Shakedown Cruise

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

My CO detector is wired to feed from both chassis and coach batteries, with the 9volt battery as a backup. Fortunately, there is a connector at which I was able to remove the assembly. My smoke detector is separate. I have a 2013 Interstate Ext on a 2012 chassis.

Odd. My 2012 Interstate has a combined smoke and CO detector (powered by a watch battery) on the ceiling, and a separate LPG detector (wired into the house batteries) near the floor.

[toskeysam]

Airstream seems to change things ON THE FLY

[joemikeb]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

My CO detector is wired to feed from both chassis and coach batteries, with the 9volt battery as a backup. Fortunately, there is a connector at which I was able to remove the assembly. My smoke detector is separate. I have a 2013 Interstate Ext on a 2012 chassis.

I have the same setup, but the 9V battery is not a backup per se and is required to be charged for the CO alarm to function. In fact the low battery alarm, one red LED flash and a piercing tone every thirty seconds, will go off if the 9V goes dead, even when the 12V connection is hot. The manufacturer's web site recommends replacing the 9V battery at least once a year.

My 2013 AI has a smoke detector mounted on the ceiling immediately adjacent to the CO detector and the LP detector mounted on the baseboard under the kitchen cabinet.

[toskeysam]

I did not understand why the manual called the 9 volt a backup since, as you said, it is required for the unit to operate.

[joemikeb]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

I did not understand why the manual called the 9 volt a backup since, as you said, it is required for the unit to operate.

Don't look at me. I'm not sure I understand it either. The best I can figure out is the actual detector runs on the 9V battery, but if there is a 12V connection it does not draw power from the 9V when there are 12V available?

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by joemikeb

Don't look at me. I'm not sure I understand it either. The best I can figure out is the actual detector runs on the 9V battery, but if there is a 12V connection it does not draw power from the 9V when there are 12V available?

Don't know if this is right, but my theory is, it's like those emergency lights you see in office building stairwells. Those run on 120vAC, but have a built-in battery as well, for when the power goes out. If the battery goes bad, so does the light, to aid in troubleshooting, even if the bulbs are good and it's getting plenty of power. Can't have emergency lights that suddenly don't come on in an emergency, right?

The CO detector may be the same. It runs off of 12vDC house battery current, but has a 9v battery backup in case your power goes out (or wasn't switched on). After all, even if the power goes out, you still need to breathe so the CO detector still needs to work. So, if the battery goes out, an alarm goes off telling you it's time to change the battery, even though the detector is still working fine on house 12v power.

That's my theory, anyway.

[toskeysam]

Makes sense to me....

[73shark]

I assume (I know what that means) that there is a low battery warning on the ones that have the 12V supply just as there is on the 9V only combo detectors like mine.

[toskeysam]

My manual for the detector indicates there is a "chirp" every 30 sec for the 9volt battery low voltage. I did read elsewhere that there is also a low voltage beep for coach and chassis battery....but I cannot confirm that. All I know is that I sure wanted to rip it off the ceiling. 😁😁

[toskeysam]

Spoke to my dealer today. One topic was my CO detector. He cringed when I said "CO Detector". They have boxes of them. I can choose to have exactly what I have installed under warranty, or buy the 9 Volt version (exact same base) and have them put it in. Gee tough choice.