Smoke Detector False Alarm

cseyer · 07-10-09, 08:33 AM

Late last night the smoke detectors in my house went off several times. They are the type that are hard wired to power and together, so one goes off they all go off. They also have 9v battery backup. I gave up trying to figure out what was going on and pull the 10 detectors off the ceiling and took out their batteries after the 4th or 5th time they went off. As far as I can tell there is no way to tell which detector is tripping and causing them all to beep? So the only way I can figure to troubleshoot is to hook them up one at a time and wait for a false alarm? Any other ideas on how to figure out which detector is bad? I really dont want to replace all of them...

Mrs. Danger · 07-10-09, 09:01 AM

Too much steamy sex going on at your place?

Mopower · 07-10-09, 09:05 AM

I hate those cock sucking ones that are powered and have a battery backup. My girlfriends old apartment had 3 of these. One started beeping every 3 goddamn minutes because the battery needed to be replaced. I didn't have another 9v battery and it was 1am. The only way to get it to shut up was the drive to a gas station and buy a 9v battery for the piece of shit. I'd rather die in a fire than hear this ear peircing BEEP! all night long.

DirkUSA · 07-10-09, 09:11 AM

I have the same ones and they "knock on wood" haven't gone off in a long time. I had the same problem you had once and I replaced all the 9v suckers and it fixed the problem. Since then, over 2 years now, they didn't go off and we even lost power for 5 days once last year. The original batteries lasted 4 years so I think I will change batteries again soon.

Dirk

cseyer · 07-10-09, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Danger

Too much steamy sex going on at your place?

Not it

cseyer · 07-10-09, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirkUSA

I have the same ones and they "knock on wood" haven't gone off in a long time. I had the same problem you had once and I replaced all the 9v suckers and it fixed the problem. Since then, over 2 years now, they didn't go off and we even lost power for 5 days once last year. The original batteries lasted 4 years so I think I will change batteries again soon.

Dirk

Batteries are fresh Duracells not more than 3 months ago. They are not doing the infrequent beep signaling low battery but randomly alarming for 5 - 30 seconds. Really not good for sleeping

D.Pham00 · 07-10-09, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopower

I hate those cock sucking ones that are powered and have a battery backup. My girlfriends old apartment had 3 of these. One started beeping every 3 goddamn minutes because the battery needed to be replaced. I didn't have another 9v battery and it was 1am. The only way to get it to shut up was the drive to a gas station and buy a 9v battery for the piece of shit. I'd rather die in a fire than hear this ear peircing BEEP! all night long.

PopcornTreeCt · 07-10-09, 10:45 AM

I have the same issue with smoke alarms in my place. I just took them all out.

DirkUSA · 07-10-09, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

I have the same issue with smoke alarms in my place. I just took them all out.

I do hope you live alone.

cseyer · 07-10-09, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

I have the same issue with smoke alarms in my place. I just took them all out.

Yikes not an option. Cant see taking that risk with small children in the house.

Deftones · 07-10-09, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopower

I hate those cock sucking ones that are powered and have a battery backup. My girlfriends old apartment had 3 of these. One started beeping every 3 goddamn minutes because the battery needed to be replaced. I didn't have another 9v battery and it was 1am. The only way to get it to shut up was the drive to a gas station and buy a 9v battery for the piece of shit. I'd rather die in a fire than hear this ear peircing BEEP! all night long.

you realize that most powered ones you can unplug because they have a simple harness wiring mechanism. would've been just as easy to do that than to drive to the store.

Mopower · 07-10-09, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deftones

you realize that most powered ones you can unplug because they have a simple harness wiring mechanism. would've been just as easy to do that than to drive to the store.

Most but not including this one. Or I didn't notice it at the time. Being half awake and all.

bdshort · 07-10-09, 02:47 PM

Please please please don't disconnect your smoke alarms. If they're beeping and you've changed the batteries, which you should do every 6 months BTW, then just replace the thing. They're not expensive, especially when you consider they could save your life.

