The fresh water level sensor in Brunnhilde failed in June of 2013. I had since replaced it with a "new and improved" one that is constructed of a stainless steel tube rather than a plastic tube. Just when I thought it should last much longer than the original one of 9 years. Not so fast. In the owners' forum in North America there has been many report of the "new and improved" sender failed of late.
I decided to look into the parts to build a spare should my stainless steel one fails. I offer to my friend that I will help him rebuild his and make myself one or two spares.
my still-good sender that is constructed out of a stainless steel tubing
from top to bottom - the new and improved sender with SS tube, the original failed sender with plastic tube that I dissected to reverse engineer the construction and circuit, the one from Vanagon Westfalia Camper that lasted over 25 years
I wanted to find out how many discrete step the Central Electronic Console in Brunnhilde is capable resolving; I use a 20 turn precision potential meter faking as the water level sender
all three bars - tank full display
two bars - tank 2/3 full
zero bar - tank near empty or empty
There is one more step if the sender is not in the circuit. The tank symbol would disappears from the Central Electronic Console all together.
So from my test the "new and improved" sender that is constructed out of a SS tubing has only three steps. Full, Half, and Empty! This was something I previously never noticed. The new sender would show one of the three bars significantly full, half, and empty. However the old plastic sender has one more step that is no bar. Hence full, 2/3 full, 1/3 full, and empty.
the float all the way at the bottom
but there is still one bar
I aim to rebuild a spare with the original sender with 4 levels.
I didn't realize that the replacement was missing a step. I think I have a couple of those as spares, but perhaps it's better to rebuild the original. As always, I look forward to what you come up with!
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