Forum Discussion

CavemanCharlie's avatar
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Jan 15, 2014

Fresh Water Tank Sensors

First off let me apologize for being bad at math. And, It's not a big deal because I can open a compartment door on my TT and see the fresh water tank. (That is what I do to check the water level) But, my fresh water tank has 4 evenly spaced sensors mounted on the side of it. Then the control panel has 4 lights for these sensors. But, the lights say: Full, 2/3, 1/3, and empty. How do you get 1/3rds from 4 evenly spaced sensors? And, why does it need that sensor on the bottom to tell you it's empty? Shouldn't it have 3 sensors and when it falls below the last one,, it's empty?

And, they are not very accurate.. It falls below the Full light almost right away. Then it stays at 2/3 for a short period of time. Then it stays on 1/3 for a long time. But, when it says empty, you are really quite close to empty. And, when you look in the tank after it says it's empty there is still enough water in it to be touching that bottom sensor. Hopefully you all can explain this to me because I just can't figure it out. Thank-You and Have nice Day.
  • Artum Snowbird wrote:
    They can be misleading at times. What I did for my own knowledge is filled it up, then began to drain it out into a measured bucket. As each light went out, I noted how much water I had taken out of the tank. Once I drained the tank, I knew for a fact what each light really meant.


    Good idea. Sounds like a good project for me to do as I de-winterize next spring.
  • Ooooo, I see. Ya, thanks Jerry9n for the diagram and the rest of you for answering. The sensors are actually putting a little currant through the water to see how full the tank is and it needs the bottom one to be a ground. Makes sense now. By looking at the diagram I'd say that whomever put my sensors in just didn't measure where to put them and just drilled the holes by guessing.
  • Jerry9N Thanks for information on the sensors through the PDF file. This gives me a better understanding on how this system works. Jerry
  • 99% are KIB panels. KIB used to have schematics and diagrams on their website, but removed them. They are floating around. Not sure if this is helpful for your situation but gives an idea how they work.

    Click here for PDF
  • Bottom is a ground, and I have never seen any that were properly spaced so 1/2 = 1/2 ect.
  • They can be misleading at times. What I did for my own knowledge is filled it up, then began to drain it out into a measured bucket. As each light went out, I noted how much water I had taken out of the tank. Once I drained the tank, I knew for a fact what each light really meant.