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One of my smoke detectors has already started chirping for a new battery, it has been doing it intermittently. It's been quiet all day but I expect it will start in again tonight. At my previous house replacing the smoke detector batteries wasn't that difficult, at least not for the upstairs ones, the downstairs ones were on a higher ceiling and I always dreaded having to change those out, especially when they'd wake me up at 5 AM if I was sleeping downstairs. But most newer houses have much higher ceilings, when I was looking at houses there were only a few I found with lower ceilings but they had other issues like no hardwired Internet options. I absolutely cannot reach the smoke detectors in my current house, and having a fear of heights doesn't help, especially with nothing to hold onto when I'm on the highest step of what I used to think was a tall step stool. And I think these smoke detectors are wired, so the power has to be turned off first before replacing the batteries. So I'm going to find a handyman to come out and change them for lithium batteries that are supposed to last 10 years. I'm also going to see if there are any user friendly smoke detectors that are held on by magnets so that I could remove them with a long pole. There are some with non-replaceable batteries, you replace the whole smoke detector every 10 years, which is when they say it should be done anyway. I know there things are life savers, but I really hate them.

Just shoot the fucking things

Ours are wired, and the backup battery is in the alarm panel. THAT chirps, when the battery unit needs replacing. It doesn't affect the alarm system from operating when there's power, and I can clear it for a while and arm the system (it's fire and security) but it will chirp again next self test, sort of thing.

Back in the 80's, I was away and came back after my parents had this house built. They went away in the summer and I didn't know the bloody smoke alarms were monitored just like the burglar alarms. My sister had a bunch of people here and one of them was smoking a big fat hash joint pretty much right under one of the detectors. I gave them shit, and thought nothing of it until the fire engine, sirens blaring, rolled into the driveway. Was I ever embarrassed and after I explained that there was no fire and I had no idea the fire department was coming, the first thing the fireman said (he used to be my grade 8 teacher lol) was "Burning some bad stuff were you, Michael?"

I'd say that's asking for trouble, sending the fire department automatically because a smoke detector goes off. I got the answering service to change the "protocol" to them phoning first when it's fire. Also, if you cancel the fire alarm right away at the panel they won't act, but unless you've fanned away the source of the problem, it will just go again. Now that I know, I usually call THEM before they can call me if the toaster sets it off or something (the kitchen one isn't monitored, but the smoke always seems to go to the hallway one that is lol). We never want that happening again.

I'd love to have something like that, with easily accessible batteries. What company makes that?

My uncle and aunt had a burglar alarm system back in the late 70's or early 80's, and one time they accidentally triggered it and a cop car showed up. I think my uncle said they charge a fee for false alarms.

Well, I guess this would be one solution

I think it's AdvancedTech or something like that. It's way old though, and it's a central system.

A soldier needed to reach a smoke detector to "survive" in the moment? lol... these stupid fucking AI narrators. I'd only "agree" with what he did if it was his house (in which case it only matters if he agrees), otherwise, I can't think of any circumstance where doing such damage would be necessary to access a smoke detector. (and being annoyed doesn't count lol)

Actually the thing that doesn't make sense there is the narrator. The excited soldier is probably looking for explosives or some other hazard. Who puts a "smoke detector" inside the plenum like that?

lol! I wondered about that, putting it above a drop ceiling. I just did a quick search, it looks like that is a thing in some circumstances:

Joshua Greene: Smoke detectors are required above suspended ceilings when a total coverage smoke detection system is required by the code. This is typically limited in today’s code environment, as total coverage smoke detection is usually not required in buildings that have sprinkler protection. There may be a few instances where an occupancy type would require total coverage and sprinklers are not required or provided. You may also encounter total coverage smoke detection when replacing an old fire alarm system in an existing building (health care, ambulatory care, detention and correctional, etc.) that doesn’t have sprinklers. In that case, the total coverage must be maintained.

From csemag.com

It wouldn't be a bad idea in apartment buildings I guess, it's how fires spread. That just didn't look right for the story.

I looked at our fire/security system and found exactly what it is, from the panel. We used to have an AdvancedTech system around 1986 but it was replaced in the 90's.

