How to stop a chirping smoke detector. Remove, install and replace a new battery (9 volt battery) in a First Alert plug in smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector. First Alert Model No. 9120B First Alert 9120B
Mannnnnn that’s exactly what I was saying. Like get to the point. We understand that you’re pissed, that the chirping woke you up, in the middle of the night geesh 😂 all that talking for NOTHING.
People come to a site like this for help, not for a comedy show. A total time of 3:05 could have be completed in under a minute. Your assistance was greatly appreciated and worked, next time leave it at that.
Total lifesaver... this thing almost was on its way to being under my foot in a thousand pieces on the floor... great video! saved me from having to buying a new detector.
And here I am at 2:11am about ready to pitch the damn thing in to the street because I couldn't figure out how to get the damn battery out! Everyone loves tall ceilings, until you have to change a smoke detector battery in the middle of the night! You said it, "Hell hath no fury! I know it sucks having to be the pathfinder for all of us following in your footsteps, but I am very grateful you posted. I agree with Robert, "Total lifesaver!"
The only thing missing is how to position the battery in the little drawer when you FINALLY are ready to put a new one in. 😮 We had to fiddle around with it so I took a pic for future reference. I would post it if I could figure out how ....
Life saver!! When these dumb detectors started failing (I have 3 that went around the same time after I purchased my new home), the constant random chirping drove me crazy. I tried opening one with a screwdriver b/c the main latch wasn't working, and it wouldn't open. I broke one of them before coming to RU-vid to see what others had to say. Great video and helped me save the remaining 2 dectors.
Your instructions were helpful. After figuring out that the + Positive terminal must go into the battery drawer facing the inside of the detector I managed to squeeze the 9 V battery into that weird curved compartment (for a rectangular battery!?) and closed the battery door and put the detector back up into it's base...BUT the damn thing was STILL chirping every 30 seconds! So I gave up and sat down and then, about 5 minutes later, I suddenly realized that I'm not hearing the loud chirping any more! So thankfully I then realized that the chirping doesn't cease immediately (at least not on this model First Alert smoke detector) and it takes 2 or 3 minutes after you install a new battery until it finally, finally stops! That's a little fact that nobody ever tells us.
I believe these things can actually kill a person. I am 75 years old, overweight with poor eyesight. I live alone. Every time the smoke detector chirps it is always late at night, like between 12 and 3am. I am not too steady on my ladder and much less so at that one of the night in y nightgown and bunny slippers. It is no easy chore getting the ladder from the garage and trying to change the battery while still groggy from sleep. I have almost fallen off the ladder more than once performing this athletic maneuver. I am looking for a quality, reliable 10 year battery to replace in my smoke detectors. I figure I could be dead by 85 or perhaps deaf so the chirping would not even bother me. Any suggestions? Please, I don’t want the cheap China battery I bought for my leaf blower that lasted 3 months.
Thanks for telling us about the battery compartment pin that keeps us from opening the battery compartment. Otherwise I wasn’t sure how to get the old battery out without breaking the plastic door.
Thank you! My little doggy was going nuts with the chirping, which started of course, while I got into what was supposed to be a long got shower. I cannot fathom why they made it so complicated to open and install the new one.
Lmaoo I am watching this in the middle of the night thank you so much for this video because I was literally just about to break it. They built it that way on purpose so that we could all go crazy and just buy a new one 🤦🏻♀️
This is so crazy. I opened one and a little piece of plastic broke. I actually broke the little pin and I didn't realize it. Then I realized that it was the other smoke detector that was beeping... but I couldn't figure out what I did right the first time as I forced it open.😅 This video surely helped me because I just simply pulled the pin out.. Thank you!!!
Dude you are hilarious. I was so aggravated and you made me laugh out loud. I think the engineers of these godforsaken devices are evil dwarves from hell.
Yeah, thanks for adding a little humor to my early morning...at 2:35 am this morning, I heard the familiar chirp chirp chirp...I had to stand under four different ones to find it! I got it down okay and as you said no way to open it! My problem is there was no pin! What bright person thought this up? And of course I did not have a 9 v battery, but every other type, and I had just donated a brand new detector that had been in my cabinet for a decade. So, with nothing to lose, I took a screwdriver to it and managed to have my way with it, and it opened without breaking anything! I went ahead and closed it, since the detectors are all 15 years old anyway and I would just buy another as I am so irritated...but it opened back up! At least your video allowed me to see the problem right away, and that it wasn't ME! Glad I choose yours first! On with my day as I am wide awake now! Thank you!!!
Thank you!!!! I'm not alone. It's brand new, purchased today. When i tried pulling out the tab in order to activate it, the tab got stuck half-way out and i can't remove it, thus prompting me to try to open the compartment. Ugh! Plus, , as soon as i activated it, it started chirping 1x every min, indicating the battery needs replacing. It's going back and I'm getting a Kiddie or something else. Thanks for your video. Misery loves company.
