Forum Discussion

ford-willy's avatar
ford-willy
Explorer
Apr 16, 2017

Safe T Alert Propane/Co Detector Low Voltage Chirp

OK, just got back with the TT from a dry camping Eastern Sierra trip. This one year old 25 ft. TT has all led lighting and I use power sparingly when dry camping. I would run my Honda 2000 for a few hours a day to keep the 2 new large 6v golf cart batteries charged.

So it was cold at night and we set the thermostat to 50 and the battery control panel test light said full charge at bed time. About 1am the forced air starts to cycle on and off about every 1/2 hour. About 3am the Safe T Alert dual propane/Co starts beeping about every 30 seconds or so. That type of beep indicates low supply voltage. So at 3am I am checking the control panel and it says my batteries are at 2/3 full charge. So I check, led lights work, refer is still igniting, water heater ignites, bathroom fan runs full speed. But we could not get this Safe T Alert to stop. Pressed reset button but nothing stopped the beeping. Lost a bunch of sleep.

It must be pretty voltage sensitive. Short of disconnecting it, what else could we be practically doing to solve this problem?????
  • Johno02's avatar
    Johno02
    Explorer
    Apr 16, 2017
    Probably needs replacing. As they age, they get more sensitive.
  • PatrickA51's avatar
    PatrickA51
    Explorer
    Apr 16, 2017
    We had our Safe T Alert dual propane/Co go off. Our dog laid down on the floor in front of it one night, another time it went off at about 2 am. wouldn't stop. It was 6 years old so we replaced it.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Apr 17, 2017
    If you think it's low voltage, the first step would be to actually ascertain the voltage at the battery. The three light meters are very imprecise and, if only for that reason, of little accuracy. If the voltage at the battery is reasonable, I would verify the voltage at the CO detector itself (which would likely mean temporarily pulling it from the wall). It should be very nearly the same as the battery voltage; there's no reason for there to be much voltage loss on the circuit since it uses only a tiny bit of power.

    If they're OK, logically the next step is to replace the alarm unit.

    According to the manual linked, the end of life alarm is a beep every thirty seconds, like the "malfunction" alarm (i.e. low voltage). The light flashes are different for the two cases, however: low voltage is red-green-red-green alternating flashing, while end of life is red-red-green-green alternating.
  • ford-willy's avatar
    ford-willy
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2017
    Johno02 wrote:
    Probably needs replacing. As they age, they get more sensitive.


    The trailer is only 13 months old. Plus maybe it sat a while on the lot. I dont want to try the same brand again. Maybe I can just disconnect it and find a alarm unit that works on its own battery not the RV battery?
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Apr 17, 2017
    Charging voltage is probably just 13.6 and amps taper to a trickle after 20 minutes. Even worse in cold conditions. Control panel "full" was either just measuring the charging voltage or the surface charge right after. Battery could have still been below 50 percent.

    Yes could be the CO detector just needs replaced but until you get a voltage reading we will not know. If more than five years old it may as well get replaced while you figure out your charging issues.

    IIRC the low voltage alarm is close to 10 volts.
  • PatrickA51's avatar
    PatrickA51
    Explorer
    Apr 17, 2017
    ford-willy wrote:
    OK, just got back with the TT from a dry camping Eastern Sierra trip. This one year old 25 ft. TT has all led lighting and I use power sparingly when dry camping. I would run my Honda 2000 for a few hours a day to keep the 2 new large 6v golf cart batteries charged.

    So it was cold at night and we set the thermostat to 50 and the battery control panel test light said full charge at bed time. About 1am the forced air starts to cycle on and off about every 1/2 hour. About 3am the Safe T Alert dual propane/Co starts beeping about every 30 seconds or so. That type of beep indicates low supply voltage. So at 3am I am checking the control panel and it says my batteries are at 2/3 full charge. So I check, led lights work, refer is still igniting, water heater ignites, bathroom fan runs full speed. But we could not get this Safe T Alert to stop. Pressed reset button but nothing stopped the beeping. Lost a bunch of sleep.



    It must be pretty voltage sensitive. Short of disconnecting it, what else could we be practically doing to solve this problem?????


    Isn't it still under Warranty, or did you buy your RV Secondhand?

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