While the states of California and New York generally require battery-powered smoke alarms to have 10-year sealed batteries, their laws also allow for certain advanced technology devices -- like Nest Protect -- with advanced technology features including low-power radio frequency for wireless interconnect.
Note: Sealed 10-year battery requirements only apply to battery-powered alarms, not wired smoke alarms.
California smoke alarm requirements
Since smoke alarms help keep people safe, public safety officials want to make sure that every smoke alarm works the way it should. They also want to ensure that people don’t fail to replace the batteries if they remove them when the alarm starts chirping. To address this concern, California generally requires that battery-operated smoke alarms have a non-removable battery designed to last for 10 years.
However, California also allows advanced technology smoke alarms that don’t have 10-year non-removable batteries if they offer certain other safety features. For example, if a smoke alarm uses low-power radio frequency for wireless interconnect, it doesn’t have to have a 10-year sealed battery. Since Nest Protect uses low-power radio frequency for wireless interconnect, it’s allowed by the California regulations.
Both Nest Protect (Battery) and (Wired 120V) are listed and certified by the California State Fire Marshal Office of Building Materials for use as a single or multiple station smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm. Note that specific requirements vary from place to place, so check your local fire safety codes as well.
New York smoke alarm requirements
Like California, New York State also generally requires that battery-operated smoke alarms have a non-removable battery designed to last for 10 years.
However, New York State also allows the use of advanced technology devices -- like Nest Protect -- which use low-power frequency wireless communication for wireless interconnect. Therefore, Nest Protect is allowed under the New York State law.
Note: Specific requirements vary from place to place, so check your local fire safety codes as well. For example, if you live in New York City, check the city requirements as well as the state requirements.
General information
Nest Protect uses long life batteries that are intended to last multiple years under normal operation. Nest also uses on-device and mobile notifications to tell you when its battery is getting low, so you can change it before it starts to chirp.
Both Nest Protect (Battery) and (Wired 120V) are listed and certified by Underwriters’ Laboratories for use as a single or multiple station smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm.