Fresh water Level

[Dicbed]

I just bought a used 2022 17MKE & have been going through it getting to know it... I filled the fresh water tank & the Monitor Panel still shows it empty..I know it's full as water was coming out of the blue overflow tube next to the Gate vavle... What should I be doing ? TIA

[howson]

I just bought a used 2022 17MKE & have been going through it getting to know it... I filled the fresh water tank & the Monitor Panel still shows it empty..I know it's full as water was coming out of the blue overflow tube next to the Gate vavle... What should I be doing ? TIA

There are probes attached to the side of the tank that are wired either to a OneControl board or directly to the control board. (Post a picture of the panel where you check the water level and we'll know which setup you have.)

In reality...none of the sensor setups (for black, gray and fresh) are worth the bother of messing with in my opinion. They are notoriously inaccurate. The best of the current aftermarket setups is made by SeeLevel. ncitro (Neil) is very familiar with it. If you're interested reply back and he can elaborate when he sees the tag I just entered.

Howard

[Dicbed]

here's a picture of my panel

[howson]

here's a picture of my panel

OK. Your trailer has a X180T "CompassConnect" Unity board. What I've hightlighted is where the tank leads plug into the board.



According to the documentation available to me, this board should be somewhere under / near the sink.



Howard

[Cate&Rob]

As I have noted in the past . . . looking at those level sensors only serves to raise my blood pressure. They will never give you accurate information. I haven’t pressed those buttons on my RV in years !

Rob

[Dicbed]

So are you saying the wires have come off or they are locked out????

[howson]

So are you saying the wires have come off or they are locked out????

No idea. It could be a problem with the probe on the tank, it could be a pinched wire between the tank and X180T, it could be a bad connection at the X180T, it could be a fault in the X180T itself, or possibly even a panel failure. (The latter not likely.)

If you've got experience troubleshooting electrical problems, this could be quite the interesting challenge. But...as the cliche goes...is the "juice worth the squeeze"?

Howard

[ScottK]

I recently installed Mopeka Procheck Universal tank sensors on all 4 of my holding tanks (propane tanks already had them). Calibration takes a bit to figure out, but now that I have been on a trip with them, they are great. You can use the Mopeka app to see the levels, but I have them setup with my Victron Cerbo GX for ease of use (also I find it easier to make calibration adjustments via the Cerbo GX).

[Reacher]

So are you saying the wires have come off or they are locked out????

Could be. My wires were improperly stripped (too short) allowing them to vibrate out on the first trip.

[bellis]

I recently installed Mopeka Procheck Universal tank sensors on all 4 of my holding tanks (propane tanks already had them). Calibration takes a bit to figure out, but now that I have been on a trip with them, they are great. You can use the Mopeka app to see the levels, but I have them setup with my Victron Cerbo GX for ease of use (also I find it easier to make calibration adjustments via the Cerbo GX).

How does this work? With a little googling, the only thing I found is for steel tanks and basically LPG. How is this working on your various poly tanks?

Reacher - I don't want to hijack your thread with a non-answer to your question....but like Cate&Rob I haven't touched mine in years. I replaced via Victron and some ultrasonic sensors. Check out post #89 on the following link. I need to update that thread a year or so in. Still glad I did it.

https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...nitoring/page6

[howson]

bellis
(cc: ScottK )

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I couldn't get the Mopeka Pro Check Universal Sensor with Mount Collar to calibrate accurately. I spent three days wrestling with the device, moving it to different locations on the tank and trying various calibration methods. Regardless I could not get the readings accurate both when the water tank was full and then nearly empty. I could get it right at one extreme, but never both.

I'm amazed Scott got it to work and would love to see where the sensor is and his calibration method.

Me? I want the SeeLevel (that is only available to OEMs currently) that will allow monitoring over multiple tanks.

[ScottK]

[QUOTE=bellis;n133198]

How does this work? With a little googling, the only thing I found is for steel tanks and basically LPG. How is this working on your various poly tanks?

bellis The key is to find the one that is for poly tanks: https://mopeka.com/product/mopeka-pr...and-poly-tanks

You can buy them on Amazon for less, but also if you ask Mopeka support about buying a bunch of them at once, they may give you a discount code. You're going to want to get the mounting collars. On Amazon it's easy enough to get them included for free. On Mopeka, look for the kits that include them, or add them on.

[ScottK]

bellis
(cc: ScottK )

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I couldn't get the Mopeka Pro Check Universal Sensor with Mount Collar to calibrate accurately. I spent three days wrestling with the device, moving it to different locations on the tank and trying various calibration methods. Regardless I could not get the readings accurate both when the water tank was full and then nearly empty. I could get it right at one extreme, but never both.

I'm amazed Scott got it to work and would love to see where the sensor is and his calibration method.

howson So, this probably should be it's own thread. If a moderator wants to make it so, go for it. I should preface by saying that 1) Victron has better software than Mopeka at this moment and 2) Mopeka told me this week that they have a major app update coming, and that they would try to implement a suggestion I gave them for a non-linear calibration curve. In fact, I sent them schematics of the tanks Grand Design is using, to help them with that. I also asked Victron to make similar changes, but who know how long that will take to go through. They already are pretty good, in comparison.

