Carver Owners Forum

It's a sniffer, not ultrasonic. 12/22 calibrated

I just purchased a 2005 Carver 46, with 400 engine hours. Recently when I start the Port Engine, all is fine. When I start the Starboard Engine the audible alarm sounds and the RED BATTERY light comes on. ? Frustrating. Any ideas?

Farwellplsw. wrote:Qr Bbpost I just purchased a 2005 Carver 46, with 400 engine hours. Recently when I start the Port Engine, all is fine. When I start the Starboard Engine the audible alarm sounds and the RED BATTERY light comes on. ? Frustrating. Any ideas?

Welcome.....a new thread for your issue would get a better response......could you say what engine package you have.

LAZ wrote:Qr Bbpost Thanks guys for all guidance. Pretty sure it is just a gas and propane leak and battery issue detector, but I could find no evidence of any. If it is a faulty sensor issue, does it make sense that they would only go off over 1600 RPM? Don't believe I have a specific "engine" alarm, but will check manuals.

Back to the original issue......

LAZ ,you asked if the sensors could just be bad....anything is possible BUT, because these are safety alarms that are there to warn you of a potentially dangerous situation, you will have to assume that the alarms are on for a reason and correctly alarming until you can prove otherwise. Always consider the alarm as correct.

Now that said, sensors have useful life spans and also require proper testing to verify their accurate operation. If /when you find these things , and they look greasy and old assume the worst and get a new system. My advice would be to replace them anyway unless you are trained on how to correctly test operation.

If and when you find them take a pic and someone may recognize the make and model. Good luck man and be safe.....

Sounds like it could be transmission related. Check fluid. er

bud37 wrote:Qr Bbpost Just to add to the previous....fume detectors are looking for explosive gases , examples are gasoline fumes, propane gas, hydrogen from off gassing batteries etc....except for the hydrogen which is lighter than air, both the gasoline and propane fumes are more dense than air so they will be located in the lowest part of the bilge, that is where the detector sensor should be. They are set to alarm at around 20 % of the LEL ( lower explosive limit ), long before there is enough concentration for ignition.

Exhaust fumes on the other hand will only set one of those off if the engine is poorly tuned ( running rich ) to the point of raw gas in the exhaust fume and you have an exhaust leak in the compartment.

Like has been said it is very important you figure out what alarm you are hearing so you are safe here.

That bolded part is not really true. On most engines and exhaust leak will set off an explosive gas detector. Only on more modern closed-loop engines (with a catalytic converter) will the levels be so low in the exhaust that they won't get one off. Carbon Monoxide is also an explosive gas (trivia: you can actually run most four stroke motors just on carbon monoxide gas!!). Getting a carb'd engine exactly correct to minimize excess hydrocarbons and also carbon monoxide is nearly impossible.

km1125 wrote:Qr Bbpost.... Getting a carb'd engine exactly correct to minimize excess hydrocarbons and also carbon monoxide is nearly impossible.

That goes for all internal combustion engines including EFI and catalyst. The key word here is "minimize"

Viper wrote:Qr Bbpost

km1125 wrote:Qr Bbpost.... Getting a carb'd engine exactly correct to minimize excess hydrocarbons and also carbon monoxide is nearly impossible.

That goes for all internal combustion engines including EFI and catalyst. The key word here is "minimize"

With closed loop and a catalyst, you can definitely minimize it, you just can't eliminate it. With carbs it's tough to even minimize unless you're running pretty lean. What's funny on EFI closed loop systems is that they intentionally don't run as lean as they could because they're relying on an O2 sensorto make sure they're running as close to stoich as possible and not as lean as possible (which would greatly reduce CO).

It's a balancing act for sure, on one hand you have to consider the environment, and on the other you want performance and don't want to damage the engine.

We just need to find some Dilithium

Do you guys see a lot of catalyst applications down there? I've been on several but they're not that prominent up here yet. They sure add to the price tag but are getting cheaper.