push the white tab up half way to activate. Of course I called First Alert on a weekend but they were already closed. I called around 8pm mountain time and they closed at 7pm Central time. Thanks for RUclips and thank you again for the video!
Thx for the clear explanation. The creators of this alarm def have no idea how to give instructions.. I wouldnt mind half-installing sth but in this case since its a vital thing.. u need to really leave it activated haha. Thx for the vid
Thanks for the video. Harder to deactivate than you think. They do NOT last 10 years. Mine stopped working 4 and 5 years into service. Lots of dis claimers on the alarm about battery life and gently vacuum once a month. Not a happy customer. I hope your alarms last closer to 10 years.
yea its a 3 position switch i had mine die after 4 years so i took it apart (not sealed just 4 screws under the sticker added a 2aa battery holder and a couple new alkalines should keep it going for another 4 years the deactivate switch puts a resistor across the battery to make it go dead
Like all First Alert products, this crap was designed by chimpanzees with no concept of user friendliness. I applaud the narrator's excellent and plain spoken explanation of activation. Before watching the video, it took me a bit of thinking to understand it. It is a two step process. First, place the slide switch up against the tab as the video indicates, and then press and hold the test button until you hear the alarm. It is then activated. Deactivation seems to be a useless feature other than for permanently silencing the low battery chirp, but since you are throwing the damn thing away anyhow, why bother? In my case, I incorrectly thought that my alarm was chirping, when it was actually a nearby carbon monoxide sensor that needed a new battery. By the time I figured that out, I had already deactivated the smoke alarm and feared that it was permanently disabled. No so. All I had to do was place the slide switch in the middle (activate) position, and then press and hold the test button, and I was back in business. But this was not the end of it. Now I was faced with putting it back up onto the mounting plate attached to the ceiling. The idiots at First Alert thought it would be a great idea to include a lock. It took me a bit of tinkering to figure out how that was supposed worked, but in the end I just removed the lock tab and simply relied on the friction between the three pairs of mounting slots and tabs to keep the two sections together. I HATE FIRST ALERT PRODUCTS! All models have similar flaws. Some are worse than others. I hope they go out of business!😠
Thank you. I live in an apartment and this was installed before I moved in. I just looked at the back for the first time (3 years later!) and wondered why the switch *_appeared_* to be already in the deactivated position! (But no, now I see that's the *_activated_* position. Very confusing!) Also, WTF, a single-use plastic alarm that's meant to be entirely discarded after the battery runs out or the alarm is triggered once? That's unconscionable in these days of plastic pollution. >:-(
Many thanks! It was driving me crazy that neither of my P1210's would activate, and I thought the tab removal was just for permanently de-activating the unit. Weird instructions on these units.
Just call first alert and they will replace it for you. We had the same issue after a short time. It is under warranty 10 years. To deactivate just break the tab and push up and the battery will drain quickly. Yes, it’s confusing.
Anyone ran into a scenario where the beeping is coming from the ceiling and not the detector itself? I replaced my detector with a new one hoping it stops the 5 beeps but to no avail. Anyone?
On mine, at least the removable transparent strip thing is yellow-tinted so it's a little more obvious. But yeah, design is horrid and I'd have been lost without this video, so thanks. Unfortunately after activating, it won't mount in the bracket, whereas it did before activating! WTF?
Yeah I have the same one and ever time I Placed it back into the bracket and it still wont work and it's on u can test it and I set up the the kitchen. I lit up a match and nothing wont go off
I had this thing on my wall for 2 years with it not activated. I couldn't figure out why it never went off when I burnt something in the oven or stove. I'm horrified that something could have happened and we would have never known.
Have you had any problems with these? We have the same ones and if I don’t vacuum them regthen they randomly start beeping. Very annoying. The only way to stop is to use a shop vac. Do you vacuum these regularly?
I haven't had to vacuum mine since posting this video. Maybe it doesn't even work - who knows! It does have a light that blinks every so often, so I know the battery must still be good.
