Things that go "BEEP!" in the night...

Thread Starter

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
ARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!

I think I own one too many "smart" devices: one of them has gone rogue and is trying to destroy my sanity.

Went to bed last night and just as I was drifting off to sleep, "BEEP!"

Aw, crap. Get up, check the smoke detector out in the hallway; battery good, no problem there.

Go back to bed, lay there for a while, and drift off to sleep again.

"BEEP!"

I ignore it. It's not the smoke detector, so it can't be that important. Start to fall asleep again.

"BEEP!"

Oh, good grief! Now I'm pissed off.

So I got up and spent the next four hours checking every single !@##%^*# electronic device I could find: phone, spare phone, laptops, blood glucose meter, TENS unit, Kindle, my little DSO Nano pocket oscilloscope, my collection of pocket DVMs, my capacitance meter, and even the red laser crosshairs accessory on my drill press. Nada. Batteries all good, all devices happy.

But I'm not happy. Not happy at all.

Because something is still beeping. And when I find it... :mad:

What could it be?
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
I've had to track down wireless phones that beep when they are running low and alarm clocks that have been enabled by my button-pushing grandchildren. Of course those go off at midnight instead of noon. Something about the tones make them extremely difficult to locate. I have a security system that uses battery if the wall wart in the basement comes unplugged. A couple days later it will beep. At least it's easy to find.

Does the beeping stop? Seems like you should be able to find it eventually as long as it keeps chirping.
 

Thread Starter

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
Does the beeping stop? Seems like you should be able to find it eventually as long as it keeps chirping.
What's making it difficult to locate is it only beeps every 10-15 minutes, the beep is very brief and it's very high-pitched. It seems to be loudest in the back bedroom where I have my workshop, and least loud out here in the living room. But even in the back room when it goes off, it's hard to tell which direction the sound is coming from.

But I'll find the little bastard-- and when I do, I'm gonna cut its li'l piezo off. Take THAT!!!!
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,845
I'm having the opposite problem.

I have a new-fangled Rheem water heater that's supposed to beep when it detects problems like abnormally high temperatures in the control panel cavity that cause it to shut down or water leaking (on the sensor).

My heater electronics have been failing, so I have to check the heater to see if it's actually working. I've replaced the new heater twice in one month and the third unit failed after 3 days...
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Before my father-in-law passed away I had bought a few new smoke detectors for the house. He put them away in an old dresser. Long after he passed away we began to hear a beep. Never could find that beep and a month or two later the beep sort of doubled. They were very faint. Then they went away after several months. It wasn't till a few years later when emptying the old dresser in what was dad's room we found the long forgotten two smoke detectors.

Ron
 

Thread Starter

OBW0549

Joined Mar 2, 2015
3,566
I'm starting to wonder if it may be a smoke detector in the adjacent apt. unit, complaining about a weak battery. Sure sounds like a smoke detector, but it isn't mine.
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,283
But even in the back room when it goes off, it's hard to tell which direction the sound is coming from.
They should be made to beep several times, perhaps several seconds apart, for each sequence.
That would at least give you a fighting chance to locate the sound. :rolleyes:
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
they will always start to beep at bedtime.
I've been running 6 smoke detectors for 30+ years. None of them has ever started to beep in the morning.:mad:
I'm gonna cut its li'l piezo off.
BTDT! I have two cars with their piezo's amputated.:D And I did two for my sister's microwave ovens.:rolleyes:
I don't know why she doesn't like her microwave ovens beeping, but I know how to cure them.;)
I've replaced the new heater twice in one month and the third unit failed after 3 days...
Probably needs more microprocessors.:D
They should be made to beep several times, perhaps several seconds apart, for each sequence.
That's a great idea because
Man can not find on one beep alone.
 

JWHassler

Joined Sep 25, 2013
306
That happened here once. The dishwasher was just short of finishing a cycle when someone opened the door looking for something, didn't find it, and almost re-closed the door.
The beeping went on , every 30 seconds(?), all afternoon and things were said that could only be put aside with effort.
 
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