I have changed the battery in the Ei141 and it still beeps. What does this mean?

Hi Stevie

Check the manufacturing date to see if the alarm is older than ten years. If the alarm is significantly older than this, the beeps might be a warning that the electronics inside are becoming faulty.

See http://www.safelincs.co.uk/why-should-smoke-alarms-be-replaced-after-ten-years/

For replacement heads (no electrician required) look for the Easichange replacement smoke alarms

Harry

Hi, I have the same problem with mine - Head does not need replacing unil 2017...

Hi, there might be some pointers in http://www.safelincs.co.uk/blog/2011/06/17/false-fire-alarms-waking-you-up/

and the manual for this alarm can be found on http://www.safelincs.co.uk/templates_safelincs/files/datasheets/353_Ei160-Ei140-User-Manuals.pdf

Harry

What happens if you take it down, but leave its battery still installed? does this one still beep or is it something else?

I've had two Ei141's chirping at me. Eventually worked out how to get the removable bit off (it would help if the unit had it's number visible - took ages trying to find out what it was, as the Ei141 bit was hidden inside - eventually found a picture of it by googling). Then had trouble taking one of them apart (I had to hit it hard, after the screwdriver operation, to make it slide off), but am now confused, as one of them has a label stuck on that says, "WARNING: BATTERY NOT REPLACEABLE SEE INSTRUCTION LEAFLET". But the instruction leaflet tells me how to replace the battery??????

Hi, you might be mixing up an Ei141 (alkaline battery which can be replaced) and an Ei161 (re-chargeable lithium battery which cannot be replaced), as these look the same from the outside (bar a little sticker re 10 year battery life on the front of the Ei161). Videos to show you the head removal and the difference in look between Ei141 and Ei161 can be seen here:

Replace battery in Ei141

Replace Ei161

If you have a Ei161 and the unit is failing (or is older than 10 years old), you can replace the head easily

Harry

This alarm has driven me mad.... Why not simply have a clip hatch that reveals the battery to change??? Why do I have to turn the mains off every time I attempt to change the battery and then have to reset the oven!!! The designer of this needs to be made to listen the incessant chirping for a month.

All mains powered alarms will be powered either by a dedicated power spur or by the lighting circuit. The oven will be on an entirely separate spur. When changing the battery in a smoke alarm only flick off the fuse that relates to the smoke alarms, not the power supply to the entire house. The fuse for the alarms should have been marked by your electrician with a sticker that comes with each Ei alarm. If that is missing try each fuse until you have found the one that switches off the smoke alarms and then mark it with a sticker or pen. The correct fuse will turn off the green LED in the alarms.

The base unit continues to beep (not the removable part but the part that is attached to the ceiling) - even when I have replaced the battery, vacuumed the sensors and used the hush button... What else could it be?

Which model of alarm do you have? Is it a radio-interlinked base?

I have the Ei141 model which continues to beep from the base when the electrics have been isolated and the face with new battery removed. Could this be an electrical fault?

I have replaced the batteries on both of my smoke heads, both are still beeping, strangely they both beeped whilst no battery inserted. I cannot believe they have both gone faulty at the same time - I have also turned the circuit breaker off and back on repeatedly to see if this helps - it doesn't. I have replaced batteries in these units before and the beeping stopped. The green light indicating mains power is lit on both units - when the beep occurs the red warning light also flashes. Please help this is driving me mad.

If a Ei141 smoke detector is removed from the base and the battery is also removed, the alarm might still hold some residual charge and chirp. Pressing the test button for about 10 seconds will discharge the circuitry.

If you can still hear beeping this must come from a different alarm, eg a CO alarm somewhere else.

If the alarms are still on the ceiling with the batteries removed, the smoke alarms have to beep to remind you to add new batteries. If they still beep after new batteries are inserted your smoke alarms might be older than 10 years or your replacement batteries were flat. Ei recommends EverReady 522 or Duracell MN1604.

Replacement heads (for alarms older than 10 years) can be found on http://www.safelincs.co.uk/easichange-ei141ek-replacement-kit/

Harry

Hi Harry,

Thank you for your easy advice and the links to the correct products. Have just ordered two replacement heads on alarms that are 12 to 13 years old. Your forum has saved me a lot of time!

Neil

Hi,

i have 2 of these ei141 smoke alarms in my flat and have just changed the battery on both, one is perfect again but the other still comes up as dead if i swap them over its vice versa which leads me to believe its the part attached to the ceiling at fault........this is as far as my electrician skills could get me......any help would be very appreciated.

thanks

shaun

If when you swap them over the fault stays where it is, then I would have to ask have you checked to see if the incoming mains cable connections are tight? SWITCH OFF the electricity FIRST

Hi Shaun

If the green light is on in the alarms, then they are at least getting power supply. There could of course still be an error in the signal cable between the units.

If the green light is off I would suggest an electrician is needed.

Harry

I have two new smoke alarms Ei141s installed that bleep every 50 seconds.

I have tried replacing the alarm suppliers batteries, no improvement.

I tried pressing test to discharge the slide off section with battery removed, no improvement.

I have tried pressing the test button for 15 seconds, no improvement.

I have no reply yet from supplier SD Fire Alarms and have now tried emailing manufacturer Ei electronics.

Any ideas before I send them back to supplier ?

Hi Ian

Just make sure the green light is showing when the alarms are fitted. If not, your power supply is probably interrupted eg by fuse being pulled out or by connection fault.

If the green light is on I would assume an error and you should return them to the supplier.

Harry

I'm now having what seems to be a similar issue with one of the ei141 units in my flat - I've now tried taking the part with the battery in off completely and turning the mains for the smoke alarms off, and still getting the beeps from the bit connected to the mains in the ceiling beeping every 45s - I've already tried replacing the battery (and even connected the part with the battery in to a different socket that didn't have one in), so it seems to be something with the part connected to the ceiling. Any suggestions?

Hi Mark

Are you sure there is not another alarm in the room, eg a CO alarm placed in a cupboard with low batteries?

Do you have a radio-interlinked base plate on the ceiling? The normal base plates do not have a battery or a sounder

Harry

I have to agree with Harry. The "Bit on the ceiling" is just a connection / mounting plate, it has no other function. Below is a video from Safelincs, showing how to remove the detector from the base.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AQvjqhnHTE

It seems as though Harry was right - not in the same room (the one I'd thought it was from was in the corridor), but there was another one in the spare room just the other side of the wall, so that managed to make it so that it seemed to be from the baseplate. Thanks for the help - both must have run out of battery power almost at the same time, which probably means the third one will run out soon...I'd better get some more batteries soon.

My alarms went off yesterday when I was cooking sausages (I have a 3 storey house and I believe they all went off). However, since then, they have been randomly bleeping. I have read all of these posts and watched the video so I replaced the batteries in all even though they were installed last year. However, I noticed that the green light is not lit. I've flicked the fuse on and off (which is also linked to all my ground floor sockets) but thus has made no difference and they are still randomly bleeping. I'm not an electrician so what should I do about trying to get the green light on?