Water System Upgrades

[Sky_Boss]

I thought I would go ahead and give some details on a total water system upgrade package I did over that last few months. It includes replacing the Digital-Level tank/battery monitor system with a pair of SeeLevel 709-RVC-PM displays, updating the wet bay for dual filters and supporting an RO system and the RO layout.

I'm using Vimeo to share some videos so we will see how this works.

Video reposted in message #8

Would someone let me know how sharing the video works and let me know?

[RKins]

The share worked well. The video size is pretty small though - hard to see. Thanks for sharing - the upgrade looks very good. I didn't see a regulator in the system though.

[allworths]

Worked perfectly. You’ve just reset the bar higher for future posts. Great job btw on your wet bay. On the SeeLevel system, is the RV-C network interface required for your DSDP?

[tlkhorses]

Good video, turn the phone sideways will make more movie like. Thanks for the time you took.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by RKins

The share worked well. The video size is pretty small though - hard to see. Thanks for sharing - the upgrade looks very good. I didn't see a regulator in the system though.

I'll work on the video size and see if the next 2 can be larger format.

My regulator is an adjustable one set at 65 PSI.

THANKS!

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by allworths

Worked perfectly. You’ve just reset the bar higher for future posts. Great job btw on your wet bay. On the SeeLevel system, is the RV-C network interface required for your DSDP?

I removed the original Digital-Level readout for both the tanks and batteries and replaced it with one of the SeeLevel displays. Because of all the other stuff I can see I opted to have the SeeLevel show chassis battery voltage. Between my ME-ARC and the Power Control System I have easy access to house battery voltage.

I did not integrate my SeeLevel in any other system except for the pump switch. I'll have more details on that upgrade later. The short story is that I could repurpose the 3 pairs of wires for the original tank sensors to support both the SeeLevel operations and the pump switch. I didn't have to run any extra wires but I did have to correct the schematic I got to reflect the actual wire colors I was looking for from the big wire bundle over the black tank up to the control panel. BTW...I also added an alarm LED to the SeeLevel panel that gives me a red light if the fresh tank goes below 20%, gray tank exceeds 75% & black tank exceeds 80%. I get about a 10-12 flush warning before the tank sensor shuts our toilets down.

[Sky_Boss]

Originally Posted by tlkhorses

Good video, turn the phone sideways will make more movie like. Thanks for the time you took.

Clearly, I am no threat to Mr. Spielberg. Good Idea...

As they would say...the film is already in the can but I'm about to provide a link to a higher resolution version. I will see if that helps.

[Sky_Boss]

I'm not real savvy about this so let's see if this is better.

https://vimeo.com/349326041

EDIT: I quickly took a look and I don't see it being much better for size however I went with higher resolution so you can expand it on your screen to see it better.

[Sky_Boss]

This is an overview of my RO side of things. I opted to put the RO in the "peg board" bay. I also replaced the peg board with 1/2 plywood covered on both sides with fiberglass panel. Also I replaced the original aluminum frame with some wider aluminum angle pieces so I could push things back about 3/4".

You will also see that I split the board. The RO side is 24" wide and the other is just a little less. I can remove the non-RO side easily to access most anything I need to without disturbing the RO system.

I apologize for my filming skills and hope this is a little bit better at the higher resolution so you can expand your view to make it easier to see things.

https://vimeo.com/349364260

[Sky_Boss]

This is a little more detail on the boost pump operations and things you might find interesting about how it works.

https://vimeo.com/349366405

[Sky_Boss]

A few more pictures over a few new posts to fill out the project.

This one shows the project nearing completion. You can see a couple of the SeeLevel sensor strips and part of the fresh water tank along with the entire black tank. Just to the left near the top of the fresh tank is the float valve.

I mentioned in the videos about my fresh water tank reading 87% full. With the coach being slightly passenger side low that is what it shows after the float switch turns off the pump. That 87% could change a little up or down based on how level the coach is but with the sensor strip being so close to the float switch I wouldn't expect much difference.

