false meter reading

[mikie]

My problem is now determining what the actual levels are in my holding tanks. For example when my black water tank has 1 gallon of fill it reads full (top bar) on my meter panal.When drained it reads zero. If my tank holds 14 gallons is there an adjustment? My grey tank is similarly inaccurate. Appreciate comments.

[Gulfstream Greg]

You probably have some bad connections. You might have to remove the wires from the tanks and clean them up. Also look for splices in the wires going from the tanks to the panel as any even slightly bad connection will throw the readings off. Most of the panels have adjustment pots, you might have to remove the panel from the wall to get to them. To adjust fill your waste tanks full with water then adjust for full. With the fresh water empty then adjust for empty. Even after all that they still may not be accurate. There are some good ones on the market now that work better than the 80's and 90's eras.

[Maineah]

See Level units they read in percent very nice very accurate good replacement they stick (and I do mean stick!) to the outside of the tanks nothing inside. http://www.rvgauge.com/

[mikie]

My goodness you both are a wealth of information. You ought to start your own sales yard for toy motorhomes. Oh yea they don't make them anymore. I cleaned the contacts on the panel and that seems to have helped greatly. Now my black tank goes to full read at 8 gallons while my grey reads full at 6 gallons. There are no "pots" to adjust on the panel that i can see ( I removed the panel and examined it). I continued to add water and the black took 14 gallons, but the grey was overflowing into the shower tub at 8 gallons as I put water in at the sink. Any thoughts on this?

[Derek up North]

Have you checked the other end of any ground wires involved. Bad grounds can introduce all sorts of gremlins. It wouldn't take long to add a brand new temporary ground wire to see if it helps. All this assuming that these circuits have a ground somewhere. I've got to admit that I've never messed with these circuits.

[Maineah]

The 4 light systems are a bit funky in the way they work each tank has 4 sensors giving you a guess of some where around 25% + or - so some thing between 1/4 and 1/2 will still read 1/4 until it reaches 1/2 not real good or worse yet 3/4 then full. I junked my 4 light system because I really had no ideal what was in my tanks if junk gets on the sensor it see that as a level even while the other sensor see the some what correct level. Frankly I would not try to fix the original finding parts is real iffy if not impossible. Weekend camping is no big deal but long term can be a real problem not knowing what's in your tanks. What I have found with my See Level unit I can account for just about all the water certain amount in the gray and a certain amount in the black and they all come out to a few % of what fresh water has been used. As far as your tanks it seems as if they should hold a bit more then the fresh tank does and you filled them with 22 gallons so that's probably right.

[Gulfstream Greg]

Its been awhile since I looked at the See Level, I assume it also reads the propane level. My propane tank has a electric sensor that screws into the tank, it sat on 1/3 for a couple of days, just wondering if that has to be replaced. Its a 8 gal tank that holds 80% which would be approx 6.5 gals and it tool 4.5 to fill it. Might be my only reading that is near correct. We have been on a several day trip, dry camping for 4 nights and the black water tank showed full the whole time. Right now we are with full hookup to sewer, both tank valves wide open, the black reads full and the grey reads 2/3rds. I think I need the See Level setup. Piece of mind with those tanks is worth their weight in gold as far as I am concerned. I had the fresh water tank out last year and cleaned up the connections (bolts in the side) and it seems fairly accurate.

Here is a funny story, when we were dry camping for 4 days, on the 3rd we decided to break camp and search out a dump station in Trinidad CA. One park we visited was closed due to a wedding and would not allow us to dump. Accidentally on the way back to camp I pulled off the freeway into a rest stop, the exit before ours. As I was heading back onto the freeway in the right corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of what looked like a dump station. Like What? I backed up and changed course and sure enough there it was, Our dumpy saviour! And it was FREE!