Kidde DETECT 30CUA10-V Hardwired Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm

They probably keep us safe, but garbage design.

Goodbye darkness, my old friend. Kidde has killed you once again.

I hope you like UFOs, because these modern Kidde alarms have incredibly bright green status lights. And they're designed in such a way they can't be dimmed. Every smoke alarm is now a night light.

I'm sure someone thinks that's being "more safe".

They also redesigned the proprietary pigtail plug, even though the 3-wire interlinked input hasn't changed in 30 years.

Aside from the fact the technology in these has barely changed in 20+ years, they manage to be both expensive and STILL crappy design.

I really hope the racket that is the residential smoke alarm business in the US changes. The fact that we have, at best, 3 brands legal here makes price fixing with minimal competition seem like the status quo.

CarmenDarlin

September 28, 2026

Good quality, reliable!

They come with an expiration date. My previous one went berserk prior to the 5 year exp date. So, I replaced it with a new exact model. My electrician explained that sometimes they just come out of the factory like a bad apple. Love, love the new one. No false alarm when cooking. What a relief! Although expensive, These are very nice smoke/carbon detectors!

Do not buy

I bought this last May and now am getting a Constance ringing saying error. Thought these are good for 10 years

No more chirping or battery changes!!!

No more chirping and battery changes in the middle of the night! These things last for 10 years with no need for maintenance. These are a direct replacement for old style smoke alarms and are compatible with most home wiring. You may need to change the wire adapter, but it’s very easy to install. The green indicator light is super bright and easy to see from the ground. They are very sleek looking. These are an incredible value for how long they last.

Don’t bother! You’ll have to take it out!

I bought five of these hardwired (all wiring is only 10 years old) with the 10 year battery to update and replace our existing ones (different manufacturer) since they were 10 years old. Well, I wanted to love these but after returning one for a replacement because it kept going off I give up. I had to take another one down last month and disable it because it would not reset and last night another one was going off all night. We follow manufacturer instructions for cleaning, resetting, and testing. They just are not lasting-I would not consider them reliable at this point. Sometimes the indicator light is on and sometimes not. The one that went off last night would not reset and the light was out. It’s not our electrical system-we have had that checked. It is the detectors themselves. I have spent so much money and time on these with buying them, returning for exchanges and hiring an electrician to verify the cause, this is just not worth it and I don’t think they are safe because they are not always working. I would give less than one star if I could. I’m still researching a better choice.

TurboFroggy

September 7, 2026

Complete and total 3am 3 time failure junk

These are the worst smoke detectors I have ever owned. Have had 3 fail so far all at of course 2am-3am in the moring. Bought 4 of them and kidde had replaced 2 of them and the 3rd just failed. These are complete junk. I am ripping them all out and replacing with a other brand.

Made in China!

I purchased three Kidde hardwired smoke &carbon monoxide detectors model 30CUA10-V in June of 2025. They were installed in June, 2025. One of the units has already failed! False smoke alarms, had to remove the unit to stop the alarm!!

Lasted less than 2 years!

I bought this Kidde Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm because it was advertised as having a 10-year lifespan, which sounded great for peace of mind. Unfortunately, mine didn’t even come close. It failed after almost two years (sticker shows it was made July 2024), which is extremely disappointing for a product that’s supposed to protect your home and family for a decade.

What made the situation worse was the complete lack of customer support. I contacted Kidde to ask about a replacement under what I assumed would be some kind of warranty or support process. I never received any response at all. No email, no follow-up—nothing.

This is especially frustrating because I’ve been buying Kidde smoke alarms and fire extinguishers for over 20 years. I’ve trusted the brand for a long time and recommended it to others. But if this is the level of reliability and customer service they provide now, it seriously makes me reconsider continuing to buy their products.

A safety device that fails this early—and a company that won’t respond when you reach out—is a combination that’s hard to justify. Sadly, it may be time for me to switch to a different brand.

As you can see in the pictures below, this was made in July 2024

Don't buy these if you're replacing old ones. Find a better company.

I'll never buy this brand again, I should return these honestly. Someone in their infintire genius decided it would be a good idea to change how the connector is shaped, so I bought all these thinking oh it's the same company it'll be easy to just unplug my old ones and plug the new ones back in. Nope, can't do that. Because the adapters are different. Now I have to rewire all of these throughout my house.

How does the design team not see this being a problem?

Kiddie changed the connectors! This is not a simple plug and go

We went with this brand because we this is the brand already in our home and wanted an easy replacement but this is not the case. We will have to replace the connectors which requires a lot more work than just plugging it to the existing wiring. Not sure why they did this but please note there are cheaper systems and you will have to rewire anyway. Kiddie should have stayed consistent.

Stay with what you Know

Replaced 2 of these in my basement , the other ones were Kidde also they lasted close to 10yrs

Brown Box No hardware

These are not retail units. Brown box most likely pulled from contractor bulk box. Bring your own hardware. Screws and wire nuts. None included in the box!

