Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:55:06 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Westy water tank sender
In-Reply-To: <4A93284F.1020606@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Rocket,
If you have the older non-float style, you can probably (when your
ankle heals) contort in such a way that you can pull off the
connectors, sand the terminals, and run another ground. There's really
nothing to it that freezing would hurt. The setup won't work without
water at least over the bottom sensor.
Jim
On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Rocket J
Squirrel<camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> Your floater turned into a sinker? Well, that's no good.
>
> I'll need to look at my tank to see if I've got the float kind of sender
> or the contacts on the side of the tank kind of sender. My van's an 84,
> and Capt. Mike at westfalia.org wrote to say that "VW was not very
> consistent with their water tank level sensors...There are two basic types
> -- one that uses sensors outside the tank and one that works on a float
> within the tank . To make matters worse, VW didn't upgrade the Bentley
> wiring diagrams for the latter type. An '87 should have the latter..."
>
> (http://www.westfalia.org/community/showthread.php?t=187)
>
> So my 84 might have the sensors outside the tank kind of sender, which
> does not have a float, if I read what little is available on the Google
> about this subject. I don't know if the contact kind can be broken by
> freezing.
>
> But I don't know how the contacts kind of water tank level sender even
> works, since clean, fresh water is such a poor conductor I can't see
> counting on the conductivity of the water to flow current between
> electrodes.
>
> Someone around here has the schematic for the LED battery level/water
> level panel.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 8/24/2009 3:37 PM Jarrett Kupcinski wrote:
>
>> This happened to mine, and it was due to the fact that the "float" on
>> the sender unit no longer floated. I fixed it with a piece of styrofoam
>> wedged on the existing float and it works perfectly now.
>> -Jarrett
>> '89 Westy, Oly
>>
>> On Aug 24, 2009, at 4:06 PM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
>>
>>> I didn't do any winter prep of the water system over the winter other
>>> than
>>> drain the tank and run the faucet until dry. I was planning to get
>>> antifreeze for it but the darn RV supply shop was closed every time I
>>> drove by.
>>>
>>> Went camping last weekend and the water system survived, except the water
>>> level LEDs stay on red even with a full tank. It wasn't like that before
>>> winter so I'm wondering if the freezing damaged the sender.
>>>
>>> Anyone have any wisdom to shine on this possibility?
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
>>> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>>> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
>>> Bend, OR
>>> KG6RCR
>>
>>
>>
>
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