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RobWNY's avatar
RobWNY
Explorer
Jul 20, 2018

Carbon Monoxide/Propane detector Blinking Green

Hey everyone. I need some help. If my camper is plugged into shore power, My Carbon Monoxide/Propane detector has a solid Green light. If I unplug from Shore Power and I'm just using my battery, it blinks Green. If I use the battery disconnect but I'm still plugged in to shore power, the detector stays a solid Green. If I unplug from shore power and also use the battery disconnect, then the detector has no light at all. So if a solid Green means it's working fine and no light at all means there's no power to it, what does the blinking Green light mean when only using the battery for power to the camper?
  • ReneeG's avatar
    ReneeG
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    That depends on your brand of CO detector and what its manual says.
  • SidecarFlip's avatar
    SidecarFlip
    Explorer III
    Jul 20, 2018
    Most every CO detector I've seen (including mine) states on the front (in small print) what exactly the light sequence means.

    Remember too that all CO detectors have a set lifespan and need replaced after a period of time. Comes under RV maintenance. Just like a new Anode rod in the HWH.
  • RobWNY's avatar
    RobWNY
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    I found the answer. It can take up to 10 minutes for the alarm to "Warm Up" before showing solid green on battery power. Everyone can disregard this thread.
  • ReneeG's avatar
    ReneeG
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    SidecarFlip wrote:
    Remember too that all CO detectors have a set lifespan and need replaced after a period of time. Comes under RV maintenance. Just like a new Anode rod in the HWH.


    Note: We bought our FW new in 2010 and we just had to replace the CO detector this spring. It continued to sound a bad battery signal after new batteries. Referred to the manual and yup - time to replace.
  • SidecarFlip's avatar
    SidecarFlip
    Explorer III
    Jul 20, 2018
    ReneeG wrote:
    SidecarFlip wrote:
    Remember too that all CO detectors have a set lifespan and need replaced after a period of time. Comes under RV maintenance. Just like a new Anode rod in the HWH.


    Note: We bought our FW new in 2010 and we just had to replace the CO detector this spring. It continued to sound a bad battery signal after new batteries. Referred to the manual and yup - time to replace.


    Lot of that (time period) has to do with the interval between manufacture of the unit and when it's installed and used. CO detectors like flooded cell batteries start their life when made and are 'getting older and closer to their end of lifespan' even before you buy the RV. It's because the rare metal part of the detector element has a finite life.

    Last one I had in my sold camper lasted as long as I had the camper...15 years.

    They are not cheap either.
  • blownstang01's avatar
    blownstang01
    Explorer
    Jul 20, 2018
    RobWNY wrote:
    I found the answer. It can take up to 10 minutes for the alarm to "Warm Up" before showing solid green on battery power. Everyone can disregard this thread.

    Exactly! That's how my Safe-T-Alert works. Directions say it takes approximately 2 minutes before it will work and go to solid green. Interestingly I just had to replace it as I was getting a fault....alternating green-red and a beep every 30 seconds or so. The manual says to replace every 60 months and the man date on the back was April 2013, still can't figure out how it magically shows a fault almost exactly 60 mos later. LOL
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer II
    Jul 20, 2018
    blownstang01 wrote:
    RobWNY wrote:
    I found the answer. It can take up to 10 minutes for the alarm to "Warm Up" before showing solid green on battery power. Everyone can disregard this thread.

    Exactly! That's how my Safe-T-Alert works. Directions say it takes approximately 2 minutes before it will work and go to solid green. Interestingly I just had to replace it as I was getting a fault....alternating green-red and a beep every 30 seconds or so. The manual says to replace every 60 months and the man date on the back was April 2013, still can't figure out how it magically shows a fault almost exactly 60 mos later. LOL


    That's actually pretty simple; the little embedded computer inside maintains a countdown timer of how long it's been powered on (in non-volatile memory of some sort) and switches to "end of life" mode after it's been five years. There are also non-digital components that would work as a long-term timer, but these days a little microcontroller chip is so inexpensive that I'd be rather surprised if they did something else (and they probably want one anyhow to operate the detector for things like automatic recalibration if needed, detecting and ignoring some spurious alarm conditions, etc.).
  • Straylight's avatar
    Straylight
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2018
    wa8yxm wrote:
    An easy way to think of it
    Green is GOOD
    Red is not
    This reminds me of what one of my wilderness medical instructors said about snakes:
    Red on yellow, kill a fellow,
    Red on black, don't pick up snakes.

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