CPA-ESQ. · 07-10-09, 04:07 PM

The same thing happened to me - the f'n thing started chirping because of "low battery" at 2am! you would think it would chirp once every 8 hours or something,,, but noooo every 15 minutes. I grabbed a chair and tore that thing off the harness..

I was so pissed - because I got myself all worked up - had to drag a chair into the bedroom. Why couldn't they just put a light on the thing? it is hard wired.

needless to say - I was so pissed at it - that it took me a year to put in a new battery and hook it back up.

Mrs. Danger · 07-10-09, 04:10 PM

Get some battery powered ones, put them up, and disconnect the wired in ones.

Deftones · 07-10-09, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mopower

Most but not including this one. Or I didn't notice it at the time. Being half awake and all.

must be an older model. even the hardwired ones today, which my house has, have a simple clip harness that you can disconnect.

PopcornTreeCt · 07-10-09, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirkUSA

I do hope you live alone.

Just my brother and I.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cseyer

Yikes not an option. Cant see taking that risk with small children in the house.

Meh, it's not a big house. I think I'd be able to smell smoke quick enough if anything were to happen.

Deftones · 07-10-09, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

Meh, it's not a big house. I think I'd be able to smell smoke quick enough if anything were to happen.

Unless you are asleep and begin to suffocate on the smoke before you wake up.

greg9x · 07-10-09, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

Just my brother and I.

Meh, it's not a big house. I think I'd be able to smell smoke quick enough if anything were to happen.

There are thousands of dead people who thought the same thing...

You sure it's not a combination smoke/carbon monoxide detector ? Could be alarming on the CO...you feel sick or sleepy ?

cseyer · 07-10-09, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg9x

There are thousands of dead people who thought the same thing...

You sure it's not a combination smoke/carbon monoxide detector ? Could be alarming on the CO...you feel sick or sleepy ?

Im sure they are smoke only detectors. And yes I felt sleepy it was the middle of the night

kenbuzz · 07-10-09, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

Meh, it's not a big house. I think I'd be able to smell smoke quick enough if anything were to happen.

one "Meh" is all it takes. See ya in the afterlife.

bye-bye

PopcornTreeCt · 07-10-09, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg9x

There are thousands of dead people who thought the same thing...

Probably. There's no kind of gas in the house. Sure, there could be electricity fires. The fire alarms are such a pain in the house it was easier to get rid of them.

kenbuzz · 07-10-09, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cseyer

Late last night the smoke detectors in my house went off several times. They are the type that are hard wired to power and together, so one goes off they all go off. They also have 9v battery backup. I gave up trying to figure out what was going on and pull the 10 detectors off the ceiling and took out their batteries after the 4th or 5th time they went off. As far as I can tell there is no way to tell which detector is tripping and causing them all to beep? So the only way I can figure to troubleshoot is to hook them up one at a time and wait for a false alarm? Any other ideas on how to figure out which detector is bad? I really dont want to replace all of them...

Bridlewood Represent!

It's likely that exactly one of them is bad. I would hook HALF of them up and wait 2-3 hours. If no alarms, that half is good, and you can then hook up HALF of the remaining ones. Continue by halves until you get an alarm.... the bad detector is in the half you just added. Remove half of those and wait another 2-3. You can narrow it down to the specific detector in 4 steps or so - much quicker than "add one and wait".

If you get NO false alarms, then the problem is likely a short in one of the harnesses, and you probably "fixed" it by monkeying around with it.

PS - Which models do you have - odds are we have the same ones. My boy freaks out at the intermittent chirps when the batteries need replacing. Can't imagine how much fun it would be if the alarms were all tripping, but you clearly can't live without them hooked up.

kenbuzz · 07-10-09, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

Probably. There's no kind of gas in the house. Sure, there could be electricity fires. The fire alarms are such a pain in the house it was easier to get rid of them.

cseyer · 07-10-09, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenbuzz

Bridlewood Represent!

It's likely that exactly one of them is bad. I would hook HALF of them up and wait 2-3 hours. If no alarms, that half is good, and you can then hook up HALF of the remaining ones. Continue by halves until you get an alarm.... the bad detector is in the half you just added. Remove half of those and wait another 2-3. You can narrow it down to the specific detector in 4 steps or so - much quicker than "add one and wait".