I should note that in a perfect set up I would have installed the fresh tank sensor on the water bay side on the corner towards the front of the coach. This would have been the closest place in reference to the fresh water port outlet giving the most reliable indication of when the port would uncover and thus the house pump would start sucking air. I just didn't think it was worth the effort to somehow manage that in the confined spaces of the wet bay. I would probably have had to remove parts of the wet bay panel. I accept that the left-to-right balance of the coach will have an effect on where my SeeLevel indicates I will start sucking air. As it stands, my highest % is 87% and I start loosing suction at 8%. Since the float switch is near the sensor strip, I don't expect the 87% to change. Given that the sensor strip is as far forward as it is thus abeam the port on the other side that front-to-back level changes won't compound the error.

I also admit I took a slightly more careful/conservative approach to where I drilled my 1 1/4" whole into my fresh water tank. I could have possibly drilled that whole a 1/4-3/8" higher. That could have allowed me to get higher fill level % than 87%. I wanted to make sure the flange of the float switch was clearly below the top of the tank. Call me chicken or just prudent.

It should also be noted that based on the SeeLevel sensor and the height of the tank that the fresh tank level changes in 4-5% increments. So as I fill my empty fresh water tank it goes 0, 4, 8, 12... However, showing 87% means my high point could be actually be 91-92% but not quite enough to trigger the next higher reading. That also means my low point of 8% could be 11-12% as we are currently level.

So using rough estimates you could say my float shuts off the RO system when I have about 87-90 gallons and my house pump starts sucking air with 8-12 gallons still in it. So, on average from "RO Full" to outlet port uncovered I have about 75 gallons of usable water.

It should also be noted that the float switch is normally CLOSED until the water level rises enough to OPEN it. This seems backwards to me but it is what it is. This does provide an opportunity to easily override the switch if you want to fill the tank to the top. The simple answer is to unplug the 3 wire plug connecting the float switch to the Tank Level Controller (TLC). Doing this opens the sensor circuit and it will continue making water until you plug the connectors back together. Later this year when we get tucked into our Yuma AZ site I plan to add a 3 way switch to the circuit. The first position overrides the float switch and opens the circuit to disable the pump and shuts the RO system down, the second position is normal operations and the third position overrides the float switch to keep the RO system running to top the tank off.

[Sky_Boss]

I installed the SeeLevel displays in both the wet bay and on my newly designed control panel up front. I'm really happy with a slightly different layout. I also needed to make room for my remote display to my Progressive Industries, hard wired 50 amp surge protector.

I am not a wood worker but I have a great little wood shop in town that I provided drawings of the lay out and they did all the cut outs and a C and C machine. SWEEEET! The original panel was about 1/4" too high and I had to bend it to get it out of the cabinet. I fixed that problem with this one plus I use 1/2" panel for the job.

By know you have probably notice that big, bright red light below the SeeLevel display. Yes, it is bright but the photo makes it look brighter than it is. So...what is it?

Those of you that have the macerator toilets know about the red light you get when at 10 PM you flush a toilet. The SeeLevel 709-RVC-PM display has an alarm feature. The pigtail connector has an orange wire that provides a ground path if you set up the display to have alarms. I simply wired an LED ground side to that orange wire and the power side to the power lead for the display. I used a 3mm LED with a holder and drilled a 1/4" whole below the SeeLevel to mount the LED. I then programmed the alarm to go off when fresh got below 20%, gray exceeds 75% and black exceeds 80%. We get about 10 flushes after the SeeLevel alarm lights up.

I also opted to wire the SeeLevel to monitor the chassis batteries. I have 2 other displays that give me house batter voltage.

[Sky_Boss]

I'm not bad with my hands on some projects but this one presented me some other challenges. I picked the brains of folks, got pictures, asked more questions, got more pictures...

Norm Mac - His set up is similar to mine but much more elegant! This guy just knows things and how to do them well.

zalaska - Jeff's set up is more compact and fits entirely in his wet bay. His was the first RV I saw a whole RV system installed in. We couldn't talk him out of giving us his 2015 DSDP 4369 back then so that not only did we copycat him both in buying the same year and model coach but also stealing his concepts for the RO system.

Dave at the RV Water Filter Store - Dave was important in many aspects of this project. We tried to pick the best package of stuff. When we tried on water pump that just wasn't the right fit he quickly worked with me to deliver a different one and processed the return of the first one. He also suffered a ton of questions from me.

[Mapnerd]

This is extremely impressive, Don! Thanks for sharing!