Smoke Detectors

I replaced mine with units with 10 year batteries. Hopefully, it will be time to replace the entire detector when the batteries give out.

I got tired of having to replace batteries once a year, and you can't just let them go until they die because they always seem to do that at 2:00 AM when you are sound asleep.

But then I wound up wiring each one while hot because I didn't want them to use the battery any more than necessary. But each time I took apart a splice, the ones down the line lost power, and started sounding off the battery power.

It seemed like I was hearing years of battery life draining before my ears.

I guess I should have replaced them all before pulling out the battery cover.
 
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wwhitney said:
Uh, as the link you posted says, CO is slightly lighter than bulk air. But it's molecular weight is basically the same as N2 (both are 28), so it will eventually mix evenly within the air, just as N2 and O2 mix.

Cheers, Wayne
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My bad I read it wrong. This is the second time today I have corrected myself on this topic.

I did agree it will eventually mix.
 
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Little Bill said:
I agree it's better to put the smokes on with another circuit. But if on their own circuit and the circuit trips, or is turned off, the smokes will work on battery but you still get a chirp every minute or so telling you they lost power. Only way to stop the chirping is to either turn the circuit back on or take the batter out.
I found this out when wiring a new house. The circuit was turned off and the smokes were wired into that circuit. The HO asked why the alarms were chirping. I saw the green light on the alarm was not on so I turned the breaker back on and the chirping stopped.

I can't say all the different brands work this way, but the brand I was using did.
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Smoke alarms should only chirp on low battery. NEVER on AC power loss unless the batteries go low at the same time. That could happen if the batteries are almost to the low state and the extra current required from them on the AC power loss pulls the voltage down enough to trigger the low battery alarm.
Chirping on power loss would make people remove them every time the power go out leaving them with no protection. UL would never list a device that does this.
 
curt swartz said:
Smoke alarms should only chirp on low battery. NEVER on AC power loss unless the batteries go low at the same time. That could happen if the batteries are almost to the low state and the extra current required from them on the AC power loss pulls the voltage down enough to trigger the low battery alarm.
Chirping on power loss would make people remove them every time the power go out leaving them with no protection. UL would never list a device that does this.
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All I can tell you is the chirping stopped once the breaker was back on.
 
curt swartz said:
Smoke alarms should only chirp on low battery. NEVER on AC power loss unless the batteries go low at the same time. That could happen if the batteries are almost to the low state and the extra current required from them on the AC power loss pulls the voltage down enough to trigger the low battery alarm.
Chirping on power loss would make people remove them every time the power go out leaving them with no protection. UL would never list a device that does this.
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That's probably true - I've never heard them sound when the power goes off.

But why did they go into full alarm while I was replacing each one?

Do they alarm if the interconnect wire gets disconnected?
 
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