If you get NO false alarms, then the problem is likely a short in one of the harnesses, and you probably "fixed" it by monkeying around with it.

PS - Which models do you have - odds are we have the same ones. My boy freaks out at the intermittent chirps when the batteries need replacing. Can't imagine how much fun it would be if the alarms were all tripping, but you clearly can't live without them hooked up.

BRK Electronics and one USI Electronics. I did read on the back of the BRK's that you can tell by looking at the red led which one is alarming so they are all hooked back up waiting on the false alarm which wont happen until my guess about 2am

07-10-09, 08:33 AM	#1
cseyer Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Bloomington, IN Posts: 817	Smoke Detector False Alarm Late last night the smoke detectors in my house went off several times. They are the type that are hard wired to power and together, so one goes off they all go off. They also have 9v battery backup. I gave up trying to figure out what was going on and pull the 10 detectors off the ceiling and took out their batteries after the 4th or 5th time they went off. As far as I can tell there is no way to tell which detector is tripping and causing them all to beep? So the only way I can figure to troubleshoot is to hook them up one at a time and wait for a false alarm? Any other ideas on how to figure out which detector is bad? I really dont want to replace all of them... __________________ My DVD's

07-10-09, 09:01 AM	#2
Mrs. Danger DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: May 2005 Location: With Nick Danger Posts: 9,400	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm Too much steamy sex going on at your place? __________________ The Bus: Mrs. Danger is wise. Ignore her at your own peril. www.unseengallery.com

07-10-09, 09:05 AM	#3
Mopower DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: The Janitor's closet in Kinnick Stadium Posts: 15,382	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm I hate those cock sucking ones that are powered and have a battery backup. My girlfriends old apartment had 3 of these. One started beeping every 3 goddamn minutes because the battery needed to be replaced. I didn't have another 9v battery and it was 1am. The only way to get it to shut up was the drive to a gas station and buy a 9v battery for the piece of shit. I'd rather die in a fire than hear this ear peircing BEEP! all night long. __________________ http://www.twitter.com/andrewveedub

07-10-09, 09:11 AM	#4
DirkUSA Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Upstate NY Posts: 473	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm I have the same ones and they "knock on wood" haven't gone off in a long time. I had the same problem you had once and I replaced all the 9v suckers and it fixed the problem. Since then, over 2 years now, they didn't go off and we even lost power for 5 days once last year. The original batteries lasted 4 years so I think I will change batteries again soon. Dirk __________________ http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/TheDarkKnight

07-10-09, 10:45 AM	#8
PopcornTreeCt DVD Talk Legend Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 15,144	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm I have the same issue with smoke alarms in my place. I just took them all out. __________________

07-10-09, 02:47 PM	#13
bdshort DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: The Last Frontier Posts: 3,648	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm Please please please don't disconnect your smoke alarms. If they're beeping and you've changed the batteries, which you should do every 6 months BTW, then just replace the thing. They're not expensive, especially when you consider they could save your life. __________________ PSN: bdshort

07-10-09, 04:07 PM	#14
CPA-ESQ. DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Jul 1999 Posts: 3,395	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm The same thing happened to me - the f'n thing started chirping because of "low battery" at 2am! you would think it would chirp once every 8 hours or something,,, but noooo every 15 minutes. I grabbed a chair and tore that thing off the harness.. I was so pissed - because I got myself all worked up - had to drag a chair into the bedroom. Why couldn't they just put a light on the thing? it is hard wired. needless to say - I was so pissed at it - that it took me a year to put in a new battery and hook it back up.

07-10-09, 04:10 PM	#15
Mrs. Danger DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: May 2005 Location: With Nick Danger Posts: 9,400	Re: Smoke Detector False Alarm Get some battery powered ones, put them up, and disconnect the wired in ones. __________________ The Bus: Mrs. Danger is wise. Ignore her at your own peril. www.unseengallery.com