Am I In Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Risk From Portable Power Station?

[visitorfromsomewhere]

Hi. I'm nervous about using a "power station" that was kindly gifted to me a few days ago. It's this one : 200W Portable Power Station, FlashFish https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T48L6C...abc_GJ0PAKMF9N2AM9FXT20Z?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

If you reply please keep in mind in not tech savvy on this topic so please reply with simple terms.

I haven't used it yet because I'd heard of people accidentally dying from carbon monoxide poisoning and wanted to do more research. Even now in Texas there's headlines like "Two dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after using a car for heat in Texas winter storm

My friend knew this and emailed the company and they replied writing, "The battery itself won't exist a danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, it's just a lithium battery, like the power bank... we can confirm the battery itself won't produce carbon monoxide or any other dangerous fumes.
If their item is identified as a "Power Station" why are they specifying the battery in thier reply, I wonder. I want to email them a follow up to clarify. Is the item entirely (not just the battery) safe to use inside the back of a cargo van while inside of it?
I got a cargo van to live out of last fall and I've been in it full time for a little over a month now. I previously lived out of my SUV from around 2010 to 2017 and I was in CA so I was ok enduring the weather. Now I'm in a western desert state and the nights are between 50 and 40 degrees. It's cold in the back of the van where my bed is but I endure it ok.

Should I get a carbon monoxide alarm just in case?

 

[visitorfromsomewhere]

I don't know what's up with all the "font" weirdness in my post. It's also on Reddit at

Moderator Edit - fixed the formatting in your first post

 

[wayne49]

Doesn't burn fossil fuel, so no hydrocarbons and oxygen are combined in creating the electrical power.

No carbon monoxide can be produced by the sun shining on a solar panel.

 

[wayne49]

Tip, paste the desired text into a simple text editor, to get rid of hidden html, etc., then copy from the editor to the forum.

 

[bullfrog]

It is basically a battery with lots of built in options for charging and using 200 watts of power. Usually all the charging options involve hooking it up to a power source such as plugging it into solar, ciggy plug, or a wall plug. It really doesn’t create power it just uses stored battery power or excess power from the charging source.

 

[jacqueg]

Should I get a carbon monoxide alarm just in case?

Thank you.

Whether they're called portable power stations or solar generators, they're basically a rechargeable lithium ion battery, just like your cell phone battery or your camera battery. And just like any rechargeable battery, you have to recharge them from some kind of electricity source.

Many of us do carry CO and/or CO2 detectors, but not because we have and use rechargeable batteries. It's because we burn candles, use our cookstoves, or have some kind of combustion heater inside our vans. then you really do need a CO alarm.

BtW, getting a 2000 watt power station for free is a pretty good deal.

 

[jacqueg]

Should I get a carbon monoxide alarm just in case?

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[jacqueg]

Sorry for the double post!

 

[jonyjoe303]

I have over 312 ah of li-ion (similar to your lithium) and another 220ah of lifepo4 inside my van where I sleep, those types of batteries don't give off fumes.The batteries that give off fumes are lead acid, those batteries I wouldnt keep inside my van unless it was an agm.

Your very safe with your 20ah lithium power station. The power station uses the exact same batteries (18650 li-ion cells) that are used in laptops.

 

[Weight]

As all have said, that is just a battery with a cheap inverter. But you should have a CO detector if you sleep or live in a vehicle. Also if idling your engine to recharge that battery will be creating lots of CO that could enter the vehicle and kill you. Note; CO is Carbon Mon-Oxide. It is a deadly poisonous gas that accumulates in your blood. A little today, a little tomorrow, there is a lot and there may not be another day. There is also Carbon Di-Oxide. Not poison, but it replaces oxygen and puts you to sleep, maybe for a long long time.

 

[Zmann]

Yes

 

[Sofisintown]

No

 

[Weight]

Maybe?

 

[RoamerRV428]

on Reddit and got this answer: It is just a battery. It can’t produce CO

CO comes from burning things.

NO

 

[XERTYX]

As stated producing CO comes from combustion or certain chemical reactions. Discharging a lithium battery does not produce CO. An actual "generator" does produce CO by burning gasoline, diesel, propane, etc.

Many of these power stations are mistakenly referred to as "generators". They're not, they're storage batteries. Flooded lead acid batteries can produce hydrogen gasses. Lithium batteries are sealed. No off gassing.

It's still a wise idea to have a detector if you're planning on being inside while idling, cooking, using a heater, etc.