On our 1990 U280, the tank monitor on the dash went blank. Any chance for repair somewhere? Or, if anyone has any suggestions for a new one, it would be much appeciated!
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It could be any of many issues with the old Javelina Audit systems. You can get new sensors if that is the problem but not likely. There is not much support for these any more and diagnosis and repair is hard.
Many switch to SeeLevel monitors. Do a search to find posts. RVUPgrades.com susually has pretty good pricing.
Garnet 709 Seelevel II Tank Monitoring System (http://www.rvupgradestore.com/Garnett-Technologies-Model-709-SeeLeveL-II-p/709-1003.htm)
It $185 for this kit. On the 2001 U320 the installation is pretty easy. All three tanks are accessible in the bay where the water pump and the water manifold is located. Wires run up through the floor above the water manifold where other plumbing already goes through. Then the wires run under the closet floors and up behind the drawers in the BR TV cabinet. The display fits nicely on the wall just above the CO detector. Two wires come from the LP tank through bulkheads and back to the water bay and then up into the cabinets. They attach to the existing LP gauge wires. I didn't do anything with calibrating it since the LP tank is coming out anyway.
We debated placement of the display and decided we liked it in the bathroom. It is at eye level. Easy to check when you need to (you will look at it all the time at first. We look at every couple of days now or less. We can easily go for a week on a fill of water. We left the Audit scree alone. It is now gone, replaced with a color backup camera monitor, another very nice change. Rear and right side camera. Cool.
The kits come with 6", 12" or 16" strips. The tanks are about 23-24" tall. Youncan get extra strips but it is about the same price to just get two kits with 12" strips in each. The strips get trimmed at the designated places to get about 22" of strip length per tank. The second display can get mounted over by the water hose.
You can use the 16" strips and one display. The fresh tank strip gets mounted closer to the bottom of the tank, about 1-2" from the bottom. It lets you know when you are running out. The waste tanks get mounter towards the top. You want to know when they are getting full.
It is nice to have the fresh tank have strips all the way to the top. It helps prevent over fills. You can do that with a single kit wit 16" strips and one extra 12" strip (they want the strips to be about the same length when trimmed)
All of the sensor wires connect to just two wires. All of the black wires get connected to one wire, all of the blue wires to the second wire. The display knows which signals come from which sensor strips.
You pick up 12 volts (+/-) any where you can but closer to the battery or at the boost solenoid or at the isolator under the bed for more accurate readings.
The six wires (2 from the LP tank, 2 from the sensor strips, 2 from battery) commect to a plug that connects to the display. You can also run wires connected to the six wires over the top of the fresh tank to the other side for that display.
The display shows battery, LP, Fresh, Gray and Black. If you press the fresh button and hold it for a couple seconds then it will stay on for several minutes (handy when filling)
Nice explanation as usual, Roger. Couple Q's. How do these strip sense? Has anyone done anything with ultrasonic sensors that you know of?
Thanks so much for the reply. I think I will go this route!