Alerted by carbon monoxide detector in my caravan

RHambo
RHambo Forum Participant Posts: 9
edited November 2021 in New to Caravanning & Touring #1

Good morning, I heard a noise coming from my caravan this morning parked on my drive, it was the carbon monoxide alarm going off, I tried to reset it in the caravan with no luck so took it into the garage & it stopped. So I just wondered what could have caused it, could it be the battery as everything else is switched off?  I have a digital display of volts in gas locker where I connect my solar panel & it was only 8 volts (normally 13 volts) so I plugged the extension lead into the 240 supply in the garage & left it a few days until I heard the alarm noise.  When I looked at the digital display it was saying 33 volts, have I over charged the battery which has caused the carbon monoxide alarm to alert me?  There is a isolator switch for the caravan which I did not switch on so the charge was going straight to the battery, please can anyone advise me.  Many thanks 

Comments

  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2021 #2

    Hydrogen can activate the CO alarm which is quite likely if you have overcharged the lead acid battery, I think you can specify CO alarms for LV and boat use that aren’t triggered by hydrogen.

  • ADP1963
    ADP1963 Forum Participant Posts: 1,280
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2021 #3

    My Carbon monoxide detector is operated by battery and indicates by series of bleeps when the battery needs replacing. My guess is if it was not an alert that the battery was dying, the alarm was doing it's job and you have another problem..

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited November 2021 #4

    1) You don't want electrical stuff in your gas locker

    2) No solar controller should push 33V into a battery. That's what it's there for.

  • RHambo
    RHambo Forum Participant Posts: 9
    edited November 2021 #5

    thanks for your replies, been out this morning & put a multimeter on the battery & its 11.7 so panic over it must just be fault on display reading 33v 

  • SeasideBill
    SeasideBill Forum Participant Posts: 2,112
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    edited November 2021 #6

    Panic not over…. that’s only about 25% charged which should be in excess of 12.7v fully charged. If it’s been deeply discharged down to 8v as mentioned in your previous post and no longer holding a decent state of charge it’s likely to need replacing. There’s no point relentlessly trying to charge a carked battery, all you’ll get is heat & hydrogen.

  • obbernockle
    obbernockle Forum Participant Posts: 616
    500 Comments
    edited November 2021 #7

    I hope the OP doesn't pitch next to me. I don't want to get injured by an exploding battery, or an exploding gas bottle.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #8

    We could smell our battery was in trouble and acted promptly, they can certainly reach a danger point. (Smell of sulphur, rotten eggs.)

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2021 #9

    It might well be a failing battery and could be caused by a faulty battery charger.

    I'd certainly move that solar connection away from the gas locker! 💥🔥

  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited November 2021 #10
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • Lyke Wake Man
    Lyke Wake Man Forum Participant Posts: 238
    edited January 2022 #11

    My charge controller shows 22volt when full

    I once spoke to Photonic universe, they told me when the battery is full the charge controller goes in reverse polarity display 21/22 volt so it doesn't overcharge

    so is your 33 volt when it goes in reverse

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