These crappy smoke detectors are the confusing to activate, to say the least. The instructions are also seem to be written by 4 year olds. My alarm has a sliding switch on the back side, similar to the one on this video, and under it has "activate" written with an arrow showing upwards. On the top side of the switch, there is "deactivate" written. So, what do you do to activate it? Follow the arrow and slide it up or don't touch it, because if you do, then you just deactivated the alarm??? I mean, how dumb is that? By the way, I did slide that switch upwards, then installed the housing to the wall plate, followed by a test. It did chirp right away and now a red blinking light comes on about every 10 seconds. So, is it working properly now or not?? I have no idea......
Thanks for your approval! This is my first post to RUclips. I hope I explained it well enough. I was so frustrated with the twin pack I bought, and, like you, searched the web and saw another video on these units that almost addressed this, but he was addressing the issue that his stopped working within a year. In his video he was playing with the switch - sliding it up and down to get it working again, when it gave me the idea to try that to get it to work - period! Now let's hope these work for the promised 10 years! Good luck!
Yes, Thank you for posting this. The designers at these companies are complete bone-heads; they never think of the end user, interestingly, the alarms and the instructions are not USA made.
Thanks. First Alert has some moronic instructions. "Deactivate" pretty much says stay away from that switch. So glad I don't have to return another product to Lowes!
It IS confusing!! If you've removed the clear strip (~40-46) and mounted it and it doesn't activate (doesn't have a little light blink every minute or so and won't beep when you hold the test button), then, YES, manually slide that little "deactivate" button/switch up just until it meets the tab that looks like an upside down L (you can see the difference of one I've slid up at about 1:06). I was afraid that if I did that, I would end up permanently deactivating a brand new smoke detector, but I took a chance and slid that up. When I did, I was able to test it successfully (whereas, before, the light would not blink nor was I able to get even a beep when I held the test button). From reading the instructions, it looks like it is very difficult to accidentally deactivate it (you need a screw driver or something similar), so don't worry about sliding that switch up. On the other hand, if sliding that switch up, or if it is already up but not working and the device is still new or still under warranty, you should contact First Alert for a replacement. It looks like their information is on the back of the device to contact them. GOOD LUCK!
Just slide the button up (or down) as far as it can go towards the tab so it turns on. The tab stops the button from deactivation position. You'd have to deliberately break the tab with a screwdriver and keep sliding it further to deactivate the unit. Just slide it to the tab as arrow indicates. It will be fine.
Many people got confused. Including me. It seems that this company is doing on purpose to make more selling. Or the design, and people who designed are not that smart to make something simple, confusing.
Yes! Completely idiotic/confusing manufacturer "instructions." We're not the morons; they are. I just purchased a couple of these but I'm suspecting there is no such thing as an authentic 10-year battery for smoke detectors, especially if the people who write the directions are the same people who make the product. Thanks for the video!
How do I deactivate the f-ing thing? It won’t shut up. It says to break away tab and slide into deactivate position. There is no tab. There is no deactivate position. It is currently buried in my shirt drawer because it just won’t shut up!
According to the comment by Barbara Moore 2 years ago: "Just call first alert and they will replace it for you. We had the same issue after a short time. It is under warranty 10 years. **To deactivate just break the tab and push up and the battery will drain quickly.**" You probably have slide that all the way up and maybe have already deactivated it. Hopefully, after a couple days since you posted this, the battery has drained. Wow - I don't like that! And Costco still sells these. Ugh!
Thank you. I work with my hands for a living (I'm on my wife's computer/account), and have never been so confused by a single linear switch in all my life.
Thank you very much for the video. The instructions at the back are misleading. You saved me a lot of time and frustration.
Thanks, you are a saint. So I'm not the only one totally confused by their instructions.
Thank you so much for this! The instructions on the back are very misleading. I wonder how many people have had a false alarm, then fiddled with that switch, then thought they had permanently disarmed, thrown away, and then spent money replacing. 😳 This helped me realize how it all works. 🙏 First Alert really needs to write much better directions on the back! 🧐 And their user’s manual online doesn’t explain any of this. 🤷♂️
This was my first RUclips posted, I believe (I seldom post since I'm such an amateur), but after 4 years, I'm glad this video is still helping others; unfortunately, they kept on selling them (I saw them advertised recently, but don't see them on Costco.com, so maybe they've stopped), and, like others, mine only lasted about 3 years, before it gave out and started beeping. I haven't replaced it yet, either, which is not a good thing. I think I will pay more and go with a Z-wave device that can go with my Ring alarm (but NOT First Alert!)
