Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:43:44 -0400
Reply-To: Ryan Perry <rjdperry@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ryan Perry <rjdperry@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Westfalia Water Tank Level Indicator Issues
In-Reply-To: <CA+n284Pj5shgkLNXnFFpkFrHdbRSEQ6_opJNcsfH5hVa6+YHfA@mail.gmail.com>
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Hmm, well I do live in the mountains and our water is known for magical
properties. (Its interestingly why we have 32 breweries in our city)
So if I ground the yellow bolt/connector it glows strong at yellow. Even
seems to start to indicate the green just slightly.
Does that mean my ground is compromised somewhere? And to fix I just wire
up a new ground for all the connectors?
Maybe leave it that way till my kitchen comes out again and I can look into
it? I just pulled it about a year ago and redid everything, wonder if
perhaps I didn't get as good a ground as I thought. My original fridge has
not been working so well thinking maybe I pull that to take a look and can
also check behind for grounds.
Thanks for the help ya'll. Camping this weekend so would be good to get
this fixed if to just say its done for a while.
Ryan in Beer City, USA
On Fri, Aug 24, 2018 at 9:33 AM pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Weird indeed.
>
> If you run a wire between the two in-tank level positions, then does the
> light come on full and strong (and not fade over time)? I am guessing yes
> from what you said about touching the wires earlier.
>
> If yes then I think problems with the circuit board is eliminated and the
> conductivity of the water you're using is in question. You could try
> adding some salt.
>
> I'm not sure exactly why off the top of my head (maybe David Beirl has an
> opinion?), but I think the fading behavior you see is actually consistent
> with a dearth of ions in in water. You can try an experiment with a
> voltmeter and a glass of water. Set it to measure resistance and put the
> probes in the glass. The resistance rises over time. Take out the probes
> and replace them, the resistance is back where it was, but rises again.
>
>
> I guess another possibility is that there are some conductivity problems
> at various wire connections that are making things borderline, and then the
> difference between your water conductivity and perfect conductivity is
> enough to push it over the edge. So if adding salt fixes the problem, you
> might find some connections you can clean so that the salt won't be
> required.
>
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2018 at 4:01 AM Ryan Perry <rjdperry@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> No distilled water, just regular old tap water.
>>
>> I went and checked it again and sure enough when I flip the switch starts
>> off with the correct indicator then fades to red. Flip it off again and
>> wait a few seconds and the same.
>>
>> Weird right?
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 9:13 PM Jim. Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > That's a good point. But doesn't really explain the fading-away thing.
>> >
>> > Jim
>> >
>> > On Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 7:12 PM pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > > You're not using distilled water are you?
>> > >
>> > > On Thu, Aug 23, 2018, 15:21 Ryan Perry <rjdperry@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > > This one has been stumping me for a while and can't seem to figure
>> it
>> > > out.
>> > > > Wanted to see what the collective brain trust thinks.
>> > > >
>> > > > Turn the switch on the kitchen to power the system on.
>> > > > 1) No water no lights. Correct.
>> > > > 2) As soon as it hits red bolt turns red. Great.
>> > > > 3) As soon as it hits yellow bolt turns yellow. Awesome.
>> > > > 4) Give it a moment and it fades back to red. Huh?
>> > > >
>> > > > If I take the wire that goes to the bolt for the yellow indicator
>> and
>> > > touch
>> > > > it to the bottom most bolt the light turns immediate strong yellow.
>> > > Remove
>> > > > it and it goes back to red. OK, that would make sense.
>> > > >
>> > > > At first I had cleaned all the bolts figuring it was just a
>> corrosion
>> > > issue
>> > > > and it was working well but then after a few minutes it slowly faded
>> > back
>> > > > to red even though it is above the yellow bolt. Do I have a weak
>> ground
>> > > > somewhere that is blocking signal? Clean the bolts inside of the
>> tank
>> > > more?
>> > > > Redo my connectors?
>> > > >
>> > > > Small potatoes but it just irks me a little since it seems like
>> such a
>> > > > simple system.
>> > > >
>> > > > thanks for any help or advice!
>> > > > Ryan in Asheville
>> > > >
>> > >
>> >
>>
>
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