Sealevel II Gauge Issue on Excels

[Endeavor2BnC]

Originally Posted by rockintom

For some reason, I don't think that'll fix your concern, based on conversation with Gabe at Garnet. If that was the case you could have just keep the old probe sensors and gauges. My old system worked fine if I keep the sensor clean by juicing up the water in the tanks with cleaners. There would be no benefit to having SeeLevel gauges. rockin'

Tom,

First of all, I didn't order the Sealevel gauges on this rig. They were already installed. In fact, I could only make cosmetic changes, like take out the FP and make it a cabinet with shelves.

Secondly, I like the Sealevel gauges over the three screw system because of the greater accuracy. It doesn't help with dumping because I do that at any level. Remember, I'm 99%.

Third, if the Purple Power can keep the tanks clean and the gauges more accurate, it's a whole lot cheaper than the stuff they sell at CW and it saves a whole lot of time from not having to change sensors. That leaves more time for FISHING!

[gdbontly]

Originally Posted by Endeavor2BnC

We have been having readings that were bogus. Tanks are empty and still had 40% grey and 30% black. I used about 1/2 gal Purple Power in each tank in our site change today. The total distance was about 1/2 mile. Emptied the tank and now we are back to normal readings. I do believe that I'll use a smaller amount and leave a gallon or two in the tank on our next move. That should cure any residual sludge on the tank walls.

Tim, What "power readings" are you getting from your two sensors? Press the gray tank button and hold, then press the battery button, release both. My black sensor has ALWAYS read P94. When my gray sensor went bad a few months ago, it was reading P41. After replacing the gray sensor, it was back up to P94 again. Now it's reading P17! I think this test gives a good indication of what the problem is with false readings. I received the second new sensor from Garnet, but haven't installed it yet. We won't be traveling again until Memorial Day weekend. I may just hold off on installing the new sensor until after that trip. Before we leave, I'll clean the tank like you did and let it slosh around while we travel. Then I'll check the power reading again to see if the cleaning made any difference.

[Endeavor2BnC]

Originally Posted by gdbontly

Tim, What "power readings" are you getting from your two sensors? Press the gray tank button and hold, then press the battery button, release both. My black sensor has ALWAYS read P94. When my gray sensor went bad a few months ago, it was reading P41. After replacing the gray sensor, it was back up to P94 again. Now it's reading P17! I think this test gives a good indication of what the problem is with false readings. I received the second new sensor from Garnet, but haven't installed it yet. We won't be traveling again until Memorial Day weekend. I may just hold off on installing the new sensor until after that trip. Before we leave, I'll clean the tank like you did and let it slosh around while we travel. Then I'll check the power reading again to see if the cleaning made any difference.

The grey reads 74 and the black read 94. Do you know what the other messages re all about?

[Bruce and Jenna]

Murphy's Corollary
"Fancy gadgets don't work."

[gdbontly]

Originally Posted by Endeavor2BnC

The grey reads 74 and the black read 94. Do you know what the other messages re all about?

d1A just says you are in diagnostic mode. The "P" value is the power and the "h" value is the height of the sensor (not in inches, but in number of sensor pads). See Chapter 7 of the attached SeeLevel II Manual.

SeeLevel II Model 709P3_Manual.pdf

[rockintom]

Just an update on my SeeLevel Gauges. As you remember, last November my grey sensor went haywire and my readings were all over the place and Garnet sent me a new sensor which worked great....until last night. I closed the grey valve to allow the tank to fill so that I could do that final rinse on the sewer hose after a black tank drain and flush. I was watching the gauge and the reading was 6% and then went quickly to 100%. Then as the tank got more water (like 25%) the reading became accurate again. While talking to Gabe (tech at Garnet) this AM about this issue, he thought that I may have got something on the wall of the tank that gave that bad reading. I explained that I read where an item on the wall would have to be 1/2" thick and be solid to give a bad reading on the gauges. He went on to say that in the unlikely event that anything that has the ablility to retain water can give a false reading too and he bet that was the issue on mine as when the tank got more water in it it became accurate again. Like Tim had mentioned on this thread he does a clean up of his grey tank with chemicals to keep his functioning correct. I didn't understand that concept until Gabe's explaination. (Sorry Tim). So now we know that the SeeLevel gauges are not the perfect gauges we thought they were, even though they are considerably better and more accurate than the old probe systems. Hope this helps someone facing this issue. rockin'

PS......this is another reason to make sure that you have as much as possible the dishes cleaned from grease and food particles before washing dishes in the sink. The grey tank and sensor don't like it!

