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Autotrail Tribute T680


Bob R

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Hi 

Im experiencing problems with my alarm on the cold water level alarm which seems to have a mind of its own. I’ve tried tank cleaner, I’ve had the end cap off the tank but can only find to two what feels like threaded screws on the inside with wires under tape going to each of the screws on the outside of the tank. They vehicle is as above 2017 model, does anyone know where the actual sensor is ! TIA

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The sensor used when you have a EC155 / B are studs that go through the side of the water tank and replacements can be found in the www.sargentltd.co.uk shop (water/waste sensors section , with the replacement studs shown at the bottom of the list) also if you look at the power systems section in the shop you will find the  EC155 /B with links to its fitting instructions that show these water level sensors and their connections.

Their support / help centre / knowledge base  may also be useful for information.

Edited by Labby
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Hi

I was underneath yesterday and all I could find was what appears to be two screws through the side of the tank one near the top and one about six inches down from that, they have wires going to the outside under the head of the screws! Seems pretty basic to me hence my post in case I was missing something else, I’ve removed the tank end cap and cleaned the threaded bit inside but the alarm still sounded. Is there anything else I need or can do !

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Does your fresh water level display show Empty, 25%, 50%, 75% and Full?

If so it needs a 5 wire harness as shown on the Sargent Electrical website https://sargentltd.co.uk/shop/product/ec155-fresh-water-harness/342

image.png.a0ade57ccf6430c0517656e8127df6e4.png

And here are the 5 studs to go with the harness https://sargentltd.co.uk/shop/product/ec51-fresh-water-studs-and-screws/136

image.png.46dae7d359fe6f2538c36bb7b2cdf60a.png

I'm guessing your tank is insulated so you need to find the remaining sensors and clean them.

Keith.

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The replacement kit for the water level sensor system used with an EC155 / B includes 5 x studs , so , as suggested by Keith , the other sensor studs may be causing the problem.

If you are sure there is only two studs Sargent technical department may have other suggestions if you give them a ring.

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Thanks chaps I’ve found the 5 way connector so I’ll just race the other wires to the remaining sensors, when replacing the screws is it just a case of unscrewing them and replacing with new screws. I assume that there’s nothing inside the tank that needs to be held whilst unscrewing from the outside!

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Have a look at the items in the Sargent shop , the replacement kit shows  both the 5x screws and  5 x ( threaded ? ) seals that are used to fit them .

Edited by Labby
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On 18/04/2024 at 14:00, Bob R said:

 . . I'm experiencing problems with my alarm on the cold water level alarm which seems to have a mind of its own. . .

When you say that the cold water alarm has a mind of its own what precisely do you mean – it may help to know?
 
Personally, I don’t see replacing the studs will make any difference, they appear to be be simple (stainless steel?) bolts designed to allow electrical contact between the DC-VE line and the studs used for monitoring. If the monitoring is erratic I’d suspect a poor connection to the studs or a damaged or poorly seated cable harness. Perhaps to test the system it would be worth progressively linking the DC-VE line to each of the stud monitoring lines (they appear to be colour coded) to see what the effect is. At least that way we’ll be able to narrow down to the area at fault.
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My next move is to use a meter and connectivity test all the cct from the connector to the screws inside the tank also clean all the connections under the screw heads. I just need to find the other three screws ! 

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I had the same problem after the last trip out with erratic readings, including the lights lighting in sequence ladder fashion and red light and bleeper warnings.

With a full tank a correct all lights reading but as soon as level dropped, probably below top stud, the erratic readings start. I have no way of getting to the inside of the tank so decided to remove the sensing screws and replace them. 

Now the first issue. For some reason the Wellnuts used in the kit are around 25mm which means that as you attempt to unscrew the screws because of the scale/corrosion the screws won't undo and just twist the uncrushed rubber within the tank, meaning you are unable to remove them! This meant the only way to remove them was to pull them outwards, the excess rubber allows this, and then cut them off thus releasing the wires. Unfortunately this does mean, certainly in my case, the remaining portion has to be pushed into the tank.

On inspection I found that the wiring appeared to be only crimped to the tags and I believe this plus general corrosion was causing a resistance, so not just the scale on the screws. I therefore soldered new tags to the wires. I decided against using the long rubber Wellnuts on reassembly and used some shorter ones, approx 12mm, which are readily available on a well known internet site! These were just a little longer than the thickness of the plastic tank and made a much better and tight fixing. On reassembly I used Copperslip between the screw and the wire tags and also smeared it over the screw heads and tags, from the condition the old ones were in, I decided it was a better option than the silicone that had previously been used as it certainly hadn't stopped the corrosion. I then recovered with waterproof tape as the original setup

Bas

p.s. Sorry for long reply!

Edited by Basil
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Had a chance now to test the system and I am pleased to say this has completely cured the issue. So I would say I am pretty certain your issues are being caused by the sensing probes and/or connections.

Bas

Edited by Basil
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