Thank you so much , I thought deactivated the alarm for ever , thanks for explanation
So glad I am not the only one who was confused by this. Mine went off randomly just now for no reason
Thank you!!! I was sooo confused
Great comments. From 1:05 to 1:20 I found it critically important to activate the alarm. Also very good comments on de-activating. Thanks.
Thank u. I almost returned to Costco
Thank you SOOOOO much for posting this video! I couldn't figure out for the life of me why they didn't work.
Spot on. The instructions DO NOT tell the installer to move the button into any sort of direction for activation, but only to push the button under the tab for deactivation at the end of life cycle.
Morons at First Alert who wrote the instructions need a beating.
Thank you! I was ready to return mine until I saw your video
Thank you for this video. It is disappointing that they have such poor and confusing instructions for such an important device.
I struggled for 15 minutes lol, thanks for the video
You idiot
Thank you so very much . What is wrong with the company that they do not explain this ? You should receive a royalty check from first alert every time someone uses your video! Thank you !
Just slide the button up (or down) as far as it can go towards the tab so it turns on. The tab stops the button from deactivation position. You'd have to deliberately break the tab with a screwdriver and keep sliding it further to deactivate the unit. Just slide it to the tab as arrow indicates. It will be fine.
That's what she was explaining in the video. The instructions are very poorly written from start to finish. The video is great. Thanks
First Alert doesn't want people accidentally deactivating.
Thank you. You saved me some aggravation! What lousy instructions First Alert provides! They must get a million back.
Thank you for sharing, you are a life saver.
And my P1210 bought at Costco June 2019 has a label that reads Deactivate toward the top, then Activate a half inch below it and an arrow below that pointed upward. My thought is that I Activate by sliding the switch up to have the plastic move in the slot to where it stops in the slot. But that doesn't seem to activate it. Can't see or hear anything happen when I press down on the "Test/Silence" button, which is tiny unreadable text in the mold.
On top of that the twist lock mechanism to hold the device the wall mount is strange. I can't figure that out to get it to lock. This is some of the worse design I've ever come across. I'd imagine there is huge pile of returned ones sitting at every Costco store.
Why are smoke/fire alarms so mysterious and confusing to use or install. They chirp in the middle of the night and have their own "chucky" personalities. I hate this thing.... I absolutely hate this demon of an alarm. It's "Chucky!"
Thank you thank you thank you for this video! I bought it at Costco too and mine has the yellow tabs with the same labeling. There should be instructions to push the white tab up half way to activate. Of course I called First Alert on a weekend but they were already closed. I called around 8pm mountain time and they closed at 7pm Central time. Thanks for RUclips and thank you again for the video!
Thank you, your video helped me as I was quite confused about the description on the back of the units...
Thanks so much for this video. I thought that I had a defective unit.
Thank you for your service
Thx for the clear explanation. The creators of this alarm def have no idea how to give instructions..
I wouldnt mind half-installing sth but in this case since its a vital thing.. u need to really leave it activated haha. Thx for the vid
THANK YOU SOOOO VERY MUCH!!! I was so confused about how to activate it. Thank you!! :)
Omg thank you for this post
Thanks! These alarms have the most misleading instructions!
Thank you so much. Too bad the company could not put this somewhere in the instruction sheet.
So helpful thank you so much! 💖 #GodBless
Thanks for clearing up the poor instructions. They were awful.
Thank you so much.. we just gt it from Costco.
yw. I am surprised they are still selling them. I also saw them at my Costco the other day. Crazy!
Thank you so much for this.
So I did this, test worked but when I burned something to test the alarm, doesn't seem to detect anything
Thank you for sharing! The activation switch is very confusing.
Thanks for the video. Harder to deactivate than you think. They do NOT last 10 years. Mine stopped working 4 and 5 years into service. Lots of dis claimers on the alarm about battery life and gently vacuum once a month. Not a happy customer. I hope your alarms last closer to 10 years.
Wonderful QUIET !
