Battery in Smoke Detector dies in the middle of the night, always happens!

[Third Stone]

It always seems to happen that the battery dies in these things between 1am to 5am. I've got about 4-5 in my house so one of them starts chirping that the battery is dying about every 8 months......always in the middle of the night! Anyone else notice this? Quirky and annoying, and my dogs think it's a giant, deadly chipmonk!

[offbeat]

I've gotten into the habit of changing the batteries every six months... at the Daylight Savings Time changeover.
Then I test the old batteries, and the good ones get used in my tuner!

[Rattles]

LOL I've often wondered that myself. Why can't the battery die in the middle of the day?

Many years ago my husband was out of town for several days....smoke detector goes off in the middle of the night. I freak out, jump out of bed and start flipping on lights, sniffing around like a hound dog. NOTHING! By then my heart is pounding so hard that I can't sleep. Next day I go out and buy new batteries, install them in the smoke detector. Go to sleep that night, smoke detector goes off again!! After that I told my husband he wasn't allowed to ever go out of town again!!

[fuzz_factor]

Mine went off in the middle of the night once. It's weird that these things sound the Red Alert when the battery dies. I woke up so groggy and disoriented that I started fumbling around with a space heater wondering why it was making so much noise. This was in the summer, so the heater was turned off.

Finally figured out that it was the fire alarm, couldn't get the thing apart and literally ripped it out of the wall. I understand the theory behind chirping when the battery is dying, but wailing a total false alarm? Seems kind of like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. And the fact that the smoke detector just dangled there useless for months certainly didn't keep me any safer.

[Jim S]

Happened twice last week to us: 10pm and 4am.

[reeced]

It always seems to happen that the battery dies in these things between 1am to 5am.

Temperature related ? i.e. your house is coolest at this time.
Batteries are less efficient at lower temperatures.

[Tonemeister69]

Mine are connected to the mains. Batteries are for backup only.

[soldersucker]

You are 100% right i'm a firefighter and those bastards never fail before 1 am! We show up with fresh batteries and get back to bed(UM work) ASAP.

[89Custom]

Temperature related ? i.e. your house is coolest at this time.
Batteries are less efficient at lower temperatures.
Yes, this is probably the reason.

[JoeB63]

Mine are connected to the mains. Batteries are for backup only.

Mine too --- but they still start beeping when the (backup) batteries run low ----- and it always happens in the middle of the night.

[trisonic]

Mine too --- but they still start beeping when the (backup) batteries run low ----- and it always happens in the middle of the night.
Thats right they chirp - and there is nothing you can do about until you replace every battery....
My problem was one was fitted obscurely in an airing cupboard and I didn't know it existed.
Best, Pete.

[Last]

Ours went off in (the middle of the night of course) but it wasn't the battery.

Dust had gotten into it & was tricking the sensor into thinking there was a fire.

So.... 2 fire trucks 3 police cars & an ambulance that was turned around once they evaluated what was 'really' going on.

Fun stuff.... NOT!

[Third Stone]

yup the temperature theory makes sense...

[nitehawk55]

I guess that's why they say to change them once a year....usually in the fall when daylight savings time ends .

Also.....cell phones tend to do that too if you have left them on .

[Luke]

I always heard you are to change the batteries when you change your clocks, twice a year to avoid not only this issue but as a safety precaution. No rule against reusing the batteries elsewhere if they still have life in them.