Smoke alarms and flat batteries

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gregmcc

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#131109 9-Oct-2013 14:39

Can someone please explain.........

We have 6 photoelectric good quality smoke alarms, we have had them for a number of years.

When the battery is going flat they let out a single loud pitched beep every minute to let us know they battery needs replacing.

I have noticed every single time that this beep only ever seems to happen at night, now I don't mean when it gets dark, or the evening, more than likely it's between 12am and 4am! why does this happen!

It takes usually several minutes to figure which one is beeping and it the middle of the night the piss off factor is pretty high.

timmmay

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#911405 9-Oct-2013 14:48

Voltage drop at low temperature. Change the batteries on the prescribed schedule and avoid the beeps altogether.

Bung

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#911406 9-Oct-2013 14:49

The battery voltage drops as it gets cooler.

If you still get the beep after changing battery some times the low battery flag in the alarm chip needs a forced reset. Google will give details.

kiwitrc

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#911440 9-Oct-2013 15:51

Before going to bed, light a small fire under them to keep them warm, or maybe buy some these http://homeimprovement.co.nz/shop/alarm-systems/cavius-10-year-smoke-detector/

chevrolux

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#911477 9-Oct-2013 16:29

The Chinese are trying to wear down our mental states.

ubergeeknz

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#911480 9-Oct-2013 16:32

kiwitrc: Before going to bed, light a small fire under them to keep them warm

Fantastic advise!! :) I had always wondered this same thing, why it's always 3am, but of course, temperature duh

gregmcc

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#911493 9-Oct-2013 16:50

I've taken to labeling the fitting date on the batteries so when I do the "yes the smoke detector is working" test I can make a judgement on if to replace the battery or not, but after 2 nights of broken sleep with 2 different detectors giving me the flat battery warning I'm getting quite grumpy. To top if off them wife pulls the "I'm too short to reach them!" at 3 in the morning when they are beeping - DOH!