Aug
06
2014
Votronic water gauge
With a tank of 425 liters, it makes it a bit more difficult to buy an off the shelf depth gauge to tell how much water is remaining in the tank. Most devices are sized for a shallow caravan tank, around 250mm deep. Our tank is 600mm deep, so I had to search around for a much longer unit.
I found a unit made in Germany called Votronic that would read down this deep, so I ordered it from a NZ supplier. Cost was about AUD$100.
Fitting the sender was straightforward. Drill a hole in the top of the alloy tank.
You can see the 2 arms that do the measuring. They sit about 20mm from the bottom of the tank.
Once inserted it has a very low profile. 8 rivets and some sealant and it's all done.
The underside of the tank is a bit exposed on ramp-over, so I made up a skid-plate to sit underneath it.
It is made from 8mm HDPE plastic sheet. I welded a brace across the sheet for a bit more strength, and cut some access holes to get to the tap and to let dirt/water drain away. It is easy to weld, and is amazingly strong and rigid
Inside the cabin is the reader for the gauge. It has a simple 10 stage indication from 0% to 100%. Touch the button briefly to get a reading. Sorry about the crappy picture - it was taken at night on my phone.
BTW - the thing to the right is my switched fuse panel. Green light means power is on. Red is off. Each circuit on the truck has its own sub-fuse, so things like:
- Internal ceiling lights
- TV
- Fridge
- Water pump
- Hot water service ignition
- etc
They all have their own fuses and can independently be switched off, for example switching off the water pump whilst travelling.
Here's a better picture of the internal meter.
Completely unrelated to the water gauge install, but I backed out our old Land Rover Defender 130 into the yard to get some things out of the shed, and these two ended up next to each other.
If you are a Land Rover person, you'll know that a lifted 130 is not exactly small, but it is quite dwarfed by the MAN!
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