I'm sure it's not a current product, but this is what we have here:

DSC (Digital Security Controls) Power832
https://www.dsc.com/alarm-security-prod ... wer832/896

It's Canajun (headquartered in Toronto), but they are distributed internationally.

The detectors themselves wouldn't be part of the control system. A friend of the family, Hank (now deceased... I liked him) had a side business installing alarm systems and he procured and installed it for us.

Thanks Grogan.

I have someone coming by Monday to change out the batteries, that was the earliest I could get when I was inquiring earlier this week. It's right above my gaming machine so I might not be playing any games on that machine this weekend, unless the hearing protector earmuffs I have would be enough to make the chirps tolerable. I can play games on my main machine in a different room though. I was looking for smoke detectors designed to use remote batteries, but all I could find were other people asking if they were available anywhere. One alternative solution I did find is the "smart" smoke detectors. One of the features they have is the low battery warnings simply come through a phone app, they don't chirp incessantly and force you out of bed (or chair lol!) to go outside in the dark, in the rain or snow to cut power to the detector at the breaker box and then climb up a rickety ladder at 6 AM to replace the battery to appease the smoke detector so you can finally go back to bed and probably spend the rest of the night awake. That's such a stupid design they force on everyone, I'd rather just be able to see the notification on my phone for something I can deal with later. For now the existing ones will be getting 10 year batteries, then I'll consider having these ones ripped off the ceiling and replaced with something better.

I'd have knocked the fucking thing down with a pole, and then get the guy to install a new detector. Take THAT, O' annoying, screeching piece of crap

It has been tempting lol!

And it's done. Turns out he's from the same general area I came from, said he grew up in Palm Springs. He does Ethernet and electrical so I'm going to have him back out to do some Ethernet drops.

That's good, we don't have anybody that does that. 25 years ago, we got my dad's friend (the alarm guy) to run ethernet cable. It didn't even cost actual money, I took it out in trade (working on their computers/routers/printers etc.). If anything ever happens to those cables we'll be fucked. I wouldn't know who to call around here (and I can't do it, through walls and plenums etc.). I guess we could ask our electrician, but they aren't easy to get (they'll come immediately if it's important, otherwise they are busy).

I've been punished for making light of your smoke detector chirping

There was a double chirp I could barely hear down here, every minute or so. At first it sounded like something outside (like a beeper in the distance, they are pretty shrill nowadays). That's because I'd be hearing it through the ceiling plenum in this room, which made me think it was coming from the window.

No, it was a chirping device in the house somewhere. Here's the thing about such chirps, they make better ventriloquists than howdy fucking doody, sounding like they are coming from somewhere else. It sounded it was coming from upstairs, moreover, it was getting stronger up there. I thought ahh, the alarm panel, I'm hearing the upstairs chirps (there's a keypad thing upstairs too). I went to the main panel and there were no chirps coming from there, yet I could still hear the "upstairs one". The system wasn't showing any fault, and I even reset it (does the self tests in the process) and everything came up green.

So then I thought Mom must have some device upstairs in her room that's chirping (I vaguely remember something like that before). I was irritated so I went out to the garage for some thinking meds, and then I heard the chirps. I was hearing them through the basement door. It was in the basement after all, on the other side of the house. Of course the chirps weren't timed when I was anywhere near it, on the way to the stairs etc.

It was this CO/gas detector that was sitting on an end table behind a lamp. It's right near our utility corridor (a good spot). I had forgotten that was even there, it's out of sight. It's one of those stupid fucking things with non-removable batteries (oh yes they are! ). It was supposed to have a de-activation switch if you slide the back mounting cover off and use a screwdriver in this slot with arrows pointing to it. Except the switch wasn't there! There was nothing in that slot, I could see in with a flashlight. There was probably some plastic doohickey missing.

So I had no way to stop the chirping except to bust it open and remove the battery, permanently fixed to these metal clips. It was a Lithium battery, that looked like a short C cell battery.

This pissed me off and wasted my time (and now we have to get a new one and it will have more complicated OSD buttons and shit probably)

That'll teach ya That's how it often was in my previous house, it would take me a while to figure out which one was chirping. It's less of a problem in this small house. I read people having that problem with smoke detectors with non-removable batteries when they were EOL. They couldn't stop them from chirping unless they opened them up and sniped the speaker wires or something.