Powering a Carbon Monoxide detector

[Blitz]

I have 12 volt FireBoy - Xintex Sentinel Carbon Monoxide Detector that I purchased last summer but am just getting around to hooking up:
http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|135|2290081|2290083&id=337647

My question is on whether I should hook it up like a bilge pump in that it's always powered by the batteries full time or should I hook it up through the battery switch so that it is only powered on when I'm at the boat and the battery switch is on?

The background is that I want to avoid nuisance alarms when I'm not at the boat and also needless battery drain. I'm in a marina most of the time and when the fishermen start up their boats there is sometimes that cloud of smoke that hovers over the boats when they first start up (my neighbor's boat has shown this tendency).

I do not have a propane stove, it's alcohol.

I normally have the battery switch on anytime I'm on the boat - so might still get those nuisance alarms when my neighbors starts up and I'm there.

How are most boats wired from the factory? I assume they are always on since most cruising boats today have CNG or LP gas stoves or heaters.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tim R.]

I would only power it when people are on the boat. If it is always your practice to switch on your batteries when boarding then that should work fine.

 

[FastOlson]

Detecting the Invisible

We installed a CO detector several years ago at the insistence of our insurer.
Pondered similar thoughts to yours -- wanted it "on" when we were aboard, but not otherwise.
What works for us is having it wired to the cabin lighting breaker.
On our boat, that's the first circuit we energize when we board and the last one we turn off when we lock up and leave.

Link to our install story, with some good followup comments.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?6713-CO-Detector-on-duty

Loren