How to replace old hard wired smoke detectors - easy DIY 

You have no idea how much you have just helped me. I am on my own with no one around me that remotely has a clue on how to do this. All of my female friends do the hand off to the men, and well...no reliable men around me right now. I thought I was going to have to pay someone to handle this for me....and then I found this video. GRATEFUL for life. Anyone who helps me feel more empowered is my hero. Thank you!

Man that was the best labeled breaker box I’ve ever seen lol

Straight to the point no extra BS video. This is what RU-vid needs to go back to. Thabks for the information.

Super helpful, moved into a condo that is 15 years old and I have those same exact models of old, dilapidated hardwired units (their ability to discolor IS uncanny!). One started chirping, which naturally meant they all started chirping, in a cycle… Given their ‘vintage,’ I didn’t even bother w/ replacing batteries-chalked it up to good housekeeping. Upgraded to CO + Smoke combo detectors for the added peace of mind. Was able to keep them hardwired after gaining self-confidence watching your walk-thru. Did them myself, saving some much-appreciated 💸. Thanks again!

EXACTLY what I was looking for! Had no idea how to upgrade my smoke detectors. Thank you very much!

Thank you for the helpful video. I had to change my old smoke detector for a state inspection at my condo, and I just completed the job with your video. 👍🏾

This was so incredibly helpful! My home is also just over 13 years old. I have the same smoke detectors and they, too, have turned that ugly yellow color. I will be changing all of mine out this weekend. Thanks again and BTW, I have a magic eraser sponge so I'm ready!

Great video, methodical explanation with step by step instructions 👍👍

Thank you, simple and direct to the point.

Excellent tutorial, covering everything from A to Z 👍👍

Getting rid of the old connector was tripping me up- thanks for including the how to! This was perfect

great simple video and demo. thanks. one started chirping even after replacing battery so they are original, 25 years old so will replace them all. TY

great video. i was able to replace my two smoke detectors. thank you.

Omg thank you so much. It's been years I've been listening to that darn chirping. Me and my kids just got used to it. I thought it's complicated but you showed me the easy way. Thanks again.

Great video...thanks for posting it! You get an award for the best looking circuit box too!

Thanks for sharing this wisdom .. I had no idea how to do this ... After watching this, planning to change mine over the weekend.

Easy to follow- Great instructions!!

Thank you so much for this! I’m pretty dumb when it comes to handyman stuff and this video made the job pretty easy even for me.

I just replaced my original smoke detectors (just like yours ) that are hardwired. My replacements that look the same as yours came with 3 different adaptor wires. One of them is triangle shaped and plugs right into the wires hanging from the ceiling and then you just plug the rectangle white piece into the new smoke detector. Screw it back onto the ring and you are done. Don't even need to disconnect power. I did discover that ALL of the detectors wired from room to room need to be replaced at the same time. If you leave one old one plugged in, the alarms will beep until you disconnect the old one and plug in a new one. I replaced the bedrooms but not the hallway. Once I did the middle hallway, everything worked fine.

Awesome instructions! Thank You for your help!

Good review. I’m getting ready to replace mine soon.

Excellent tutorial!! You have a great way of explaining and some interesting content.

Thanks man it is easier than I thought as I have never replaced them before and I need to do now with one that has the capability of Carbone detector.

That was very well done!! Thank you!

I am extremely grateful for you to take the time to create this video. 😢 thank you from the bottom of my heart and I hope you have a happy new year💝

This was very helpful thank you!

I don't have any smoke alarms to replace yet, but it's still satisfying to watch these things.

The best video out of all the ones I’ve watched.

Thank you so much!! About to switch from First Alert to Kidde and although you did the opposite this video will definitely come in useful! 🙏

Nice, easy to follow instructions thanks

Nice work. Thank you sir.

Helpful. thank you!

Great video! Thanks

Very good demo / thank you

Super awesome, thank you!

Gracias mi hermano. Excelente vídeo. Thank you so much.

Excellent demonstration. I wish other RU-vid DIY videos are like this- no unnecessary, useless talking. Thanks for posting it

Great video! I just replaced mine but I didn’t replace the wires. I just plugged the new smoke detector to old wires. It seems working!

Ours are pretty clean and new!

Thanks for the video. Very useful.

Great video! Much easier to change out the connector for the new smoke detector than I thought. Thanks!

Be sure to say "don't over tighten screws holding plastic ring to ceiling/wall" or it might crack. Also, when replacing a battery, observe the polarity (+ -) marks or it won't fit inside.

Wow, this was so helpful! Thank you so much!!

Great video! You should make sure there's also a Carbon Monoxide Alarm in every level (Including the Basement and outside of sleeping areas

Great video! Now I can do this myself. Thank you.😊

Thankyou so much!! I did it, and feel good i accomplished it..Thanks to you. 😉

thanks ! got a new set on order

Thank you I know what to do now. This would have been my husband's job if he was still alive. I feel a lot more comfortable now.

Thank you very helpful

Super helpful thank you !

Awesome 👏 thank you

Great video

Finally someone that this vid right. Thank you for posting, ran through like 4 yahoos that talked about dum stuff for minutes then showed you nothing important other then how to drill holes..

Before buying a new alarm, make sure to take out the battery and unplug it then press the button to clear out the memory. It still chirped with a new battery until I did that.

