Water tank level lights don't work

JJH3rd · 04-01-2011, 10:57 PM

Folks,

We have recently purchased a 2005 National Dolphin and to get ready to take her on the road we plan to spend a few nights in it in the back yard. Today I decided to flush the fresh water system and then partially fill the tank. I kept checking the water level indicator and before I knew it the tank was overflowing, yet the water level indicator hadn’t budged from empty.

This makes me suspicious of ALL of the level indicators: Black, Gray and Fresh water tank levels. Fortunately the propane tank level indicator seems to work fine.

Right now the fresh water tank is full and when I press the rocker switch to display the tank levels, the 2nd from the bottom light for the fresh water tank comes on and goes out.

First: any suggestions?

Second: where are these tank liquid level sensors (I know they are somewhere on or in the 3 tanks, but where exactly) and how difficult is it to replace them? Or should I be look for some other culprit?

Here is a link to the monitor panel I’m referring to: http://www.jjhei.com/images/Tanklevellights.jpg

I know that in the big scheme of things, this isn’t a major show stopper. I’m not planning on “dry” camping to start with so if I top off the fresh water tank and dump the gray & black water tanks at every opportunity I should be just fine. It’s just that I have a thing about indicator lights that don’t indicate what they are supposed to (I’m not happy with false advertising either).

At this point any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

JJ

Richard S. · 04-02-2011, 07:30 AM

First check all the connections on the back of the of the moniter panel. To access the sensors on the Black and Gray tank you need to remove the water service panel in the service bay. To access the fresh water tank you may need to remove some access panels in the storage compartment. The sensors in your tanks are not replaceable, but you can install new sensors next to them. Check the connections on the sensors and ground wire. below is a link to the panel MFG.
link ----------- bottom

Theberrys · 04-02-2011, 08:43 AM

JJ

You may well be able to replace your existing probes with these.
http://www.horstmiracleprobe.com/buy.php Whatch the video.
They will give you consistent reads and won't acclimate hunk that causes false readings. They install in the same holes as most current probes.

First do the things Richard listed to insure it's the sensors.

Dick

JJH3rd · 04-06-2011, 11:21 AM

I spoke with JRV support and asked about how to determine if the display or the sensors were at fault. Here is the suggestion: To check the sensor probes, clip a wire between the lowest sensor (the electrical “ground” sensor) and the middle sensor – the display should show half full, then between the bottom and top sensor and the display should show full. Wire colors coming out of the harness are: Brown for the black water tank, gray for the gray water tank and blue for the fresh water tank.

In order to do this procedure I will have to remove the water service panel which means a substantial time commitment. When I complete it, I’ll post my findings.

JJ