House Batteries not charging 2011 Via 25Q

[bigb]

Originally Posted by reckless37

Hi-

Your mentioning the fridge reminded me that you previously posted that you made some modifications to the fridge that involved fan(s). I was wondering if you could elaborate on that. Where did you place the fans? How big/CFM? I am assuming 12v. Did you have to pull the fridge out, or did you add them from the outside?

I like the idea of using the pump to transfer some grey to black. I may have to consider that. I will be interested to hear if you do it and how it works out.

The Propane/CO detector fits great. The screw width was off by a tiny amount, but I was still able to use the same holes. One screw had to be forced a little.

For the grey water mod... I thought you replaced the 1 1/2" plug with 1 1/2" to 3/4" or 1/2" female pipe thread and then put a male pipe to hose bib. However, that might hang down a bit more than one would like.

I may have to change more brake lights at some point. After changing the one, during testing I found both of the passenger side brake lights were missing (not lighting up) some LEDs. The place that sells the amber signal lights also sells a red version that would be a replacement for the lower brake light.


Fresh water level:

I can see the sensors that the grey/black tanks use to determine their volume. However, I don't see anything for the fresh water. Mine never reads 1/4 tank (which is the one I would find most useful). I suspect there is something internal, which means it might be very difficult to fix. Does anyone know the specifics of the fresh water tank?

I'll have to look up my fridge mods, there were a lot and yes I pulled the fridge to do some of them, not the fans but the weather-strip, the back wall clearance and the gas venting all of which were incorrect from the factory. All my mods seemed to make bits of improvement here and there but the most improvement I noticed on any single mod was evaporator fans on the inside.

Yes my original gray tank mod was reducing the 2" line to garden hose thread but after that I added the 3" tee and valve so really I now have 3 different ways to empty my gray but I almost always use the GHT adapter on my 3" drain as it is the easiest. I only use the drain on the 2" pipe if I have used the pump since water remains in that section after using the pump and I wouldn't want it to freeze.

The fresh tank level indicator is very bad and like you say it is at it worst when at the last 1/4. Mine only shows 1/4 at about 7 gallons, from zero to 6 gallons it shows empty then when it hits 7 gallons it shows 1/4, but at 8 gallons it shows 1/2, so it is only showing 1/4 for that single gallon. I measured out my fill with a hose attachment meter that measures water, plus I measured water by gallons from my spigot at home and found it to be 12 seconds per gallon or 5 gallons/minute. So now when I fill I don't need the meter, I just use a stopwatch to put in what I want. I have though about getting a better water level indicator, they do make a sonic one that you calibrate to your tank and it has Bluetooth for your phone, but getting to the tank is not something I've looked into. Some way to add an Egyptian level would be nice but keeping it away from dirt and freezing might be an issue.

Meanwhile I made up a chart that shows approximate water levels and taped it to the inside of the wardrobe door.

[bigb]

Here's a link to my fridge mods, I joined this thread at post #30 https://sprinter-source.com/forums/i...threads/61435/ The RML 8555 is not highly regarded as you will see in the thread that others gave up on it and went to a compressor model, and I was told all my efforts would be in vain. That being said I did more to mine than the ones who gave up on theirs and I can now say that the performance is acceptable. We are even able to reduce the setting from high at times, which was unheard of before the mods. Just a quick summary of what I remember:
1 Added a Fridge Defend with fan controller
2. added 8" fans at top vent
3. Added curved aluminum to top of enclosure to direct air out of top vent
4. added evaporator fan unit
5. added thru the wall gas venting to eliminate hot gasses from rising onto cooling fins on back of unit
6. pulled fridge and added 1" foam board behind it to bring rear wall clearance into spec per installation instructions that Winnebago ignored
7. replaced single factory noisy and crooked rear condenser fan with twin ball bearing fans 4"
8. Replaced main propane regulator and drained condensation from propane lines, added drip loop. This brought my gas pressure at the fridge to the proper 11.5" WC while 1/2 of my gas appliances were running.
9. while fridge was out I re-applied weatherstrip to the correct edge (Winnebago put it on the wrong edge and it was doing nothing), leveled the unit where Winnebago had allowed the rear legs to drop off the platform by cutting the platform too short and sealed the unit at the bottom where there had been a big gap to the galley floor. This eliminated the road dust we had been seeing coming in from around the fridge.