I have two of these fire alarms. My house was built in 1986. These are the fire alarms that were install during the construction of the complex. They are still working fine The Firex FX1020 is a great product but they're ugly.

Thank You! Would a good Final test of the system be to pull out the adapter on one smoke alarm to make sure the remaining attached smoke alarms go off?

Thankyou so much, mine are about 30 years old, I will challenge this soon.

ya def save me there i almost started without turning the corrwct breaker off but lucky i dont mess with wires unless im a 100% sure is off but still i didnt know the breakbox had a breaker for the smokes detects.

Hey I purchased a replacement smoke alarms that are compatible with my old ones (New ones are BRK 7010B) and they are identical to the old ones, I came with the same pigtail that you showed, but I didn’t use it. Instead I just plugged it to the existing wires. The smoke alarm is connected properly with the green light. Do you think I should still replace the old pigtail with the new?

Thank you so much

Thank you for this video! Did I miss the part where you VERIFIED the power was off to those wires before you touched them? :-?

Can you use the existing wires of the old smoke detector and just swap out the old detector & bracket with the new? I replaced the old one which was a hard wired BRK 4919 with a First Alert 9120B because it was chirping most likely due to end of life since there was no backup battery. I didn't swap any wires. However, afterwards it was still chirping between the 3 hallway detectors on the first and 2nd floor. I proceeded to replace the backup batteries while shutting off the circuit breaker despite them being new. I was sure to bleed any remaining charge in the unit before reinstalling the batteries and turning back on the power. Despite this, I'm still getting the chirp. What do you think I did wrong? Question, if one battery is low will all units chirp if they are connected or will only the problem unit(s) chirp?

Still a great video in 2024...thanks!

Great video! I have a question, Do I have to replace the wire? Couldn't I just connect to the already installed adapter if it fits? Thanks!

Great tutorial! One question: What if you have a yellow wire instead of a red one? Does the yellow serve the same purpose as the red?

what screws and screw holes are being used here? are the screws supposed to go into the screw holes in the electrical box, or separate holes in the drywall?

I’ve seen some houses with 10+ year old detectors that were still white colored.

Very helpful. Thanks so much! 71 yr old female DIYer.

The UV light actually doesn't have anything to do with the discoloration, they put special chemicals in the plastic to let you know that it's time to change it.

I would do mine myself but I would need someone to hook up the extra smoke and heat alarms to the box since the last owners didn't bother getting it done

What happens if you don't have a smoke detector breaker? Do you turn off all power?

you got very lucky, in florida the code is that the smoke detectors cannot be on one circuit or everyone would just turn them off.

I have white, yellow, and black wires so would the yellow just goto the red?

Could I unplug the wire from the smoke detector with the electrical on? My wired smoke alarm is malfunctioning and keeps going off. I need to temporarily shut it off. I have a battery operated detector as backup.

Unfortunately, the distance between the ceiling mounting screws is not always the same from old to new. The red signal wire voltages should be compatible between brands, so you can, in theory, mix and match various other types of detectors (e.g carbon monoxide), and only replace those that are necessary. Nevertheless, changing all alarms to at least the same brand may be prudent. Some states mandate that the smoke alarms share power with lights in one of the bedrooms, in order to encourage people not to turn off a dedicated smoke alarm breaker. Hopefully it will be labelled appropriately on the breaker box, otherwise you may have to switch power off each bedroom until the alarms green lights go out. In most cases, this video shows exactly what most people need to know.

And they work pretty well but there is one with the crack down the hallway

Do you turn your power off before you do the electrical?

Questions, can I leave the red one alone, since I am only have black and red wire???

Can you reuse the existing pigtail if you are replacing with the same exact smoke detector?

Do You Still Have The Smoke Alarms? Because I Really Need Them For What I Am Making

I changed one of my smoke detector and all the other smoke detectors went off once connected. Do I need to reset the other detectors or is there another possible reason they alarm once thee new smoke detector is connected?

Man your house looks NICEEEE what year is it?

I have 3 kidde kn-cosm-ba And 5 kidde i4618ac

That second one looks like it got pooped on, seriously though thank you for this information.

I'd get a SC7010B for every level

Looks easy when he does it 🤪

You could have gone from that Kidde to the first alert without rewiring with the included wiring adapters

You should replace them with nest protects

We have an old one in our house and wants to Blue Moon it does a really literally loud Rain Sound and I me really loud like a fire alarm is really bad I really don't know how to disconnect the damn thing

your smoke alarms went to the beach and got a tan, LOL

BRK brands smoke detector that's the one I have mine's a photoelectric smoke detector without voice

Another thing is to make sure that all of your smoke alarms are the same brand (this doesn’t apply to battery only units)

Why did the instructions with my smoke detector say to not hook up the red wire?

Kidde Smoke Alarm Model 1276

Mine had 4 wires , black, white , brown and green or blue

My chalet is almost 19 year

I thought the hardwired pigtail was a universal plug to connect the new alarms.

I'm replacing some that are over 30yrs old.

If chirping did not stop even you change batteries you need to change whole set.

Am I the only one who hates hardwired smoke detectors? For some reason, in the 2 houses we had them, they start chirping in the middle of the night. FOR NO REASON! Less than 2 years old both times. So I took them all out and replaced them w/ independent ones and haven't had anymore problems.