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Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? Because I will easily pay 6 times more to never hear that godawful sound ever again. Especially

Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? Because I will easily pay 6 times more to never hear that godawful sound ever again. Especially when you have high ceilings, and the detector is the 120V AC kind and has no overly visible slot for a battery.

ruswick 13y ago
I have. I identify the detector and the batteries. It's not particularly hard.
- mynameisvlad 13y ago
  As I said, some of them have no overly obvious battery compartment. Either it's on the backside, or internally and you have to unscrew it open. Not all have an obvious battery compartment. And it's incredibly annoying when you have to climb onto a chair/table/whathaveyou because your ceilings are so high you can't naturally reach it. The one in my last apartment even had a big button in the middle. I thought I might be able to press it in order to turn off the alarm temporarily. That was not a good idea.
arethuza 13y ago
I don't mind the chirps but I do often have huge problems finding out which fire alarm has a low battery - as some of our ceilings are (I think) 14ft going up and down a ladder multiple times isn't a lot of fun... [A few years back our neighbouring apartment had a nasty fire - so I went out and bought a lot of fire alarms, fire blankets etc. - we weren't at much risk as our walls are about 1m thick sandstone. However, it did mean I ended up replacing all of the batteries in the "new" alarms at roughly the same time.]
- bcl 13y ago
  My solution is to just go an replace them all. Much faster than trying to track down the one, especially in a 2 story house where the chirp echos and isn't repeated very often.
  - arethuza 13y ago
    LOL Clearly I am not sensible enough to think of that elegant solution!
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- mynameisvlad 13y ago
  The one in my last apartment was electric, but I believe still had a backup battery. And still chirps like the devil if that goes out, but you can't even just remove it, because then it'll chirp at you for not having a backup battery in place. And there's no way that I know to turn that chirp off. See how that might be annoying in the middle of the night with high ceilings in the first place, and no replacement battery available?
Shivetya 13y ago
At their price point that is a pretty damn expensive convenience? How are they any different in requiring batter changes? At 129 I will just laugh it off as another appeals to people want others to think of them differently. Nest is trying to market the same way as Apple does, they appeal to Vanity through different directions. Expecting people in the market segment to feed off each other.
- mynameisvlad 13y ago
  The article says it pretty well. There are no horrible chirps, it'll alert you in a humane way that hey, your battery is low and you need to change it. They've clearly found a problem (current alarms suck) and have made a solution. Just because you don't see the convenience doesn't mean other people don't, as is clear from the comments here. Once you get burned by regular smoke detectors in the middle of the night, you would pay good money for a product that actually fixes some of these issues.
highace 13y ago
My smoke alarm is connected to the mains electricity. No need for new batteries ever. Just a simple extension from the power outlets in the attic and down through the ceiling.
- zwily 13y ago
  They should still have a battery backup.
- joeshaw 13y ago
  In the US, current fire codes require that hardwired smoke detectors also have a battery backup. http://artisanelectric.net/blog/the-big-picture/how-old-are-your-smoke-detectors-when-was-the-last-time-you-tested-them/ http://artisanelectric.net/blog/the-big-picture/how-old-are-... http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&code=72 http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information...
DanBC 13y ago
> Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? No. I change the batteries once a year.
tanzam75 13y ago
> Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? Because I will easily pay 6 times more to never hear that godawful sound ever again. Or, you can pay $5 for a lithium battery that will last the life of the alarm. If it chirps, time to replace the smoke alarm. (You did realize that smoke alarms should be replaced every ten years, right?)
- the_cat_kittles 13y ago
  whoa- any particular battery brand that works the best?
  - tanzam75 13y ago
    I don't know that one brand is that much better than another. But for something like a smoke detector, you'd probably feel better buying one of the big brands. Just make sure they're lithium, non-rechargeable batteries, with an expiration date about 8 years in the future.

ruswick 13y ago

I have. I identify the detector and the batteries. It's not particularly hard.

mynameisvlad 13y ago
As I said, some of them have no overly obvious battery compartment. Either it's on the backside, or internally and you have to unscrew it open. Not all have an obvious battery compartment. And it's incredibly annoying when you have to climb onto a chair/table/whathaveyou because your ceilings are so high you can't naturally reach it. The one in my last apartment even had a big button in the middle. I thought I might be able to press it in order to turn off the alarm temporarily. That was not a good idea.

arethuza 13y ago

I don't mind the chirps but I do often have huge problems finding out which fire alarm has a low battery - as some of our ceilings are (I think) 14ft going up and down a ladder multiple times isn't a lot of fun... [A few years back our neighbouring apartment had a nasty fire - so I went out and bought a lot of fire alarms, fire blankets etc. - we weren't at much risk as our walls are about 1m thick sandstone. However, it did mean I ended up replacing all of the batteries in the "new" alarms at roughly the same time.]

bcl 13y ago
My solution is to just go an replace them all. Much faster than trying to track down the one, especially in a 2 story house where the chirp echos and isn't repeated very often.
- arethuza 13y ago
  LOL Clearly I am not sensible enough to think of that elegant solution!

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mynameisvlad 13y ago
The one in my last apartment was electric, but I believe still had a backup battery. And still chirps like the devil if that goes out, but you can't even just remove it, because then it'll chirp at you for not having a backup battery in place. And there's no way that I know to turn that chirp off. See how that might be annoying in the middle of the night with high ceilings in the first place, and no replacement battery available?

Shivetya 13y ago

At their price point that is a pretty damn expensive convenience? How are they any different in requiring batter changes? At 129 I will just laugh it off as another appeals to people want others to think of them differently. Nest is trying to market the same way as Apple does, they appeal to Vanity through different directions. Expecting people in the market segment to feed off each other.

mynameisvlad 13y ago
The article says it pretty well. There are no horrible chirps, it'll alert you in a humane way that hey, your battery is low and you need to change it. They've clearly found a problem (current alarms suck) and have made a solution. Just because you don't see the convenience doesn't mean other people don't, as is clear from the comments here. Once you get burned by regular smoke detectors in the middle of the night, you would pay good money for a product that actually fixes some of these issues.

highace 13y ago

My smoke alarm is connected to the mains electricity. No need for new batteries ever. Just a simple extension from the power outlets in the attic and down through the ceiling.

zwily 13y ago
They should still have a battery backup.
joeshaw 13y ago
In the US, current fire codes require that hardwired smoke detectors also have a battery backup. http://artisanelectric.net/blog/the-big-picture/how-old-are-your-smoke-detectors-when-was-the-last-time-you-tested-them/ http://artisanelectric.net/blog/the-big-picture/how-old-are-... http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&code=72 http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information...

DanBC 13y ago

> Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? No. I change the batteries once a year.

tanzam75 13y ago

> Have you ever had your smoke detector do the low battery chirp? Because I will easily pay 6 times more to never hear that godawful sound ever again. Or, you can pay $5 for a lithium battery that will last the life of the alarm. If it chirps, time to replace the smoke alarm. (You did realize that smoke alarms should be replaced every ten years, right?)

the_cat_kittles 13y ago
whoa- any particular battery brand that works the best?
- tanzam75 13y ago
  I don't know that one brand is that much better than another. But for something like a smoke detector, you'd probably feel better buying one of the big brands. Just make sure they're lithium, non-rechargeable batteries, with an expiration date about 8 years in the future.