CO detector?

[Chardagha]

Hello all, I had my ‘04 Wildcat 5er our last week and when I returned home, I parked it and forgot to plug in the electrical. It has been using battery power for parasitic draw since I did not disconnect the batteries.
Today, I walked by the rig and heard a chirp alarm from inside. It was the CO device going off. I could not figure how to silence it, but I did finally hook the rig up to power. Voila! The alarm stopped and the green light is on.
This is my first time dealing with this issue...my common sense tells me that the detector uses 12v dc power and my batteries got low enough that the device went into fail mode. Am I correct in my thinking or do I possibly have another issue?
Thanks in advance

[rjshiflet]

You are correct - they run on 12-volt power.

Could possibly be the battery issue, but those CO/Propane detectors have a limited life span. On our previous fifth wheel ours went out after 2 1/2 years. I complained and Forest River sent me a replacement because it showed a manufacture date of almost 5 years...meaning it was over 2 years old when it was installed..

I've read that the "normal" life span for these is about 5 years. The manufacture date is generally located somewhere on them.

[Mr. Dan]

Co2 (carbon dioxide) changed to CO (carbon monoxide).
Site Team

[5picker]

Not sure it went into 'fail' mode but rather they alarm when the 12v power gets low enough to where they can't properly operate.

As mentioned, they do have a life span and will often chirp even when having good 12v power, when reaching the end of their life.

Since yours stopped when plugged in it may be OK but it is old enough you might want to replace it anyway.

[Chardagha]

Thank you all, I noticed that it is again chirping even with power. I will replace it ASAP

[Captain.dan]

In our 2016 Flagstaff fifth wheel we have a typical Safe-T-Alert by MTI propane/Co detector. It is 4 years old so close to end of life as mentioned above. However since new this unit has been a bit annoying, that when the battery gets below 11.7Vdc it starts beeping to warn "low voltage." We have two batteries and solar panels and when dry camping and put a load on the system at night the beeping starts. I really don't like to disconnect it especially at night but really can't sleep with in beeping every 30 seconds.

I am ready to replace for age anyway but wondered if this was a common problem with these units or if this was just a marginal unit. If it is common I might consider some voltage regulation to keep the voltage at or above 12v at the unit.

Any comments of suggestions appreciated.