Triumph of safety over sense ?

[martink]

I had a call from the very helpful yard staff to tell me that our Bayliner, sitting on its trailer in the yard, was bleeping - which was curious as I had the battery isolator key in the bag with all the 'ships's papers'. Perhaps it was the alarm to tell me that the warranty had run out.
I went to investigate and found the carbon monoxide alarm in the cuddy chirping every few seconds, warning that it was receiving a low voltage.
Why was it receiving any voltage, with the battery isolator removed ? Because it appears to have been wired straight to the clamps on the battery terminals ! And although I am sure the alarm only draws a minimal current, after a month without charge, the battery voltage was dropping.
Is there any reason why it should be wired this way, as opposed to the apparently more sensible way of connecting it to the 'boat side' of the battery isolator ? Presumably there's only a CO risk when the engine is running.
At least it might explain why the battery was flat when the boat was delivered - and why it went flat while sitting out over the winter months.
GGrrrr
Martin

 

[landlockedpirate]

Had the same issue on both a Bayliner and a Four Winns. I never did check the current they were drawing but they would flatten a decent battery in a couple of weeks if left with no shore power on.

In the end I used to disconnect them if we were leaving the boat for long. (And stick a big message on the dash to remind me to reconnect)


Mark

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Is it not a gas alarm rather than just a CO alarm in which case I'd want a warning of any petrol or gas vapour in the bilges before I switched the battery isolator switch back on? So I think it's probably right to wire it direct to the battery but all IMHO

 

[Whitelighter]

This used to wake me up every sodding morning on my 285 Bayliner if not plugged into the shore power and battery charger on. It seems they are hyper sensitive to voltage drops.

 

[gjgm]

better than not waking up at all, I guess!

 

[burgundyben]

fair point, well presented.

 

[muckypup]

Would the gas escaping from batteries being charged up from low cause a gas alarm to go off?

S.

 

[phockit]

We have the same on our Maxum (same company). I can understand why it's always on but not why it's powered from the engine battery and not the house one, though....luckily the house battery has enough grunt to spin the engine up though.

Paul

 

[BSSOffice]

[ QUOTE ]
<snip> Presumably there's only a CO risk when the engine is running.

[/ QUOTE ]

That depends on what equipment you have aboard. For example if you have lpg appliances, then these can be working irrespective of the engine running. LPG appliances can and do produce CO under the right (wrong!) conditions. Similarly charcol BBQs produce very large quantities of CO.

Hope this explanation helps.
Regards
Rob@Boat Safety Scheme Office