Beware when charging your scooter!

[rucruisn2]

I have a new Pride scooter, which my husband charges in the house.  Well, he charged it the other day and it didn't finish charging by the time we went to bed.  I got up early and noticed the charger was still not charged, one of the lights was blinking red, it was very hot and smelled.  So I unplugged it.  Soon after our CO detector started screaming away.  Check the garage, cars weren't running, no furnace in the house as we live in Florida.  Finally put the detector outside and called the scooter store.  Yes, our battery was still under warranty and no the battery could not cause the detector to go off.  Then I called the Kidde company who manufactured our detector to find out why the CO levels in our house were so high.  Guess what... the battery charging does give off carbon monozide and most surly caused the alarm to go off!! 

My husband took the battery into the scooter store and they said the inside of the batteries had exploded and were a slimy mess.  Never store the battery in a hot car or hot garage they said.  Charge and store it inside they said.  Now I'm nervous about charging the battery in our cabin on our upcoming cruise!  Could have had a tragic lesson learned.

[katisdale]

This is scary. What type of battery do you use? 

[rucruisn2]

Lithium

[chengkp75]

Apparently it is well documented that CO detectors have cross-sensitivity to hydrogen gas, which is given off when you charge a gel cell battery.  Here is a case study:

 

https://hawkenvironmental.com/hydrogen-gas-can-create-false-reading-carbon-monoxide-alarms/

 

basically, unless you have a whole lot of batteries charging, or poor ventilation (not like a ship's cabin), you don't need to worry about hydrogen accumulation, as it won't get anywhere near the LEL (lower explosive level).

[gadaboutgal]

Chief, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.  I am sure many of us with scooters would panic at the thought we were in danger of high CO levels just charging our batteries.

[rucruisn2]

Chengkp75,
Thank you for your for you reply.  Our CO readings were in the 60's.  I think scooter stores should have this info to pass on to clients.  By the way, our new battery charges in 15 minutes.  I have a feeling the original battery was defective.