Thank you
yea its a 3 position switch i had mine die after 4 years so i took it apart (not sealed just 4 screws under the sticker added a 2aa battery holder and a couple new alkalines should keep it going for another 4 years the deactivate switch puts a resistor across the battery to make it go dead
I looked it isn’t anything special it’s just an 3V battery which the wireless monitored smoke alarms have been using for years and years.
Like all First Alert products, this crap was designed by chimpanzees with no concept of user friendliness. I applaud the narrator's excellent and plain spoken explanation of activation. Before watching the video, it took me a bit of thinking to understand it. It is a two step process. First, place the slide switch up against the tab as the video indicates, and then press and hold the test button until you hear the alarm. It is then activated. Deactivation seems to be a useless feature other than for permanently silencing the low battery chirp, but since you are throwing the damn thing away anyhow, why bother? In my case, I incorrectly thought that my alarm was chirping, when it was actually a nearby carbon monoxide sensor that needed a new battery. By the time I figured that out, I had already deactivated the smoke alarm and feared that it was permanently disabled. No so. All I had to do was place the slide switch in the middle (activate) position, and then press and hold the test button, and I was back in business. But this was not the end of it. Now I was faced with putting it back up onto the mounting plate attached to the ceiling. The idiots at First Alert thought it would be a great idea to include a lock. It took me a bit of tinkering to figure out how that was supposed worked, but in the end I just removed the lock tab and simply relied on the friction between the three pairs of mounting slots and tabs to keep the two sections together. I HATE FIRST ALERT PRODUCTS! All models have similar flaws. Some are worse than others. I hope they go out of business!😠
I feel like I owe you something for this information.
Thank you. I live in an apartment and this was installed before I moved in. I just looked at the back for the first time (3 years later!) and wondered why the switch *_appeared_* to be already in the deactivated position! (But no, now I see that's the *_activated_* position. Very confusing!) Also, WTF, a single-use plastic alarm that's meant to be entirely discarded after the battery runs out or the alarm is triggered once? That's unconscionable in these days of plastic pollution. >:-(
Many thanks! It was driving me crazy that neither of my P1210's would activate, and I thought the tab removal was just for permanently de-activating the unit. Weird instructions on these units.
Just call first alert and they will replace it for you. We had the same issue after a short time. It is under warranty 10 years.
To deactivate just break the tab and push up and the battery will drain quickly. Yes, it’s confusing.
Anyone ran into a scenario where the beeping is coming from the ceiling and not the detector itself? I replaced my detector with a new one hoping it stops the 5 beeps but to no avail. Anyone?
On mine, at least the removable transparent strip thing is yellow-tinted so it's a little more obvious. But yeah, design is horrid and I'd have been lost without this video, so thanks. Unfortunately after activating, it won't mount in the bracket, whereas it did before activating! WTF?
Yeah I have the same one and ever time I Placed it back into the bracket and it still wont work and it's on u can test it and I set up the the kitchen. I lit up a match and nothing wont go off
i had the same experience. This alarm is crap.
I just bought the same model from Costco and the new ones don't have this tab
I had this thing on my wall for 2 years with it not activated. I couldn't figure out why it never went off when I burnt something in the oven or stove. I'm horrified that something could have happened and we would have never known.
Could not be confused more.
How do I deactivate mine
Have you had any problems with these? We have the same ones and if I don’t vacuum them regthen they randomly start beeping. Very annoying. The only way to stop is to use a shop vac. Do you vacuum these regularly?
I haven't had to vacuum mine since posting this video. Maybe it doesn't even work - who knows! It does have a light that blinks every so often, so I know the battery must still be good.
Is that why my alarm (like the actually alarm, but the low battery beep) went off today randomly?
These crappy smoke detectors are the confusing to activate, to say the least. The instructions are also seem to be written by 4 year olds. My alarm has a sliding switch on the back side, similar to the one on this video, and under it has "activate" written with an arrow showing upwards. On the top side of the switch, there is "deactivate" written. So, what do you do to activate it? Follow the arrow and slide it up or don't touch it, because if you do, then you just deactivated the alarm??? I mean, how dumb is that? By the way, I did slide that switch upwards, then installed the housing to the wall plate, followed by a test. It did chirp right away and now a red blinking light comes on about every 10 seconds. So, is it working properly now or not?? I have no idea......
