Carbon Monoxide Detector Installed

Preparing fuse protected power

In the early afternoon I installed the carbon monoxide (CO) detector (Safe T Alert model 60-541).  The job took me two hours, but I love taking all of the time that I need to do a job.

Back of panel.  Note handy + and - bus bars

I decided to place the unit under the secondary switch panel because it has plenty of spare room and it would place the detector centrally in the forward bulkhead of the cabin.  Power to the this panel is supplied via a 10 amp breaker on the main switch panel at the navigation station.  The installation instructions called for a 1 amp fuse but the set of fuses that I had purchased in Tahiti ranged from 3 amp to 30 amp, so a 3 amp fuse it was.

Detector under switch panel

Good supply of fuses

I'm very impressed with the unit. It can function with as little as 7 volts of power, which means that it will be going when all other electrical equipment is dead.  (Strangely, the gas detector is the first item to fail on a falling voltage.)  It has a 5 year life and has an End of Life signal to warn that replacement is due.  It can be interrogated to report on the approximate level of CO that activated the alarm. And it has a self test feature.