It’s been over a year after changing our smoke detector batteries so I did this a couple of days ago. There were 7 smokes and 1 carbon monoxide needing battery replacement. I had to haul out the biggest ladder we have to reach the ceilings. I remember this chore being difficult but I forgot exactly why.
Part of the reason is that 4 smoke detectors required AA batteries and 3 required 9V batteries. We had enough AA but now we’re running low, because I bought packs of 9V.
I took pictures of the process because I never remember how to get the battery covers off. Some models are easier than others. YouTube videos are not that helpful, in my opinion. I call this photo presentation what I used to call most of my lectures to residents and medical students about consultation-liaison psychiatry—the Dirty Dozen, because there are a dozen slides.
The biggest hassle is hauling around the ladder. The most puzzling part is getting up the nerve to just jimmy the battery cover open on one model, which I highlighted with photos. It’s not as hard as it looks and if Sena hadn’t been out in the garden, and I’d thought of making a video, I’d have done that.
The troublesome model, at least for me, was the First Alert Model 3120B. It has a tricky battery door. By trial and error, I found it easy to just pry the door open (which then just slides out) with a flat head screw driver after using the screwdriver to pry the ceiling electrical connector from the smoke detector base. And maybe I should not have done that without turning off the power at the circuit breaker, according to the installation manual which I didn’t have at the time. Click the link and scroll down to see the pdf manual.
The challenge is removing the plastic connector plug from the base of the smoke detector if you decide to free the base from the ceiling. The wires between the ceiling to the base are often pretty short, making it a challenge to jimmy the battery door open when you’re up on a ladder. The side of the plug with the 3 holes fits over the 3 posts in the base.
The two little white posts, as near as I can figure from the manual, are locking pins to prevent anybody from twisting off and removing the base. You’d have to break small tabs to remove the locking pins from the storage slot on the back of the base and jam them in the base (to prevent theft of the battery or the alarm itself?). I never knew about them until I read the manual. I’m not sure why you’d need to use them in a single-family home.
The other thing I found out from reading the manual is that if you want to remove the electrical plug connector from the base, you should “turn the power off.” Oops. I did not do that, although I didn’t get bit. The one YouTube I found on the web recommended disconnecting it just to make the job of replacing batteries easier, but I don’t recall any mention of turning off the power before doing that.
I also don’t recall any trouble getting the battery compartment door open or disconnecting the electrical connector last year. It was easier to open while holding it in my lap as I jimmied the door open. It slid out easily only after I did that.
You stick a flat head screwdriver blade between the edges of the plastic plug with the holes and the base with the 3 posts. Jiggle the blade into this narrow slot to loosen it. Then you can pull it out of the holes. The base is now free from the ceiling and you can work on it when you get down from the ladder. Follow the instructions in the Dirty Dozen.
You could try to jimmy the door until you can slide it out while you’re up on the ladder if you choose not to release the plug from the base. Good luck. On the other hand, you can then see why there are two tabs you have to push from the back so the batteries are easier to remove from the base. Replacing the batteries takes more dexterity. You’d be working from an upside-down orientation and you might drop the batteries.
Most of the YouTubes focus on how easy it is to rotate the whole unit until it comes loose from the ceiling attachment, then lift, push, pull, and curse a little tiny plastic retainer in order to open the battery door which swings out. We have a couple of those. The rest are the difficult type.
On the other hand, the First Alert Model 3120B focuses on making the homeowner scratch his/her head. I got stuck on trying to pry the right side of the battery door but was only able to open it was by prying it from the left. It then slid straight out.
When I do this next year, I’ll avoid disconnecting anything from the ceiling without turning off the power first.
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