Failed in less than 5 months

Smoke sensor error after less than 5 months, I had to permanently disable it to stop it from going off.

I purchased this because I was sick of dealing with replacing batteries every few months.

This is why people end up without smoke detectors!

I will be filing a complaint with the BBB also! This is ridiculous!

False alarms at 3 am. Don't do it.

Expensive false alarms. They're just the worst. Regularly going off at 2-3 am. They've been cleaned and all protocols followed. They're problematic. They don't do refunds. If you beg for another unit they may send you one. Then the fun continues. Read other online reviews. Very similar to this.

0:18

Pick something else!

To many false alarms. Got 7 of them in July 2025 Hardwired. One goes off, they all follow. Let’s play a game at 2am! Which one is the triggered one. I can focus with my 84 year old mother so upset with a loud alarm going off right above my head.

No clue which one it is. Hit hush button- goes right back on. They are either 2 sensitive or defective.

I’m now looking for the old fashioned ones- battery powered only.

Never again with these!!!!!

Replaced older smokes

I replaced the older battery operated Kidde smoke detectors. I had to change the connector as the older one didn’t match. The new one looks good and I won’t need to change the batteries. I wasn’t crazy about the price increase from just a few years ago.

Sassy About Steam, But Knows When to Zip It

Installed this bad boy in under five minutes—faster than I can make toast (which, thankfully, it hasn’t yelled at me for... yet). It's stationed right outside the bathroom and has made it very clear that it does not trust my showers. A little steam and it's like, “FIRE?!?” But here's the magic: instead of my usual interpretive dance with a dishtowel or flailing a cookbook like I’m summoning smoke-detecting spirits, I just press the hush button. Sweet silence.

Technology, you’ve come a long way. I salute you with my dry towel and non-smoking bathroom.

Same brand but wire adapter incompatibility!?

Replaced a Kidde alarm with this Kidde alarm. It is ridiculous that the old wire adapter was not compatible with this new alarm. See picture. Be ready to redo the wiring if you buy this model to replace an older unit of the same brand.

M

February 28, 2025

Works great

It now has a built in battery that lasts long, the alarm is very loud and off good quality. Nice size. Works well. It is very sensitive. Burning incense set it off.

Only lasted less than 2 months before false alarms

In early December 2024, I replaced the five hardwired smoke detectors in my 2-story house with Kidde Hardwired Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors with 10-Year Battery Backup, Voice Alerts. The installation was straightforward and took about 10 minutes per detector. After installation, I tested them, and all five interconnected detectors functioned correctly, announcing "fire" and "carbon monoxide" along with loud beeping during the test.

However, less than two months later, the alarms went off unexpectedly with loud beeps and the announcement of "fire." There was no fire, smoke, or cooking activity at the time. Pressing the hush button on each detector didn't silence the alarm, and they continued until I turned off the circuit breaker, raising questions about the 10-year battery backup. Additionally, I couldn't identify which detector initiated the alarm, as none showed a blinking red indicator. After a few minutes I turned back on the circuit breaker and all the detectors started beeping again along with the verbal announcement of "fire".

It seems one or more detectors may be defective.

Great replacement for older Kidde model

Quick replacement of an older model Kidde. Came with everything needed. The new bracket and harness need to be used because the old one isn’t compatible as far as I can tell with the new generation I got. Let’s see how long the ten year battery works!

3:27

Easy but could be easier

This means I paid MSRP but it also means I got a freshly manufactured unit (2 months since the manufacturing date in Mexico), "white boxed" (actually, the plain box was brown without any hidden RFID retail devices), with no instructions for amateur installers. Since there was no price incentive to buy any particular unit, I purchased the most expensive (not too much more than the cheaper Kidde models, but much more expensive than Asian imports). I didn't trust the cheapest imports to work during a fire or CO1 event.

My unit is a replacement for an earlier-generation Kidde, an AA battery+A/C unit that lasted about 7 years. There are no useful instructions, no tools, and no supplies (wing nuts, for example). Installation took me about 30 minutes as a very slow amateur. You might install in 5 or 10 minutes. The process is to turn off the power (mine is a dedicated circuit), unscrew the old bracket (the old bracket looks nearly identical to the new bracket, so I did not remove the screws, just loosened the screws), remove the old connector by unscrewing three wing nuts, install the new connector by twisting on the old wing nuts, tighten the new bracket, poke the wires back in the ceiling, screw on the new smoke/CO2 alarm, reset the circuit breaker, and push the test button. My unit is now mounted 90 degrees from what Kidde says is best aesthetically, perhaps because my old unit was mounted non-aesthetically by the builder, or perhaps because the new screw holes in the new bracket are 90 degrees off from the old holes.

I've included a photograph so you can judge whether my unit is 90 degrees from being aesthetically perfect.

I did not give this unit 5 stars. To get that rating, the instructions would need to tell me what tools I needed before I began (Phillips screwdriver, flashlight). The instructions should say explicitly whether the old Kidde mounting bracket would still work. The box should contain a cheap plastic male-female adapter to convert the old connector into the new connector. A cheap adapter would make installation a snap.

