26 rr CO alarm going off for no known reason

[ruddie66]

I do not have propane on, I'm not living in it. Just plugged in to land power and it started going off. Any suggestions how to fix. ??

[donanddona]

I have found them to have a limited shelf life. How old is yours?

[ruddie66]

Originally Posted by donanddona

I have found them to have a limited shelf life. How old is yours?

It's a 2016, just plugged in to get batteries recharged. Than it went off.

[ruddie66]

Short of unplugging and pulling battery off, is there another way to turn off ??

[donanddona]

I took the two screws out, pulled it out of the wall and cut the wire. After finding the reason it was going off I re-spliced the wires. Not the right way but it worked. OBTW the DW left a bottle of swifter cleaner next to the trash that was next to the sensor. Vapors, wow.

[ruddie66]

Ok thanks, I do know about vapors and other products that can set off. So I should cut wires ? Is there a fuse that can be pulled ??

[ruddie66]

So I pulled the alarm from the bracket, unscrewed the mounting plate, pulled wires out and found 2 wire nuts to alarm, undid one. No more alarm noise. Will now have to get a new one. Thanks for your help.

[bikendan]

Usually goes off because the battery is low, as it's probably hard-wired.

[RudysWorld]

Originally Posted by ruddie66

Ok thanks, I do know about vapors and other products that can set off. So I should cut wires ? Is there a fuse that can be pulled ??

On my Georgetown a drawer is behind the alarm and there is a fuse back there. You can pull the fuse. FYI, pulling the fuse will shut off propane. My alarm was do to fumes from battery which is directly below alarm. There was a bad cell and would overcharge. Good Luck!

[Katja]

Mine chirped every 30 seconds with a solid green light when I let the battery get a 'little' low. According to the leaflet that came with it, that is by design. Once I plugged in to shore power and the battery charged up 'enough' the chirping stopped completely by itself.

[BooBoo23]

My LP/CO detector is fused with a 1.5amp fuse. Found that out after I cut the wire. Hair spray, perfume spray, bug spray will set them off, probably the propellant may be the cause.

[Jim in Halifax]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Usually goes off because the battery is low, as it's probably hard-wired.

Exactly the cause!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dmchapman]

Last week we dry camped for 4 nights with overnight temps dropping to high 20's to low 30's. Due to partial shade our 100 W solar panel didn't fully recharge the batteries during the day so when the furnace ran during the night to maintain 55-60 degrees the voltage dropped low enough to trigger the low battery alarm but once the blower stopped running the battery voltage would recover enough in a few minutes to stop the alarm. I have a 12V backup battery of the type used for alarm systems and modems. I plan to wire it in parallel to the CO/propane detector with an isolator diode to maintain a constant 12 volts to the detector even when the furnace blower is running. I could probably achieve the same result with 8 rechargeable AA, C or D cells but since I have the big battery just sitting around that's what I'll use. What the heck; I need to do some kind of mods during our down time .

[Evereddie]

The units the camper manufacturers put in are the cheapest most defective ones out there. Do yourself a favor and upgrade it.

[lmiken]

Check the panel sticker. When the alarm goes off the light will blink what the warning is. The sticker (or instruction manual) will explain what the blinking pattern means. My is usually low voltage. It is on a 12 volt circuit and you can pull one of the fuses to turn it off. My issue turned out to be the refrigerator 12 volts was on the same circuit and occasionally would cause the voltage to go to 10 volts. I pulled the fuse and the refrigerator would reset.

[Long Leaf Piners]

Dust and dog hair will collect and set one off, too. Experience. Blown clean, it reset, and--with regular checking-- was working the day we sold the rig several years later.

[mtnlvr]

Originally Posted by Katja

Mine chirped every 30 seconds with a solid green light when I let the battery get a 'little' low. According to the leaflet that came with it, that is by design. Once I plugged in to shore power and the battery charged up 'enough' the chirping stopped completely by itself.

X2- If the battery gets below approx 1/4 that can set it off. It used to happen to me a lot and I didn't know why, but it only happened when I was boon docking and usually running my furnace at night.
An easy way to check if the unit is working properly is to buy an inexpensive battery powered monitor and see if that one goes off.

[emm-dee]

The OP stated the problem started when plugging into shore power. If the problem was a low battery it would show up without shore power and then go away when plugged in.

[WolfWhistle]

Holy mackerel, you all. Ruddie you had dead batteries; so dead that the CO detector; no its not a low battery detector like some think; wouldn't work at all. It had quit alarming a long time back. When you plugging into shore power the converter began doing its charging thing and soon the voltage was raised enough for the detector to work, at least to the point of indicating the voltage is too low (still) for it to work properly and into alarm it went. If there was a 12 volt battery such as an alarm system would use in parallel (completely unnecessary, by the way), it too would be dead and how cheap the detector is FR supplies is a mute point. The one they provided for me is a very good one. Many detectors have a usable life, read the manual for your's. Your batteries could be toast having been run to deader than dead. Also, when fluid in a cell drops below the tops of the plates, it can emit "unusual"
gas fumes. In the future, I would recommend that after fully charging good batteries, disconnect them (remove the negative (-) cables from both (assuming 2) batteries when in storage; because there are parasitic loads in these coaches and you will have this happen again. If storing for extended periods, I would check fluid and recharge occasionally. Mine looks like this... notice there on the front is the various alarms and what they mean.

Safe-T-Alert Black Mini LP Gas Detector - Carbon Monoxide, LP, & Smoke Detectors - LP Gas - RV Appliances

WW

[WolfWhistle]

Originally Posted by emm-dee

The OP stated the problem started when plugging into shore power. If the problem was a low battery it would show up without shore power and then go away when plugged in.

Not if the batteries were completely dead. He said he plugged in to charge the batteries. The question that only he can answer did any fixture / lights, etc work before he plugged in. I'm betting nothing did, but I have no way to know.
WW