[Bruce and Jenna]

They can send a man to the moon....

[Bruce and Jenna]

BTW - 10 months now with the Horst Probes in my gray and black water tanks. Still working as expected, with no special tank cleaning. So far, looks like a good alternative.

[rockintom]

Originally Posted by Bruce and Jenna

BTW - 10 months now with the Horst Probes in my gray and black water tanks. Still working as expected, with no special tank cleaning. So far, looks like a good alternative.

Yeah Bruce, I thought by the way the Horst probes are designed.....they would havta be a heck of a lot better than the original "shorty style" probes.....you havta wonder why the original manufacturer don't make them like the Horst? Maybe they also are in the tank cleaning solutions business!!!!

Thanks for the update. While your old gauge system doesn't have fancy percentile readings......but at least they are now working as they should and relatively accurate. rockin'

[gdbontly]

Just returned yesterday from a couple days in Tucson. I put a couple ounces of black tank chemicals down the bath sink and drove home with the gray tank half full. The gray tank sensor seems to be working fine now, showing a power level of P89!

[thebings]

I just installed the seelevel II system with a second monitor in the wet bay. The system was very erratic, sometimes it would work, sometimes not. Sometimes one button would give me an "open" reading and the next time I pushed it it would give me an "error" reading. After trouble shooting for hours, I finally found a loose (not properly crimped) blue wire in one of the pigtail wiring harness. After I fixed that, it is working fine now, keeping my fingers crossed.
Don

[rockintom]

Originally Posted by gdbontly

Just returned yesterday from a couple days in Tucson. I put a couple ounces of black tank chemicals down the bath sink and drove home with the gray tank half full. The gray tank sensor seems to be working fine now, showing a power level of P89!

Yeah Glenn,
I've gone through 2 tanks of grey with a cleaner (Basic Geo Method) and gauges returned to working normal. Just FYI rockin'

[gdbontly]

Originally Posted by Endeavor2BnC

I called them the other day and was told that by our using Dawn dish washing soap, a film could build up and cause an erroneous reading. I always thought Dawn was the grease cutter of grease cutter soap. He suggested riding with Thetfords cleaner and 1/3 tank. I hate going down the road with anything in the tanks. There should be something else that we can put in there to cut the grease w/o causing more problems. Any suggestions?

Tim, what dish soap do you guys use? Jan is a BIG fan of Dawn, and she used LOTS of it. I just replaced the gray tank sensor again (last weekend), and it hasn't budged from 100%. Power is great at P94. It has to be buildup on the tank walls. We don't move very often, so not much opportunity to agitate the tank.

[Sereniti]

The eternal probe problem.... It's hard to fix no matter how fancy the equipment is. I had the same problem in my tanks on both coaches. With repeated fill and flushing it improved.

A mechanic told me about the MEXICAN TANK CLEANER and I LOVED IT!

Basically put a bunch of ice cubes down the toilet with some water and take it for a drive. IT WORKS!

Changing sensors and throwing chemicals at it takes so much time and mess... And with the left over ice cubes (unused of course) you can make Margerita's!

Originally Posted by rockintom

PI have been installed the much desired Sealevel Tank Level Indicator Gauges since 2011 as standard equipment on the Limiteds. This system is so much more superior and accurate to the old probes in the tanks that have been around forever.

Anyhow,

Just wonder if anyone using this set up has had any issues with theirs?

Our coach is 2 months old and the gauges have work fine until last week. When the grey tank is empty (gate open at park) I started getting a reading of 25-29%. It's almost acts like an old probe system when the probes got dirty (sludge/gunk) and you got a higher reading. In diagnosing the operation, I closed the gate and let the fluid build and it became accurate after I had more than 25%. Then open the gate to drain all water and it went back to 25% when empty. I then added some black chemical into the grey tank and let it set a while and now the gauge appears to be accurate (when empty it reads 0%) Again, it almost seems like the old tank system reading with "dirty" probes. We are pretty cautious of what goes into the grey tank. (clean crud off dishes, no oil or grease and I no longer pee in the sink)

Anyone else experience this? Thanks guys! rockin'