Tank level sensors

[dat]

Our tank levels still show 1/3 sometimes 1/2 or 2/3rds full even after dumping, I dump the black water, then flush, then dump the gray water tanks, looking through the clear elbow, nothing more is coming out, then go inside and mash the buttons to see the level and they never go to empty.
Is it pretty common for them to it read close to the actual level?

[Daxinarian]

Lots of posts about tank sensors being crappy (pun intended)
I recently purchased a set of Seelevel sensors that I am planning on installing this weekend (weather permitting) because I am so sick of the DW saying we can’t use the toilet anymore because I used it one time and now the sensor says it is full. She says it must be because I am so full of crap

[Thomas ho]

you can open toilet flap and peek in to see if water is visible. you can open gray valve "just a smidge" cap on but loose at night . drip,drip.or when its raining ,its only soap and water.

[NJKris]

condensation, wet sensors, debris on sensors all give false positive readings. Come back and check it later and it will probably read correctly. The good news is these sensors rarely (never in my case) give you a false NEGATIVE reading. So if tank is getting full, it will not read 1/3 full for example.

[grege]

Originally Posted by Daxinarian

I recently purchased a set of Seelevel sensors that I am planning on installing this weekend (weather permitting) because I am so sick of the DW saying we can’t use the toilet anymore because I used it one time and now the sensor says it is full. She says it must be because I am so full of crap

I wish that is what the factory put on or at least had the Seelevel sensors as an option.

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by Daxinarian

Lots of posts about tank sensors being crappy (pun intended)
I recently purchased a set of Seelevel sensors that I am planning on installing this weekend (weather permitting) because I am so sick of the DW saying we can’t use the toilet anymore because I used it one time and now the sensor says it is full. She says it must be because I am so full of crap

Tell your wife not to mess with the controls, that is man stuff. Then just shine a flashlight into toilet to see how full tank is. Don't drop flashlight though, lol.

[dat]

I don’t worry about it near as much as my wife does, if it shows 2/3 or so, she thinks it won’t hold enough for her to take a shower, then I’m out dumping a probably half full or less tank.

That is good to know that they usually don’t read wrong the other way and show 1/3 when it’s full,

[dat]

I may look into the seelevel , any different system has to be better

[NJKris]

Just tell her to take her shower and tell you if water stops going down drain, at which time you definitely have to dump.

[Daxinarian]

Had stuff backup into the shower one year (I forgot that we had 2 grey tank drains and I only drained the other one.) The “water” was nasty, I never want to deal with that again. I don’t even want to think of the screaming and foul language that would have occurred if that stuff had backed up into the shower while DW was using it.
Although we almost never use the shower, I didn’t understand why there was a domed skylight in the shower until I stood in the shower and realized that it was necessary in order to stand completely upright in the shower.

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by dat

I don’t worry about it near as much as my wife does, if it shows 2/3 or so, she thinks it won’t hold enough for her to take a shower, then I’m out dumping a probably half full or less tank.

That is good to know that they usually don’t read wrong the other way and show 1/3 when it’s full,

I’ve definitely seen ⅓ or ⅔ indications when the gray or black tanks were full. Neither worked at all for the past two years. I just replaced the gray system with Horst probes. They appear to be working okay for now (11 days camping) but I’m still being skeptical.

Funny thing is the black tank system started working again. I’ve read where jiggling the wires around can result in restoring the systems, and I definitely jiggled the wires during installation. I didn’t intend to replace the black tank probes.

[RedRoverComeOver]

Originally Posted by Thomas ho

you can open toilet flap and peek in to see if water is visible. you can open gray valve "just a smidge" cap on but loose at night . drip,drip.or when its raining ,its only soap and water.

It's that along with food scraps, spit, snot, zits, blood, pee, chemicals, medicine and all the other dirty stuff that comes off your hands and body.

[Daxinarian]

Originally Posted by Daxinarian

Lots of posts about tank sensors being crappy (pun intended)
I recently purchased a set of Seelevel sensors that I am planning on installing this weekend (weather permitting) because I am so sick of the DW saying we can’t use the toilet anymore because I used it one time and now the sensor says it is full. She says it must be because I am so full of crap

Well, I tried installing the sensors and it has been an almost complete failure [emoji20]
The tank was not flat enough and the chip popped off the sensor board when I attempted to apply the board to the tank. Now I am trying to decide if I want to sink another $100 to get different sensors that I am still uncertain if they will work

[grege]

Originally Posted by Daxinarian

Well, I tried installing the sensors and it has been an almost complete failure [emoji20]
The tank was not flat enough and the chip popped off the sensor board when I attempted to apply the board to the tank. Now I am trying to decide if I want to sink another $100 to get different sensors that I am still uncertain if they will work

Well that's not good. I was just wondering how it went for you so was looking up this post and saw this. I think I would contact them and tell them your issues. They may have suggestions and even replace the sensor board that lost the chip.

Did you take any pictures? Curious what the tank looked like to cause the problem with mounting. I saw other installs and their tanks seemed pretty flat so they didn't have any issues. Also, what model camper do you have? Just curious.

[ForestWalker]

I am having the same problems with my fresh water tank sensors not reading correctly. (Never reads full) I am pretty sure it's not a toilet paper issue.

Any suggestions?

[Daxinarian]

Originally Posted by grege

Well that's not good. I was just wondering how it went for you so was looking up this post and saw this. I think I would contact them and tell them your issues. They may have suggestions and even replace the sensor board that lost the chip.



Did you take any pictures? Curious what the tank looked like to cause the problem with mounting. I saw other installs and their tanks seemed pretty flat so they didn't have any issues. Also, what model camper do you have? Just curious.

I have a Salem Hemisphere 312QBUD (2012)
The tank has an almost square top corner and then the bottom corner of the tank has a fairly large radius. The sensors are supposed to work on tanks that are 5” tall, and my tank is somewhere between 5 and 6” so I thought I would be fine.
I got the first sensor on the black tank and it seemed to work well, but when I completely filled the tank it stopped at ~86-92%, no problem, I figured I just installed it too high. So when I installed the second sensor I tried it a little lower, unfortunately that was apparently too low and the IC popped off since it was on the radius. I will try posting pictures later tonight after I go back to the camper.

[fella10]

I never look at the sensors, IF they're working perfectly(which you are experiencing that they don't always) they're just estimates of where the level is, ... you don't really know where the level is when going from empty to 1/3, and when the 1/3 light shows, you don't know where the level is as it goes from 1/3 to 2/3, ect, ... I can look down into the black tank to see exactly where the level is at any time(an inline valve to shut off the water to the toilet helps get a good view), ... my freshwater tank is translucent so I can see exactly where the freshwater level is at any time, by looking under the RV, ... and when the gray tank is full it will begin to show in the shower, so why worry about that one, when it's full, empty it, ... a lot of folks spend a lot of time fretting over those sensors that really can't be trusted, so why bother, ...

[Daxinarian]

Here is a picture of the tank, the top is even with the black bar across the top

[rickemo]

After our first trip from new our black & gray tank sensors never show empty, always 1/3 or 2/3 full. So to start this season I put 25 gallon of water in the 42 gallon black tank. After driving 200 miles to our first campground of the year I emptied the black tank and the sensor reading was empty! Ever since the readings are back to 1/3 x 2/3 . I just use my best judgement on whether the tanks need to be dumped, works every time!

[Nick Danger]

After you've used your camper for a while you should be able to"guesstimate" if it needs to be emptied. After 4 days use I'm looking to dump because I know it's getting within range. Haven't experienced a time where dumping early caused any harm. But I don't do a lot of boondocking.