Activate or deactivate if you deactivated it won't work and you have to get another new one so you have to pull the tab that says activate
Wow! Thank you for the video! I returned one unit and was working on my second when I looked online for assistance. Worst instructions ever.
Thanks for your approval! This is my first post to RUclips. I hope I explained it well enough. I was so frustrated with the twin pack I bought, and, like you, searched the web and saw another video on these units that almost addressed this, but he was addressing the issue that his stopped working within a year. In his video he was playing with the switch - sliding it up and down to get it working again, when it gave me the idea to try that to get it to work - period! Now let's hope these work for the promised 10 years! Good luck!
Same here!
Yes, Thank you for posting this. The designers at these companies are complete bone-heads; they never think of the end user, interestingly, the alarms and the instructions are not USA made.
Thanks. First Alert has some moronic instructions. "Deactivate" pretty much says stay away from that switch. So glad I don't have to return another product to Lowes!
hi~So do I push the deactivate button up before mounting it? I'm still confused...
It IS confusing!! If you've removed the clear strip (~40-46) and mounted it and it doesn't activate (doesn't have a little light blink every minute or so and won't beep when you hold the test button), then, YES, manually slide that little "deactivate" button/switch up just until it meets the tab that looks like an upside down L (you can see the difference of one I've slid up at about 1:06). I was afraid that if I did that, I would end up permanently deactivating a brand new smoke detector, but I took a chance and slid that up. When I did, I was able to test it successfully (whereas, before, the light would not blink nor was I able to get even a beep when I held the test button). From reading the instructions, it looks like it is very difficult to accidentally deactivate it (you need a screw driver or something similar), so don't worry about sliding that switch up. On the other hand, if sliding that switch up, or if it is already up but not working and the device is still new or still under warranty, you should contact First Alert for a replacement. It looks like their information is on the back of the device to contact them. GOOD LUCK!
Yes. As soon as you do, the voice will start and give you instructions for the final set up. Very confusing system!
Just slide the button up (or down) as far as it can go towards the tab so it turns on. The tab stops the button from deactivation position. You'd have to deliberately break the tab with a screwdriver and keep sliding it further to deactivate the unit. Just slide it to the tab as arrow indicates. It will be fine.
yes, thank you. so stupid how it's not explained
Many people got confused. Including me. It seems that this company is doing on purpose to make more selling. Or the design, and people who designed are not that smart to make something simple, confusing.
How to change the battery
reply with your email address if you still don't know how
The manufacturer wrote the activation in the most confusion way.
Just push it it snaps in lock position
Same
Yes! Completely idiotic/confusing manufacturer "instructions." We're not the morons; they are. I just purchased a couple of these but I'm suspecting there is no such thing as an authentic 10-year battery for smoke detectors, especially if the people who write the directions are the same people who make the product. Thanks for the video!
That was a descriptor... Its called "Reading a manual" Before you do things.
too late, already returned this to costco.
Valor
How do I deactivate the f-ing thing? It won’t shut up. It says to break away tab and slide into deactivate position. There is no tab. There is no deactivate position. It is currently buried in my shirt drawer because it just won’t shut up!
According to the comment by Barbara Moore 2 years ago: "Just call first alert and they will replace it for you. We had the same issue after a short time. It is under warranty 10 years.
**To deactivate just break the tab and push up and the battery will drain quickly.**" You probably have slide that all the way up and maybe have already deactivated it. Hopefully, after a couple days since you posted this, the battery has drained. Wow - I don't like that! And Costco still sells these. Ugh!
thanks for this. thought the same thing when setting it up, I have to deactivate it to activate it?? idiot company
You're welcome. I am no RUclips pro and I'm sure my video skills lack, but I'm glad I've been able to help a few people. (btw, I like your mask, lol!)
Modern human faces poorly designed, poorly documented product. Round 2,021. Which will prevail?
Thank you! Horrible instructions from First Alert.
It is terrible . Waste of the money. I am a IT guy setting up huge computer system for corporations but I didn’t get how to use this piece of crab.
Speak up next time