Having just one smoke alarm in your home isn’t enough, so if you want to go all-in with the Nest Protect, you’ll need more than one unit. Here’s how multiple Protect units work together.
RELATED: What You Need to Know About Smoke Alarms
The latest edition of the NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code says you need to install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside every sleeping area (like a hallway), and on every level of the home, including the basement. Depending on the size of your dwelling, this might mean you need a lot of smoke alarms.
So if you do decide to use Nest Protects as your smoke alarms, you’ll need more than one. Here’s what you need to know about how they interact with each other both during downtime and during an actual alarm.
Setting Up Additional Nest Protects Is Quick and Easy
Setting up your first Nest Protect isn’t too time-consuming at all, but Nest makes it even easier to add additional units. The Nest app automatically applies the settings from your first Nest Protect to any additional units you set up.
RELATED: How to Set Up and Install the Nest Protect Smart Smoke Alarm
However, this does mean that you’ll need a Wi-Fi connection and the Nest app to set up multiple units and connect them to each other. That’s not too big a problem, though. You’re probably not buying Nest Protects if you don’t have Wi-Fi, but it’s something to at least keep in mind. The good news is that once they’re set up, the Nest Protect units don’t necessarily need an active Wi-Fi connection to communicate with one another, as talked about in the next section.
They All Talk to Each Other Wirelessly
A great feature of the Nest Protect is that they can link together when you install additional units around your house, which is not only convenient but can be a real lifesaver.
Once all of your Nest Protects are up and running, they create their own wireless network that lets them interconnect. Whenever one unit detects smoke and trips the alarm, the rest of the units in your home will go off as well.
And since they create their own wireless network, the Nest Protect units won’t disconnect from each other if your home’s Wi-Fi network ever goes down—they’ll still be linked together and will still go off if any of them detects smoke. You can even connect the 1st-gen and 2nd-gen Nest Protect units together as well.
RELATED: The Differences Between the 1st-Gen and 2nd-Gen Nest Protect
One thing to keep in mind about that, though, is that even if you get the wired version of the Nest Protect, they will still interconnect wirelessly with each other. So there’s no huge benefit to the wired models other than not having to change the batteries so often.
