Sometimes a bit frustrating 
I had a property in Vic where I simply paid a service to check it once a year and report it done - there were āchallengesā with the tenant so this was easiest. After a couple of years it seemed apparent getting a hardwired system installed would make more sense, which I did - agent did a system test at each inspection. Didnāt bother even testing the old units at a place I bought locally, just replaced it all with hardwired/etc and the agent tested at inspections. Iāve rented a few places myself - never had a problem - āworstā case was when I had to educate a landlord their detectors didnāt comply - which were replaced rather urgently and no fuss. New year Iāll be applying the same treatment to my own home which is sadly a little āunder detectedā - though the toaster-canary does work fine ā¦
I took the same approach approx ten years back when I had the electrician in for other major works and added mains powered smoke alarms to what was a rental property at the time. If only Iād know they would need to be interconnected in the future it would have saved another major expense. They still need a back up battery in each alarm. The alarms will now be on their ten years life expiry date, which has partly sparked my interest in the topic. And the need to upgrade our everyday home!
Without endorsing this option the Clipsal range covers a number of options including wired accessory and wireless communication bases. The fact that the alarms and bases are interchange across the range is a good feature, assuming that Clipsal keeps the same design into the future. Hopefully they will like 240V GPOās - powerpoints use the same base design for decades.
I counted nine battery power only plus one in the internal garage in our previous 5 bedroom single story accommodation! Previous owners who had been keen to be sure? This is not to say it was a bad thing. It might need ten to meet the exact wording today. Just worth doing properly. While there is no specific requirement for one in an internal garage, it would seen useful given what some people store in theirs?
I think the future Qld requirements is a little of an overkill.
The Qld government adopted/legislated these new requirements after a multiple fatally fire where the installed smoke alarms were not functioningā¦because batteries had been removed rendering the alarms useless. The Qld governnent consulted with the industry and unions ajd this is what they come uo with because batteries were not relaced/were removed.
I recall at the time an industry expert beleived that if batteries had been in place, the outcome of the fire may have been different.
I suspect, putting my skeptics hat on, that the new requirements will benefit the industry (more smoke alarm sales) and the unions (more work for their electricity union members).
In our house we have two alarms/detectors, one in the halfway outside the doors of three bedrooms (battery operated ionising type) and one in the middle of the house about 10 metres of all beds (hardwired photoelectric with battery backup). The hardwired one was installed when we did an extension 12 years ago and replaced a battery ionising one in the same area.
The mains photoelectric battery needed replacement abiut 2 years ago (started chirping mid morning). The chirping could be heard in the front yard and it would have been impossible to sleep in any of the rooms if it was allowed to continue through the night.
Yes, ALDI recycles small batteries. Just as well, because I bought a bulk pack of six or ten 9V batteries from ALDI & 2/3rds of them were duds - wouldnāt even stop my kitchen scales from advising āLoā (battery charge). What a waste of money & resources, not to mention my time & swearing jar contributions.
