O2 sensor going off

Allworth wrote:
There are two different things being discussed here:

First....Life Safety Detectors. Checking for things that can kill you.

1. Smoke detector. Mounted near the ceiling at the highest point. Looking for fire/smoke. The danger is obvious.

2. LP detector. Mounted near the floor, usually in the kitchen area. Looking for Propane. The danger is explosion.

3. CO detector. Usually mounted high in the wall in the bedroom. Looking for Carbon Monoxide, a clear, odorless, deadly gas that is a bi-product of combustion (either flames or gas/propane engines such as generators). Danger is suffocation.

The smoke detector is usually powered by a 9volt battery. The battery should be changed twice a year whether the alarm has gone off or not. It is usually recommended that you change it when Daylight Savings Time starts and again when it ends. (You should have these outside each sleeping area in your house. They save lives!)

The other two detectors (LP & CO) are wired directly to the trailer battery. They are so important that you cannot turn them off. They draw a little bit of electricity all of the time. When the trailer is in storage, they will slowly (or maybe not so slowly) run the battery down.


Recharging the battery often is one way to cure this, but the truck is a very poor and slow way to do it. I am lucky and can keep my trailer at the house and plugged in. Obviously this is not an option for you.

That brings up the second subject:

You can keep the battery from being run down by unhooking it completely from the trailer's electrical system using either a disconnect switch or by "pulling" the Negative connection.

A disconnect switch does just what the name implies. Turning it to the OFF position creates a gap in the wire between the battery and the trailer. No electricity can flow. Many trailers are equipped with a disconnect from the factory. It is usually (not always) near the battery and may look like a small lever or key. The dealer should have shown you this if you have one. Auto parts stores sell switches that can be mounted on the battery post.

The second method of creating an air gap is to unclamp the wire at the Negative post of the battery and move the cable aside. Again, no electricity can flow. (The battery should be fully charged before it is disconnected in storage.)


This post has ended up much too long, but I think we were creating more confusion than information and I hope this helped.

By the way, it sounds like your dealer did a really poor job of Pre-Delivery Inspection and training.