In my house, I have flashlights that plug into the wall and also act as nightlights. They run on electricity until the power goes out and then it switches to battery. Already charged battery. I don't have to replace the batteries ever. They just charge whenever the power is on.
This got me thinking. Why don't smoke detector manufacturers build their equipment to do the same thing?
The smoke detectors are hard-wired into the house, but I still have to replace the 9 volt batteries because they start that incessant and horrible chirp when they get too low. It's like the most annoying thing ever, and because I have a fear of heights, this means I have to live with it until I can get the handyman to come out to change them.
It would just make sense that smoke detectors would use these rechargeable batteries like my flashlights. Can you imagine only hearing that chirp when the super long-lasting batteries finally needed to be replaced?
Can you imagine not having to spend a fortune on 9 volt batteries every year just to keep the smoke detectors from being annoying?
It would also guarantee that in the case of a fire, the smoke detectors would go off even if the power is lost because people disconnect them. When I was searching online for instructions on how to change the batteries, I discovered all kinds of information on how to disable the entire detector because people hate the low battery beep that much. Is this what we want to push some to do because of the stupid chirps?
Come on, smoke detector engineers! If my flashlight can work on a rechargeable battery, so can your device. This should already be a thing.
