1 Message
Smoke Detector: disable Low Battery chirp
I know, we're supposed to clean them monthly to avoid False alarms, IMHO that is not the issue. I think it's a low battery issue. If they are designed like most old style SD, they chirp when the battery is low. I think this chirp is triggering an alarm. Because, the SD is not blaring when I am awakened in the middle of the night by SS, just the siren.
I have two separate systems and it happens on both systems, which got me to thinking about the low battery chirp as a possible cause for the false alarms. On the most recent false alarm, I tested the old and new batteries, new - 3.2V, 9+amps, old - 3V, 5+ amps.
I've never had a 9 volt smoke detector that gave me a false alarm for dust and dirt or have I ever cleaned one in my 50 some years of home ownership.
If my theory is correct, take the low battery chirp out and give us a low battery warning light that doesn't trigger a SS phone call in the middle of the night.
Official Solution
davey_d
Community Admin
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5.7K Messages
2 months ago
Hi @harrymcb ,
So if I have this right, your theory is that the low battery chirp from the Smoke Detector is what's triggering an alarm, and not the Smoke Detector itself actually detecting something.
The only component that could do that would be the Glass Break Sensor. And even then, that component is designed specifically for the sound for smashing windows (a low-pitched thud followed by a high-pitched crash), so a chirping sound shouldn't have been able to set it off.
Since you mention a phone call, that means your system is connected to Monitoring. Which also means that your alarms are being recorded in your Timeline event log. Can you see what it says for that particular event? It should tell you exactly which component (type and name) triggered the alarm.
Regarding your specific request - our Smoke Detectors, apart from being able to connect to the SimpliSafe system, essentially the same as any smoke detector you might find at your local hardware store. And as such, they're governed by very specific standards. So a change in this functionality may not be possible, but I'll be sure to bring it up with our engineering team.
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captain11
Captain
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6K Messages
2 months ago
@harrymcb Anything is possible, but I, and dozens of others that I know, have the smoke sensors and there are no false alarms, even when the battery is low. (Yes, they do chirp). I clean mine every other month with compressed air cans and no issues. Have you used the batteries SS recommends? (Panasonic). I use them when I can, but have used Duracell too, and with no issues. Have you called SS support?
Please note when I first set up my SS2 system I didn't read the owners manual, and after two false alarms (luckily we were home for both) my wife insisted I read the "damn" manual. Go to present and it takes me about 10 minutes (if that) to clean my six smoke sensors. The SS3 units have worked perfectly since 2017 and just installed one of the combo smoke/CO units about 3 months ago.
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