Kidde stands by their products, replaced our defective unit, and paid to ship the dud back to them.

MOST RECENT UPDATE 2 MORE WEEKS LATER: A friend said to call Kidde. I found the phone number on the back of the detector and spoke with a representative about the problems. She took down my information and said we should always have a can of compressed air available to spray around the perimeter of the unit, wait 10-15 seconds, and reset it with the Test Button on the front. She said she'd send us a replacement, which took another 10 days to arrive. Both my boyfriend and I found the compressed air suggestion ludicrous because the unit was brand new, and there was no dust where it hung in the basement. It was obviously defective. I'd originally given this product 5 stars, lowered it to 1 star, and will raise it back up to 3 stars for the company standing behind our purchase and replaced the dud. They also emailed a shipping tag for us to return it to them.

UPDATE 3 WEEKS LATER: (Original, 5-star review is far down below.)

Headline: After 3 weeks of use, we got 8 false alarms on 1 day, despite no fire or smoke inside our house. We did not hear a peep from this Kidde Hardwired Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detector until today. It began its warning beep and “Fire, fire.” I headed downstairs where we installed it, and it suddenly shut off. I thought it was just running a test. Within 1 minute, it sounded again and stopped. My boyfriend and our dog headed back home from visiting his father on Father’s Day, and it started another warning. We had to take our dog outside because of the loud noise. My boyfriend investigated, pulled this unit off the basement ceiling, and walked it outside. He pushed the “Hush” button, and it said, “Cannot hush because too much smoke,” despite no fire or smoke! It began to go off again, even though it was outside in the fresh air on a sunny, dry day, 64 degrees.

My boyfriend even checked inside our garage, and there was no fire or smoke at all. He then went back down into our basement to check on our “old” unit he left on top of a shelf, which still had batteries inside of it. It did not go off at all, and he even tested it to see if it still worked. He then set this Kidde Hardwired Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detector on our front stoop with a screwdriver. Finally, when it suddenly produced another false alarm again, he used the screwdriver to break the back tab to permanently disable it. He frustratingly announced if it went off a 6th time, he’d use a sledgehammer to bust it. The only good thing was that this all happened at 10 am, instead of 2 am when we’d be asleep. The unit we received is apparently defective, and our peace of mind went out the window. I have lowered my 5-star review to 1 star.

Headline: This excellent, hardwired smoke and carbon monoxide detector may scare your dog.

We had annoying, false smoke and carbon monoxide alarms several nights recently, frustrating us and scaring our dog, despite replacing the 9-volt batteries. I jumped at the opportunity to order this Kidde Hardwired Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detector. It comes with an orange dust cover you can use if your house is being renovated, thereby creating a lot of dust particles in the air that can ruin the detector's monitoring. Just make sure you remove it when the remodeling is finished. We've used Kidde detectors for several years because Kidde is a great brand that meets UL standards. This particular product has a permanent lithium battery that is good for 10 years, as opposed to most standard monitors that use 9-volt batteries needing to be replaced every year. If you have several detectors, it’s sometimes very difficult to determine which one needs a new battery. This detector also has green, amber, and red LED warning lights. We turned the red button on the back of the unit by using a flathead screwdriver, before installing it on the ceiling in our basement where all of the wires connected from the other monitors upstairs in the halls and bedrooms. We did a manual push test by pressing the button on the front of the Kidde unit. The warning beeps and voice alerts were loud enough for us to hear in the basement, but my video clip's audio did not pick up the voice and alternate beeping. Our dog, however, was very upset and shaking when I ran upstairs to comfort him. It took about 5-10 minutes to reassure him that all was well again. Despite this, we are glad we installed an excellent smoke and carbon monoxide detector worth the current price of $67.47 for peace of mind.

0:29

CS

May 21, 2024

Perfect replacement

We used this one to replace our old one in toddlers room, nothing wrong was with the old one, but it was super basic that builders put in and since it’s been 10 years since we built our house it is recommended that they are replaced, and safety always comes first. It perfectly sinked it with the rest of the house when my husband tested it and very loud. Took my husband about 5 mins to install start to finish, and as electrician who probably installed 100s of them, he said this is great quality detector. Happy with it and give us piece of mind.

Premium UL listed smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

Ordered this Kidde Hardwired Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detector, 10-Year Battery Backup and installed it as the primary device in my home. Kidde make the best quality alarms in the business. This one has every advanced feature except perhaps a wireless interlink capability. This one was listed at $68 and the wifi capable one is roughly $10 more, given the minimal price difference that may be a better option for some. Product installs simply, has multiple UL listings and installed in a few minutes. Voice alarms make the alerts more intuitive, has a 10 year backup and wired interconnect. I like the idea of a better sensor that reduces nuisance tripping as I have to admit to setting off the previous model with my enthusiastic use of a wok.

Premium quality alarm, best of class if you can afford it.