Smoke Detector Battery - The Joke Is On Me

[easysurfer]

Chirp, chirp, chirp ... the battery is going low on my smoke detector/carbon monoxide and smoke detector that are hard wired, yet require batteries as backup.

I have on in the hallway, and one in the adjacent bedroom. Same brand detectors.

So I open the battery holder on one, see that it takes two AA batteries. I run to the store and buy 4 batteries, figuring, might as replace for both detectors.

But to my surprise, when opening the holder for the other detector, it takes a 9V smoke detector battery .

What the heck? Why couldn't they just use the same size batteries?

 

[Dash man]

Chirp, chirp, chirp ... the battery is going low on my smoke detector/carbon monoxide and smoke detector that are hard wired, yet require batteries as backup.

I have on in the hallway, and one in the adjacent bedroom. Same brand detectors.

So I open the battery holder on one, see that it takes two AA batteries. I run to the store and buy 4 batteries, figuring, might as replace for both detectors.

But to my surprise, when opening the holder for the other detector, it takes a 9V smoke detector battery .

What the heck? Why couldn't they just use the same size batteries?

Because…just because…

 

[TripleLindy]

Chirp, chirp, chirp ... the battery is going low on my smoke detector/carbon monoxide and smoke detector that are hard wired, yet require batteries as backup.

I have on in the hallway, and one in the adjacent bedroom. Same brand detectors.

So I open the battery holder on one, see that it takes two AA batteries. I run to the store and buy 4 batteries, figuring, might as replace for both detectors.

But to my surprise, when opening the holder for the other detector, it takes a 9V smoke detector battery .

What the heck? Why couldn't they just use the same size batteries?

Same reason when changing the cabin air filters in our SUV I need a 7mm socket to remove the cover and 1/4” socket to remove the bracket.

 

[easysurfer]

Misery loves company. I feel better now .

 

[Mark1]

Chirp, chirp, chirp ... the battery is going low on my smoke detector/carbon monoxide and smoke detector that are hard wired, yet require batteries as backup.

I have on in the hallway, and one in the adjacent bedroom. Same brand detectors.

So I open the battery holder on one, see that it takes two AA batteries. I run to the store and buy 4 batteries, figuring, might as replace for both detectors.

But to my surprise, when opening the holder for the other detector, it takes a 9V smoke detector battery .

What the heck? Why couldn't they just use the same size batteries?

Wow, sounds like it chirped during the daytime. Mine always chirp during the coldest winter night approximately between midnight and 2:00 AM.

 

[Major Tom]

Wow, sounds like it chirped during the daytime. Mine always chirp during the coldest winter night approximately between midnight and 2:00 AM.

Mine chirps at seemingly random times. I remove the 2 x AA batteries and put them straight back in. It will then run again for weeks and even months before pulling the same trick again.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Fun fact- if they are hardwired and somehow connected to each other they can all go off at the same time as if there was a fire.
This apparently happens when one of them goes bad and the detector needs to be replaced.
Ask me how I know. [emoji15][emoji2356]

 

[razztazz]

Fun fact- if they are hardwired and somehow connected to each other they can all go off at the same time as if there was a fire.
This apparently happens when one of them goes bad and the detector needs to be replaced.
Ask me how I know. [emoji15][emoji2356]

Could you please elucidate? My understanding is smoke detectors "die" after about 10 years then start that chirping until you replace it. Mine are the hardwired-into-the-wall kind and are just about 10 years old now. How the hell do I turn them off until I can replace them if they start chirping? And how do I replace them? Or, at least, whom do I call to replace them?

 

[Jerry1]

Could you please elucidate? My understanding is smoke detectors "die" after about 10 years then start that chirping until you replace it. Mine are the hardwired-into-the-wall kind and are just about 10 years old now. How the hell do I turn them off until I can replace them if they start chirping? And how do I replace them? Or, at least, whom do I call to replace them?

Current smoke detectors come with a ten year battery that cannot be replaced. You replace the entire smoke detector.

You can’t turn them off when the time is up, you just have to deal with it until you get it replaced. Were I you, I’d replace them now if they’re “just about 10 years old now.”

 

[Dash man]

I figured as much. Who do I call? At my age, in my condition, I'm not climbing on ladders to play Tim Taylor from ToolTime.

My "emergency plan" is to simply remove them and replace them with the All-battery kind but I'm not sure that violates any kind of safety codes.

Any handyman should be able to install them for you.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I figured as much. Who do I call? At my age, in my condition, I'm not climbing on ladders to play Tim Taylor from ToolTime.

My "emergency plan" is to simply remove them and replace them with the All-battery kind but I'm not sure that violates any kind of safety codes.

My son was here and he was able to get them turned off by pressing the reset button but he didn’t know anymore about them than I did!
Luckily it was the middle of the day. This was in 2020 and lots of companies weren’t coming into houses. I called a local handyman who had done some other work for me and he was able to change them.
Mine would have been 17 years old. I had no idea that they only lasted 10 years. I know now.

 

[calmloki]

Oh yeah - hardwired with battery backup and linked together. Miserable so and so's start singing the blues around 2-3AM. Mounted on the ten foot ceilings. Track down the one that is chirping and get the battery pulled and go back to bed just in time for more chirping. Have to pull the whole detector, disconnecting the pigtail. Ended up replacing all six detectors (it had been at least ten years) and now change all the batteries every time we go south, every twelve months on schedule. Hate balancing naked on a step ladder reaching overhead in the dark of night.

 

[easysurfer]

Maybe that explains they the detectors where chirping at what seemed the same time.

I just ordered a couple of 9v batteries from Amazon. Supposedly lasts 10 years.

At this moment, detectors are detached from wall and sitting on table. When battery arrives (Thursday), I'll reinstall then.