Keep in mind I had just retired, Covid was raging and I had lots of spare time on my hands. Having the rig at home in a garage also helped a lot.

If you want quick and easy my suggestion is to go right to an evaporator fan. Also, we noticed that the unit works better if you remove the freezer compartment and leave it home which we do sometimes if we don't need it, plus you get more room in the fridge.

[Morich]

This should get you the wiring for the sensors:
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...ire_152594.pdf
Note that the names they use are a bit different as they show the info for fresh and "main" and then the next lower drawing is for "aux"?
That makes me believe the first is for fresh or black and the second for grey?

But can you spot any difference in the two drawings other than the notes?
Doesn't seem much info except for being able to check for continuity, maybe?
You should have pads on tank sides but often not where they can be seen!

[bigb]

Here is the chart I made, I'm guessing yours will be the same. It's good for folks who work off the top of the tank but with our meager CCC I travel with as little as possible so it would be nice to have something a bit more accurate at the bottom of the tank. As you can see the only time the 1/4 indicator lights up is at 7 gallons, once below that you're on your own.

I don't really think there is anything wrong with it, I think it's just the design. If you come up with anything please post.

[bigb]

Here's what I was looking at: https://www.amazon.com/Mopeka-Check-...579452&sr=8-11

The reviewers say they put it on the bottom of the tank but if you go to the Mopeka web site and look under FAQ they say for pressurized water tanks it goes on the bottom but for non-pressurized it goes on the top, but then on the product description it says "bottom mount". I'm going to contact them.

[reckless37]

Richard-

I think the first 2 are black and grey. This is based on them each have 3 sensors which gives us 3 level indicators. I believe one of the bottom ones are for the fresh water tank and probably the propane. That is why I think the fresh is an internal device, as it's just a wired connector. Like you saw, I the triangle notes indicate ASM tank AUX and ASM tank, water or main. I'm guessing AUX is the propane tank and "water or main" is the fresh water tank.

Brian-

Interesting product. If it worked, it would be pretty slick. I do worry about the reviews. I have found that if more than 10% of the reviews are 1 star, be careful. This had 12% one-star reviews. Negative reviews say it's very hard to get to work. On the other hand, a lot of people say it worked well for them.

If it could be installed without removing anything, this would be an excellent solution. I am tempted to try it by installing it temporarily, testing it and if works, make it permanet. If not, back to Amazon.

FYI I might have to put some RV work on hold for a bit as we are moving into a a house this week. I suspect that will keep me busy for a bit.

[bigb]

Marty I know what you mean about reviews, and I am always suspicious as to any possible bias. I have also learned to read between the lines, on many products the end user just didn't understand the product, or gave a 1 star due to something not having to do with functionality. Often you can surmise why a user had an issue and often it was user error.
Anyway I wrote to the company and the current model that goes on the bottom of the tank is all they have at the moment but they are releasing a new one that can go on top of a shallow tank like the Via's.:

Hey there,
That's a great question. In short, yes and no. The current top mount sensor we have is designed for tanks at least 4 feet tall. However, in about 3-4 weeks, we will be releasing a new sensor designed to top mount smaller non-pressurized tanks. So as of now, unless your tank meets the size requirements, then you would have to wait about another month before a proper top mount solution is available.

Giuliano La Puma
Mopeka Support

I have not looked at tank access yet though, but if I recall the bottom is completely encapsulated in metal.

[reckless37]

I too believe the bottom is covered in metal. However, this device appears to be initially designed for propane tanks. So, it seems like it must work going through metal. Which seems like something that would be hard to do, but I'm no sonar expert.

It appears that it should mounted on the top and that we need to wait for a new version. Do you know how hard it would be to access from the top?

[bigb]

Originally Posted by reckless37

I too believe the bottom is covered in metal. However, this device appears to be initially designed for propane tanks. So, it seems like it must work going through metal. Which seems like something that would be hard to do, but I'm no sonar expert.

It appears that it should mounted on the top and that we need to wait for a new version. Do you know how hard it would be to access from the top?

I haven't investigated yet. I doubt it would work on the bottom, I think it has to be in contact with the tank. The tank also looks to be contained in a insulating foam box according to the images on the Winnebago site. Next time I'm in there I plan to look from under the bed to see if any part of it is visible there. Another option might be to cut an access inside the storage compartment with the sliding doors on the TV wall.