Community Chat

[Still Raining]

I learned the hard way to replace batteries before they die.

Put your smoke alarms, door keypad, key fob, garage opener and etc on your calendar.  The cost of the batteries is less than the angst when they go.

[Zhills]

Don't know the difference but the ones I have always start giving out "occasional" beeps for a couple of days before the start it constantly!

Gives you time to change out the battery!

[sunshine45]

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@Still Raining wrote:

I learned the hard way to replace batteries before they die.

Put your smoke alarms, door keypad, key fob, garage opener and etc on your calendar.  The cost of the batteries is less than the angst when they go.

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@Still Raining 

the best way to remember it is to do it when you turn your clocks forward or back. 

[willowbark]

Right before my husband got sick and unable to climb a ladder he had changed our smoke detectors to ones that also detect carbon monoxide and they take 2 AA batteries x 6 detectors in our house. The batteries only last about 4-1/2 months and I keep a journal of when I replace all of them which is how I know what pitiful short duration they last.  My husband would have gotten rid of these had he known and yes hard wired. 

So it's me who does it, climbs a ladder as they are all on the ceiling and became very proficient at it but I hate it when they chirp in the middle of the night.   I change all of the them at the same time and make sure I always have batteries on hand which obviously gets expensive.  But, our insurance company requires smoke detectors and should there be a fire they will check on that before writing you a check.

[willowbark]

According to my last journal entry I replaced all of them 11/27/25 and so it will be soon that they will start chirping again. 

I will  not replace them before they chirp because AA batteries are much too expensive to not allow them to expire. 

I use 12 AA batteries for all 6 of our detectors.

[sunshine45]

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@willowbark wrote:

According to my last journal entry I replaced all of them 11/27/25 and so it will be soon that they will start chirping again. 

I will  not replace them before they chirp because AA batteries are much too expensive to not allow them to expire. 

I use 12 AA batteries for all 6 of our detectors.

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i buy my AA batteries from amazon and have had great luck with them. 100 packs are $23 to $25!

[willowbark]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

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@willowbark wrote:

According to my last journal entry I replaced all of them 11/27/25 and so it will be soon that they will start chirping again. 

I will  not replace them before they chirp because AA batteries are much too expensive to not allow them to expire. 

I use 12 AA batteries for all 6 of our detectors.

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i buy my AA batteries from amazon and have had great luck with them. 100 packs are $23 to $25!

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@sunshine45  thank you.  I have purchased from all over the place and the issue I had with Amazon is some were leaking and others not fully charged. When you purchase that many in bulk and their expiration date is supposedly around 10 years  it's hard to turn away from that deal, but I've been burned too many times by Amazon. Same reason I won't buy my printer ink from them. 

[willowbark]

@sunshine45  The short duration I'm getting from my smoke detectors I'm sure has  more  to do  with  the  smoke detectors  as I'm using  the AA batteries  from  the  same batch in my mouse and in my tv remote and they last longer.  

eta: when my husband retired he was going shopping at home depot without me and I had no idea what  he was buying and I would have questioned him because it clealy stated that  those took AA batteries.  He also "****** me off " when he changed out the front door locking mechanism which also took a total of 4 AA batteries which after he passed away I removed and instead use a key which of course came with it but he thought it was  more fun I guess to use a keypad that took 4 AA batteries.  No, it was not.  I love my husband and wish he was still here so he could undo this stuff.