With high/cathedral ceiling more and more common in houses, including my own, I'd like to move the batteries for the smoke detectors down to eye height. I hate to get the 12-foot ladder up and maneuver through the house just for a 2-minute battery swap. I thought of adding an electrician's box at eye height and running the battery wire through the wall.

Does anybody know what you'd have to do to make this happen. Will a 9-foot length of wire cause electrical issues that will need to be corrected? Will it cause the battery to drain faster?

Any off-the shelf components to show the level of charge remaining in a 9-volt battery that I could put in there as well?

Thoughts?

Instead of doing all that, you might take a look at the AlarmArm (http://alarmarm.com/). This allows you to install and replace the batteries in a smoke detector from the ground. I believe it uses its own smoke alarm, so you may have to bring your ladder in one last time to remove your old one and put the new one in its place--but that would be the last time you'd need the ladder!

I heard about this on the "Daily GizWiz (http://twit.tv/dgw991)" podcast. If you listen to this, you can skip the first 10-11 minutes of banter.

Hope this helps,
WallyH

Not bad for those Alarms not wired into the house's electrical system. Good idea for those... but for those that are wired (but still have battery backup), this wouldn't work. Thanks for the link. I'll be sharing this one with friends.

Per NFPA 72 Section 29.8.3.1 Peaked Ceilings, a smoke detector shall be located within 36 inches of the peak, and closer than 4 inch.

This can be reviewed at:
NFPA 72: National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code (http://www.nfpa.org/AboutTheCodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=72)

So, having a cathedral ceiling is a architectural element that must be dealt with, so you have no other choice but to hang onto your tall ladder.

Thoughts:

Could violate UL listing.

But, I'd use stranded wire, at least 4 conductor and probably 22 AWG. A simple battery clip from Radio Shack would connect to the battery clip in the detector and place one in the wall too.
Watch polarity. There may be a polarity reversal, so you can't go by colors if you use the clip method. Ask for 9V battery clips. Heavy-Duty 9V Snap Connectors - RadioShack.com (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062218)

If you want to check and don't have a meter, get a 1K resistor and an LED and put in series. The LED will only operate in one direction.

Depending on the smoke detector, you may be able to bring down the test button wires as well to a new switch, but you may have to solder wires in place. Hence 4 conductor. But you could operate the test button with a long stick. This may work as a switch: Jameco Electronics Electromechanical: JUDCO MANUFACTURING: 40-1665-01 (http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=22218)

October or around Halloween is when the batteries are replaced at home. It's just a once per year day that's been picked.