# Smoke detector chirping but no battery

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-detector-chirping-but-no-battery/425859>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-detector-chirping-but-no-battery/425859 "2007-11-10T01:29:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-detector-chirping-but-no-battery/425859/1 "2007-11-10T01:29:48Z")

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I have a smoke detector that went off last week when I was broiling some ribs in the oven and thinks got a little smokey. After it stopped, it continued to chirp every minute or two for a while. It stopped. Tonight it started again, goes for an hour so, then stops.

I opened it to change the battery but there is no battery, it’s hard-wired into the house wiring.

What else can make the thing chirp like that?

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**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-detector-chirping-but-no-battery/425859/2 "2007-11-10T01:41:55Z")

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Is there a battery compartment? Some detectors se AC power but they have a battery backup in case the power fails. It would chirp if the battery was low, dead or missing.

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**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smoke-detector-chirping-but-no-battery/425859/3 "2007-11-10T01:50:03Z")

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It can go off if the sensors are grungy, or if there is a problem with another detector on the same circuit, or if it has an internal back-up battery… I found lots of answers about mine just by googling the maker’s name. They had tons of trouble-shooting ideas.