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Do any of you Sterling-around-Underhill/Washington-types go to sleep listening to the beeps? The two sets of really loud beeps, repeated about every 30 seconds and not on the same cycle, have been beeping me lulu for MONTHS, like since last Spring. It sounds like the low-battery alarm for a smoke or CO-detector. At first I thought it was the building next to me. But I quickly realized you can hear it up and down the street, especially when things quiet down at night, and now I can't figure out the source. They sound like they might be coming from different places. Anyone know which building it's coming from? Or how to stop it before it kills again?
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You have them too? I hear it on Park between Nostrand and New York. At first I thought it was an errant smoke detector battery, but its been going on forever.
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I hear that in my backyard at night, too! It's been going on since at least late spring/early summer 2006 (when I moved to current address). I also thought it was somebody's smoke detector at first, but at this point, I have no idea. How weird that you can hear the same thing over at Park and Nostrand, homeowner. I hope somebody on here knows what's up and solves the mystery for us.
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Me too! Around Pacific and Brooklyn ... it comes and goes ... what is it?!? --E.
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This can't be. I hear this too and I'm near Sterling/Butler.I believe in peace, bitch.
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So no one has any idea? I'm getting bothered in Crown Heights with this.
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There are three theories in my house: 1) Smoke alarm battery (mine) 2) Plot by nefarious gov't agency to drive him crazy (better half) 3) Test by aliens (boys)
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Some hard-wired alarm systems and motion sensor lights have backup batteries maybe these beeps are letting you know they need to be changed or since so many different people are hearing it maybe its an indication that the timers have to be adjusted because of DST.
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stacey » or since so many different people are hearing it maybe its an indication that the timers have to be adjusted because of DST.
Right, but the thing is, I've been following them continuously since the Spring. And while the beeps themselves almost certainly have some banal cause, how they've managed to keep going for months is trickier. I mean, are there multiple people who (a) are deaf, (b) have no visitors, (c) have alarm systems with low batteries but which are charged enough to go on for 6 months or more (or hard-wired systems perhaps), (d) own -really loud- alarms? -
Wow, I hear the same kind of noise and I'm nowhere near any of the rest of you and none of you are all that close to one another. I thought it was a smoke detector in my building for the longest. I've determined that it comes from farther off. I'm lucky, I guess, because I've grown so used to it that I don't notice it anymore!
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Yep, I've got it too, over on Bergen near Kingston... Been driving me crazy!
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You're very close to me, gardengirl. I've been hearing it for months ... then it stops (or I stop hearing it, anyhow) ... then it starts again. Could be one of those revenge chirping devices? http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/11/the-mind-molester/ But why? --E.
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I thought there was a thread about this a year or two ago -- isn't it a bird?like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote
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here's one of the posts I found using google but I'm pretty sure there was another post where someone said it was some kind of insect/bird. http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1709like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote
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oh, and then this post. why can't I find the post I remember?? http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3618&highlight=&sid=a32a9e10033430b36d2c26e552aad427like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote
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you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?Fight white guilt and injustice by smoking tax free guilt free Reservation Smokes or go gamble in a Native Casino.
I like to stick it to The Man, The Man happens to be Liberal in NYC(power Structure). -
armchair_warrior » you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?
Oh do I wish it were cicadas. Nope. Is this the thread you're referring to? http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35626 -
armchair_warrior » you guys sure you aren't hearing cicadas?
definitely not cicadas or birds. Exactly the same sound every time. Exactly every 61 seconds. -
What does it sound like, exactly? Please record and upload [and make link here to] your rendition of it on YouTube, for our collective amusement and edification. Any takers? (I wish...)i extend my battery life by turning down the brightness
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jeffrey » What does it sound like, exactly? Please record and upload [and make link here to] your rendition of it on YouTube, for our collective amusement and edification. Any takers? (I wish...)
I totally second this request. I've been listening and not hearing whatever it is. and I'm on washington btwn sterling & st. johns so I should be hearing this pervasive beep.like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote -
I can't tape because I can't really identify where its coming from. Inside the house its audible, but it sounds like its inside a neighboring house. Outside is slightly louder but still isn't blaring. As to what it sounds like, if you've ever had a smoke detector where the battery is going it sounds just like that. One beep every 30-40 seconds.
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alafairnadia » been listening and not hearing whatever it is. and I'm on washington btwn sterling & st. johns so I should be hearing this pervasive beep.
If you're on Washington, i doubt that you'd hear it. I'm on the middle of the block b/w underhill and washington, and while it's loud and clear with my window open, i don't think the sound would carry that far. come to the middle of the block and wait no more than 61 seconds and you'll hear it. My latest suspect is the Corcoran renovation. i can't imagine the beeps coming from inside an occupied home for too long before its inhabitants did something. -
I think I'm going to start offering a Beep Walking Tour. And yep, the (uninhabited for 3 years and counting, half-sold, and currently under a Do Not Occupy order due to having not sealed the basement during construction and consequent flooding) 377 Sterling is my current suspect, too.
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but how does that explain the beeping that gardengirl and I hear in our totally other neck of the woods?
