Guide
Batteries at the counter
Nine volts for smoke detectors, coin cells for the key fob, and why a building buys the sixteen pack.
3 min read · First Ave Supply, 1587 First Avenue
Which battery do you need?
Nine times out of ten in this neighborhood it is one of four things.
| What is beeping or dead | Battery |
|---|---|
| Smoke detector or CO detector chirping | 9 volt alkaline |
| Intercom handset, remote, wall clock | AA or AAA |
| Key fob, building door fob, car remote | CR2032 coin cell |
| Thermostat, scale, small meter | CR2450 or CR2025 coin cell |
| Watch, small remote | 357 button cell |
The chirp at three in the morning
A smoke detector chirps roughly once a minute when the battery is low, and it almost always starts at night because the apartment cools and the battery voltage drops with it. Use a fresh alkaline nine volt, not a rechargeable, because detectors are built around alkaline voltage.
If the detector still chirps with a new battery, look at the date on the back. Detectors expire, ten years for smoke and seven to ten for combination units, and an expired one chirps no matter what you feed it. New York City requires working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in every apartment, and the owner is responsible for installing them.
Buildings should buy nine volts by the two pack minimum, and honestly by the box. The cost of the battery is nothing next to the cost of the super walking to the store at eleven at night.
AA and AAA, the pack size question
A four pack is a household purchase. A sixteen pack costs less than three four packs and is the right buy for a super, an office, or anybody with a drawer. Procell is the industrial version of the same Duracell cell, sold in bulk boxes, and it is what goes into a building supply closet.
Do not mix old and new cells in the same device. The weak one drains the fresh one and you get half the life out of both.
Coin cells
CR2032 is the one everybody needs and nobody knows the name of. It runs most door fobs, most car remotes, most small electronics. CR2450 is the thicker one used in some thermostats and newer fobs. CR2025 looks identical to a 2032 and is thinner, and it will work loosely in a 2032 slot for about a week before it fails, so match the number on the old cell.
Bring the dead one to the counter. We will read the number off it and hand you the right one, which is faster than describing the remote.
Keep in the closet
Nine volt in a two pack, AA and AAA in the sixteen, CR2032 in a two pack, and a flashlight that takes AAA so it shares a battery with everything else. That is the whole building battery program.
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