Four years ago, our contractor installed System Sensor “smoke-automatic fire detector[s] with integral audible signal and heat detector[s] for open area protection,” model no. 2100RFADT, which are UL listed.
Recently, when one began to chirp, I replaced the two Panasonic Lithium CR123A 3V batteries with which it had been installed, with two Duracell Ultra 123 3V lithium batteries. The hardware store guy who sold me the new batteries (who seemed knowledgeable, but what do I know?) said I could ignore the warning printed on the detector’s back, “Replace both batteries with a Panasonic CR123A or Ademco 466 only… Use of another battery may present risk of fire or explosion…”
I thought, and he agreed, that this was basically just a way for Panasonic and/or Ademco to get people to buy their batteries, and that one lithium 9V battery is pretty much the same as any other.
Agree or disagree? Is there a genuine “risk of fire or explosion”?