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I can't find the thread again, but I read somewhere else on the board that someone in the area went on a crusade with 9 volt batteries and fixed a bunch of dying smoke alarms s/he found in other apartments nearby...maybe it really is that? Though i think ev965's suggestion of The Mind Molester is hilarious. I called 311 to ask them about it and, pretty unsurprisingly, they acted like I was a little crazy: "um, no, we don't have any reports of repetitive beeps, and that would be out of our jurisdiction anyhow..." I did try to record it, by the way, but my recorder wasn't good enough to pick them up.
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i haven't heard the beeps yet :/. i hope you guys find the source would be interesting to find out what it is. hehe could be one of those mimicking birds.Fight white guilt and injustice by smoking tax free guilt free Reservation Smokes or go gamble in a Native Casino.
I like to stick it to The Man, The Man happens to be Liberal in NYC(power Structure). -
hi there, here is a re post of my adventures with the beeps i live on st johns near underhill, and my building was plagued! for months with these beeps. the super did nothing, so i borrowed a ladder, and bought some 9Volts and changed out about 6 beeping smoke detectors! i even had to knock on some neighbors doors, who apparently just accepted the beep in their hallway, and seemed shocked that i was wanting to do something about it. and i also found a beep coming from the building next door, and got that fixed. but still there is one beep coming from my alleyway. likely echoing from behind a building on sterling or st johns, and maybe the same beep that everyone else is hearing. if anyone has luck tracking it down, id be up for a recon-sneak attack mission... i have extra 9volts" there is still one that im hearing in between st johnns and sterling. im going to investigate this weekend, and see if i can put a stop to it. if its a bird im going to get a bb gun. i cant stand it anymore... if its a home thats un inhabited, im leaving a note, or breaking in with batteries in hand. viva la silencio!"tv is death" -william west
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CHE, it's most definitely 377 Sterling. We've been there for a few open houses and the beeps are jolting from inside. From the parlor level apartment I believe. So know anymore about the supposed flooding in the basement during construction? My girlfriend and I are considering the garden/basement apartment and haven't seen any indication of water let alone flooding. Nothing like a stigmatized building on a block...
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How come I don't hear any beeps? I WANNA HEAR BEEPS, DAMMIT!
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Well, if you really must...i extend my battery life by turning down the brightness
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Thanks!
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I am an electrical contractor, and I have been in many many different buildings all over the city. There are hundreds of thousands of the battery powered smoke detectors out there and at any given time probably I believe close to half are on "Low Battery" chirp. I can not remember the last time I entered a building and did not hear at least one chirp. It doesn't matter if it's a one family house or 50 unit apartment building. They chirp and chirp and chirp. Once there were so many chirping in one building it was like every 3 seconds. That chirp can last up to three months. If the detector is the type that gets power from the building and uses the battery for backup only, the chirp can be indefinite. However, there's not too many of those yet. And since the CARBON MONOXIDE LAW was passed a few years ago the number of battery units out there doubled.
I always ask prospective customers when I visit: "When are you going to put new batteries in your smoke detector?"
Some common answers are:
That's the landlords responsibility.
Oh, is that what that is?
What noise?
I amazes me still that to save $1.00 people will put their lives in danger.
As far as this post is concerned, I'm convinced it's the low batteries. -
liftandcut » How come I don't hear any beeps? I WANNA HEAR BEEPS, DAMMIT!
our apt. keeps the beeps in our building in check -- usually. can't control the beeps coming through the airshaft from the next building over though. luckily their batteries finally died. -
I have heard strange beeping, too. But I used to live in Berkeley, CA, and they sound exactly like the crosswalk signals (which beep for blind pedestrians). I heard a few years ago New York City might use them. Just an idea."We are all the President's men."
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the Sterling Beeps should be at least a softball team.
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Hexatron » the Sterling Beeps should be at least a softball team.
I vote Roller Derby.I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you! -
the beeps are at it again tonight at butler/sterling pl...
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wirenut » Some common answers are: That's the landlords responsibility. Oh, is that what that is? What noise?
I guess I'll count this as my daily reminder of how lazy and stupid people can be. EDIT: oh yeah, when it comes to revenge, The Mind Molester second only to an upper decker in the bang/buck department and a lot easier to pull off... -
i finally heard them tonight --- 10pm-ish, wow.
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mass hysteria in prospect heights :p.Fight white guilt and injustice by smoking tax free guilt free Reservation Smokes or go gamble in a Native Casino.
I like to stick it to The Man, The Man happens to be Liberal in NYC(power Structure). -
It's summer again, and lots of us have our windows wide open, and it's TIME TO CHANGE THOSE BATTERIES, PEOPLE. And maybe remind your older, deafer, absenteer neighbors who are making the racket, too, if you can find them? The sources are hard to identify in our little echoey brownstone canyons.
I loathe the beeps.
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There has been the beeping on either smoke or co2 detectors in the common hallway of my building for at LEAST six months now. my dogs really enjoy barking to it! =( i should probably contact the super or landlord... ugh
i'm a traitor from queens -
OMG, so that's what that is?! (been wondering for over 2 years).
I'm sitting here now listening to it from several different directions in several different tones. It's quite beautiful now that I think about it - only in this great, fucked-up city of ours!
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