CO2 Detector in 2015 2861 DS

[SGR]

We were out dry camping on Thanksgiving weekend and our CO2 Detector started giving a low battery warning. The coach charge was at 50%! I looks like the unit does not have it's own battery backup. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, I would appreciate any comments/solutions for this problem!

Thanks,
SGR

[donniedu]

Charge your battery. Below 50% is putting your battery in serious damger of total damage

[newRVer]

BTW, when you say that coach charge is at 50%, what are you actually referencing? Voltage?

[SGR]

donniedu, thank you! I'm not exactly sure why they were so low. I ran the generator about 5 hours earlier and when I turned it off the battery gauge (idiot lights) said 100%. By the time the CO2 detector started chirping we were in bed and it was too late to run the generator any more!

[SGR]

newRVer,

50% is just based on the idiot lights on the power monitor!

I'm sure that it isn't any more accurate than the tank level indicators!

[RJHuser]

Let's get this straight, everybody!

It's not a CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) detector. CO2 is expelled by all animals, as well as being a component of the air we breath, and is actually essential to maintaining our breathing.

What you have is a CO (Carbon Monoxide) detector. CO is a product of combustion and is lethal! CO will preferentially bind to the hemoglobin in your blood, displacing the oxygen needed by the body - basically with CO poisoning, you suffocate as the body cannot get the oxygen it needs to live. This hemoglobin preference to CO is why CO poisoning is so hard to treat. Treatment requires hours of oxygen therapy, and in extreme cases, threat meant in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in a hyperbaric chamber to "force" the oxygen back into the blood.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, but you need to know what gas you need to protect yourself from. It's CO - Carbon Monoxide - not CO2 - Carbon Dioxide.

Rick

[TURBS]

Don't trust the monitor panel, check the actual voltage.
Don't go past 40% before recharging

[TURBS]

[SGR]

Rick,

Of course you are correct! I don't know what came over me! Maybe it wasn't a low battery alarm after all!???

I am really surprised that the detector doesn't have a backup battery internal! What if your coach batteries really were low (or dead) and there was a carbon monoxide issue??!!!!

[SGR]

Originally Posted by TURBS

Don't trust the monitor panel, check the actual voltage.
Don't go past 40% before recharging

Turbs,

Thanks! I guess that I should install a volt meter so that I can read that without having to get under the stairs with my VOM.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by SGR

Turbs,



Thanks! I guess that I should install a volt meter so that I can read that without having to get under the stairs with my VOM.

Yes !
There's a bazillion cheap alternatives on eBay or amazon.

[newRVer]

Originally Posted by TURBS

Yes !
There's a bazillion cheap alternatives on eBay or amazon.

One of the first things I bought was a DC voltage monitor off Amazon that I leave plugged into the DC socket by our dining table. That way with one quick glance I can see what the voltage is at any time.

[Flybob]

When the generator is running the idiot lights should read 100% as you are seeing the charging voltage from the converter. Once you shut down the generator, you will initially read the surface charge on the battery which will be higher than the actual charge level. The battery will not settle in to it's actual charge level ( assuming no loads) for hours. if the batteries have been drained much below 50% a few times they will appear charged, but not be able to hold the same level of charge as when they were new.