 

[Graybeard]

Mine were 21 years old, hard wired and 9v battery. I replaced the battery in the one that was chirping but then they all went off. Have all new ones, hard wired with 9v batteries.

 

[razztazz]

My son was here and he was able to get them turned off by pressing the reset button but he didn’t know anymore about them than I did!
Luckily it was the middle of the day. This was in 2020 and lots of companies weren’t coming into houses. I called a local handyman who had done some other work for me and he was able to change them.
Mine would have been 17 years old. I had no idea that they only lasted 10 years. I know now.

So, right after I posted I went to the website of a local plumbing/heating & A/C operation. Left them a request for some electrical work. Two minutes later I get a call ( 7:30 in the evening). They have a night desk. So, I got somebody coming tomorrow between 0800-1200 to replace them. Yes, I know they could last 5 or more years but when they start going off it'll be hell till they can be swapped.

I only found this out at my last house. I had a non-hardwired CO detector that specifically stated it was good for 7 years. Almost exactly 7 yrs later it started chirping and didn't stop even after I took the battery out. That's when I found out smoke detectors did the same thing. At least the one's at the time. Maybe these later models are exempt but I ain't waiting to find out.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

So, right after I posted I went to the website of a local plumbing/heating & A/C operation. Left them a request for some electrical work. Two minutes later I get a call ( 7:30 in the evening). They have a night desk. So, I got somebody coming tomorrow between 0800-1200 to replace them. Yes, I know they could last 5 or more years but when they start going off it'll be hell till they can be swapped.

I only found this out at my last house. I had a non-hardwired CO detector that specifically stated it was good for 7 years. Almost exactly 7 yrs later it started chirping and didn't stop even after I took the battery out. That's when I found out smoke detectors did the same thing. At least the one's at the time. Maybe these later models are exempt but I ain't waiting to find out.

No way would I wait! Had I known I would have had them switched out years before.
Mine didn’t chirp- it was the full on alarm going off. The kind that wakes the dead. It scared me in the middle of the day. I don’t want to experience that in the middle of the night.

Lucky you to have such a responsive company! I’m having a devil of a time getting people out to do anything.

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Hate balancing naked on a step ladder reaching overhead in the dark of night.

Just think how the neighbors feel!
[emoji38]

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, forget batteries, 10 years, toss 'em inna trash. No wait, in the e-waste bin -

 

[Sunset]

We have the battery operated type.

I've realized I can buy the 10 year unit cheaper than buying 10 9V batteries plus a unit.
Makes me happy to know a more convenient, and safer (many less ladder times) is actually going to save me money

 

[SecondAttempt]

Could you please elucidate? My understanding is smoke detectors "die" after about 10 years then start that chirping until you replace it. Mine are the hardwired-into-the-wall kind and are just about 10 years old now. How the hell do I turn them off until I can replace them if they start chirping? And how do I replace them? Or, at least, whom do I call to replace them?

Unplug and remove battery. Place under a couch cushion until morning. Try to sleep while every barely perceptiple chirp gets you more and more angry. When you finally give up on sleeping at 5 AM, take it outside and use a large rock or sledge hammer to beat it into submission.

Ok, don't do the smashing part. Some of them contain radioactive materials you do not want to spread around.

 

[FI_RElater]

...actually, all the ionization detectors would contain a small amount of radioactive material (almost always polonium 210)

That's how they detect...radioactive material emits small amounts of charge, charge transfer to any smoke particulate... any current due to these charged particles is detected.... then "beep...beep.."

incidentally, the major reason for false alarm beeps at night is actually small spiders getting in them. That's why they recommend taking canned dust removal spray (not something that would leave a residue) to blow the spider and their threads/web from the device (as the web would also act like the smoke particles, be charged, and give a response... and since it's physically there it would recur)

[ I changed all mine this year... had partial basement finish on this house and saw the old ones were old; figured i'd get them all changed out and be good.
Used to be "contractor packs" had ten...now only six....
(so got three packs) and, of course, the connector rings are ...just..so..slightly different that they all have to be changed out also. fun times
Interestingly, at one of my old houses... the local fire department would actually come out to change your whole house (obviously, you needed to buy them and have them ready and, no they didn't come out when they went off chirping in the night... you had to request and they'd come out (as available) - - they wanted to insure residents had working detectors (and some of our old ones then had actually been recalled, the fireman doing the task said... not something that most homeowners would have looked for ]

 

[ncbill]

Here by code hardwired have to be replaced with hardwired or hardwired with battery backup.

I replaced my hardwired-only ones with hardwired with battery since in power failures for some reason the originals made noises that sounded like R2D2 being tortured.

I prefer to avoid 9V batteries given their low capacity & high cost, so with the last smoke detector that died I replaced it with a combination smoke detector/CO alarm that uses two AA batteries instead of a single 9V.

 

[Dash man]

I’ve been replacing mine with the smoke detectors that have a 10year lithium battery installed, so you don’t have to replace the batteries until it’s time to replace the whole thing. The combination smoke/carbon monoxide detectors still use regular batteries.

 

[homestead]

Unplug and remove battery. Place under a couch cushion until morning. Try to sleep while every barely perceptiple chirp gets you more and more angry. When you finally give up on sleeping at 5 AM, take it outside and use a large rock or sledge hammer to beat it into submission.

Ok, don't do the smashing part. Some of them contain radioactive materials you do not want to spread around.

What I do to silence the alarm in the early morning is turn the heat on or up in that room and go back to bed. Changing the battery the next day.
The warmer air helps the battery get through the night.

 

[EarlyandLate]

Like Sunset, I decided that replacing mine with the 10 year battery disposable ones was cheaper than continuing to feed 9v batteries to them. I have had mine for two years now and have been very happy with them. I may not be in this condo long enough to have to replace them.