I appreciate you soooooooo much! This helped me get mine open so I could swap out the battery. 😱 so funny that both of mine started chirping at the exact same time. We had lightening last night really close, so I wonder if something was affected.
Sir, you are a man after my own heart! Even a comment about those (fucking) engineers! A thousand humble thank-yous to you. This is better than the second coming 😅
Great instructional video. Great sense of humor while saving someone like me from going bananas. I would have broken it if not for your video. Thanks!!
These damn things go off at the worst time at night like it was said 3ish am. Had two at the same time and didn’t know about that pin in the back till watching this. The contractor should of took those out and left them out to make it easy on the homeowner. Either way I finally got them changed out and will keep a 4 foot ladder and new batteries in the house. I keep them in good condition so too my daughter likes candles in her room
Love the video, you helped us get rid of the chirping, but HOW DO YOU PUT THE STUPID REPLACEMENT 9V BACK INTO THE BAY??? I'm going insane with this stupid device!
apparently: the + Positive terminal must go into the battery drawer facing the inside of the detector. then you just slide the bay closed and the battery automatically makes the required contacts.
thank you! the pin on my model was even smaller than yours and I had to use the sharp point of a knife to pull it out. talk about being counter intuitive....
Aha I am the husband and the wife in my home having a 2 way dialogue with myself at 3am when two of these went off. One saying ignore it go back to bed. And the other, find a video and make it stop 😂
One of life's mysteries, they always go at night, thanks for the help. I don't have the pin, the door won't open far enough to get the battery out, who makes something like this.
Great video on being disillusioned with a plastic pin, which somebody installed after the first battery was installed. PS. Thanks for NOT showing how the actual battery is put into the device.
3:56 am here. JC thank you for the video. I have been getting very upset trying to end my torment. I appreciate your providing this. Can anyone get me the names of the engineers who designed this evil device?
@@Jcollegio from the instructions on their website, it seems that the pin is designed for apartment when you don't want your tenant to remove the battery. That really sucks though...
I thought I needed to take the whole thing apart to get the battery changed..I'm use to plugging the connector on the 9v battery and the way the old battery came out with no connector made me think the battery was maybe a spare
If you read the manual the pin can be installed in rental property to keep tenants from disabling it. The pin is not installed in the one I bought. It can be pried off the base and used if you want to.
Yep, failed at 1530 hours during an arctic blast during a power outage when it was 10° outside & just slightly warmer inside & the ceiling is 10' & it's an already precarious situation. Who are the guys that designed this!?
Im pretty sure that pin is suppose to be removed when they install the smoke detector, i have this exact same model in my home & none of them have the plastic pin in it. The folks that installed those in your home either didn't know what they were doin or they did it on purpose to mess with the homeowner when they replace the batteries. Anyway you should remove those pins in the rest of the smoke detectors in your home that way you can replace the batteries in the future without even removing the fixture from the wall they made those so you can replace the battery as it is mounted on the wall once those pins are out you can pop open the battery compartment no need to unlatch the detector and definitely no need to pull out the wire harness.
The pin is a locking device that’s for multi family homes to keep people from tampering with the device. Just take the pin out and leave it out. Problem solved
Ok but how do you put a new battery in? I can’t remember how I removed the old one and I can’t figure it out 😅. I put it in and the test buttons not working.
Your 1/3rd failure rate between 10pm and 6am is incorrect. Unfortunately it's closer to 99%. By design. I didn't even know I had one of these until it started chirping at 3:15am. Unfortunately, the battery replacement didn't work. I don't know if I have a bad batch or if something else is broken (it has a screen and said "BAT" on it, I doubt it's referring the flying ones or the baseball ones), so I had to unplug the thing entirely until I can find a new battery. If I never comment again on RU-vid, you can guess why.
But HOW do you pull the pin out? The instructions on the back of the device say "to discard battery remove pin from under this label." So I had to scratch away at the label to reveal the pin, but the pin is completely flush in the device. HOW can you grab it to pull it out?
OMG... So after about 20 minutes going at this stupid freaking thing with the smallest flat head screwdriver I have, I was FINALLY able to pry out that stupid freaking pointless pin. And, yes, as everyone else has mentioned... Middle of the night... I swear they program these things to go off at that time. 🙄😒
If you replace using this SC9120B, I highly suggest you dig the plastic pin out BEFORE you replace the unit...so that years down the road when it starts chirping demanding a new backup battery, you can EASILY open the battery door and not have to DIG the PIN OUT later! C'mon First Alert, do away with the stupid plastic locking pin, you have a LATCH there!