Step #1 is to find out how big your tanks really are. Grand Design lied about all 4 of my tanks on the VIN-specific spec sheet I was given. They said I had 45 gallons of fresh water, 82 combined of gray water (so 41 each, right (wrong)), and 45 gallons of black. ALL of them turned out to be wrong. I used two different brands of flow meters (because I couldn't believe what I was seeing). It turns out that my fresh water is about 55 gallons, and all 3 of my other tanks are 36 gallons. Why is GD making such dumb mistakes? They have listed the black tank as being 45 gallons continuously, forever. It's not. Mine is 36 gallons. I suspected they were all the same when I took the underbelly down to install my Victron system. They all looked the same, and they are, except the fresh water. I'm happy the fresh water is bigger than stated, and not so much about being cheated on the others.

Once you know your true capacities, the calibration is much easier and makes more sense. In the Mopeka app, make sure to pick horizontal tank, "other" shape. In the Victron Cerbo GX system, just answer their questions accurately, and you are halfway there.

I did have to contact Mopeka when I was having trouble getting correct empty readings. They told me that there needs to be a couple centimeters of water in the tank for the sensor to measure correctly. This is when I decided to focus exclusively on the Victron app. Victron allows you to see real-time measurements from the sensors, in cm. With that data you are allowed to set both low and high readings. I don't think the Mopeka app allows that, yet (I assume it's part of their forthcoming updates). So, I was able to set, for example, on my gray tanks, that empty = 5 cm and full = 22 cm. Then the Cerbo GX was remarkably accurate. And, it somehow seemed to learn after a few fillings and emptying's, what was really empty, on all my tanks. I'm really impressed with Victron's software.

Where I am still having a bit of issue is with the fresh water. When the tank is 25% full (known for sure using flow meters to fill), it reads 40% full. That is not accurate enough for me, and is why I contacted both Mopeka and Victron. Like I said, Mopeka asked for more info about our tanks, and I supplied it . We'll soon see what they do with it. It's certainly not unique to have uneven tanks, as large horizontal propane tanks need some special calculations, as well. This Mopeka system is so superior to the dumb factory sensors, that it's worth it.

There is a special issue for black tanks. Don't put the sensor under the toilet. You're asking for trouble. When I queried Mopeka about making it work on black tanks, they told me that others had made it work using this product: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I instantly ditched Happy Camper and tried it. It works!!! FYI, Mopeka was clear they don't promise it will work on your black tank - but it does on mine. The black tank sensor works well, using this product. Mopeka told me about a new sensor they launched for black tanks and marine uses, that mounts on top of the tank, Good luck using it in an RV (access for install), but they have an option now, if you need it.

I used boat hatch covers in the underbelly to make easy access for battery replacement. These are the ones I used - installed with butyl tape and shorter screws than supplied (I just didn't want to risk the included screws rubbing on the tanks, but they probably would have been fine): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...TF8&th=1&psc=1

And some photos: https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...H25m1qSGZtTaxg
The clear tank is the fresh water and the other is one of the other tanks. The fresh water one is right by the drain. The others I placed near the low end of each tank, near the center.

I just realized I didn't explain why it's difficult to get correct readings on RV tanks. If you haven't looked at yours, here's the deal. They are long narrow rectangular tanks that fit up between the floor struts. The bottoms are either sloped in two directions or sloped in the long direction and curved in the short direction, for drainage. So it's a non-linear fill/drain situation. In addition, at the tops of the tanks, there is often a lip that accommodates a lot more capacity in a small area. I'm going to see if I can post the schematics here:


The second one is shown upside down, and is theoretically the freshwater on a 2021 Imagine (not in my case). These come from GD's own partsfinder tool, so I hope they won't object to this post. On my 2021 Imagine 2800BH, I have 3 of the first tank, but my freshwater is quite a bit larger than the one shown above and the drain is on the bottom, not the end. Who knows what they were thinking. Mine was built in July 2020, as pandemic was getting going. But still, why the inaccurate specs? I would love to hear from GD on that. Actually, I'd love to get a corrected spec sheet for my trailer.

Here's my incorrect spec sheet: https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared...2SLFhrpV9gOoyx

This post should probably be under plumbing, but I just got word from a Mopeka engineer, to place sensors here:


That's basically what I did for gray and black tanks.

[Mckenzie]

Hello we have Reflection 150 280rs. Was wondering how you found your tank locations to install your Mopeka pro. Did you have to drop part of the underbelly cover to find a good sensor location on each of your tanks. Then install the covers for easy battery replacements.
Did you try the happy camper to see if it worked with the Mopeka pro or does the other black tank chemical work much better. I'm already using Happy Camper but will change if it makes the Mopeka pro function in the black tank. Thanks

[Country Campers]

Hello we have Reflection 150 280rs. Was wondering how you found your tank locations to install your Mopeka pro. Did you have to drop part of the underbelly cover to find a good sensor location on each of your tanks. Then install the covers for easy battery replacements.
Did you try the happy camper to see if it worked with the Mopeka pro or does the other black tank chemical work much better. I'm already using Happy Camper but will change if it makes the Mopeka pro function in the black tank. Thanks

Just wanted to let you know to check out Kleen Tank. They give a recipe for store bought items to make your own tank cleaner, no harsh chemicals. We have been using it for about 3 years and are very happy with it.

As far as locating the tanks, you will have 2 tanks that are length wise from front to back right under your pass thru storage, black tank on door side and bath grey on the other side. The kitchen grey will be almost right under the kitchen sink but towards the front of the camper. The fresh tank is behind the rear axles, the drain gives up its location nicely. With any after market tank sensors you will have to open the under belly to gain access. Check out Seelevel as they use battery power from your onboard battery so there is no batteries to access or change.

Welcome to the Forum. We have the 29RS which is the same as your 280RS but with the bedroom slide, so I am familiar with the tank locations and other items in your RV.

Brian