Water Tank Gauge - Bavaria

[njsail]

It seems my water tank gauges aren't providing accurate readings any longer. Yes I could pull up the beds fore and aft and look at the tanks but it's a pain. Any tips on figuring out what part is broken the sending unit in the tank which doesn't appear to have any moving parts or the the actual water level gauge by the navigation table. I have a 2001 Bavaria 40 Ocean CC. Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Playtime]

I've got the 38 Ocean but not had any problems with the tank gauges so can't help directly.

However, does the fault affect both front and rear tanks and, if both tanks, did the fault(s) appear at the same time? If the answer is yes to both questions then the odds are it's not the senders it's the gauge (read out) end that's the problem.

You could unscrew the panel with the gauges and see if anything looks obviously wrong. However, it is an electronic panel and there is not much to see!

If there is nothing obvious then maybe a call to Clipper would give you the bad news about the cost of a new panel.

Sorry I can't be more help.

Edit - Just noticed that you are USA based so delete the reference to Clipper (the UK Agents for Bavaria (and spares)) and insert your own local Bavaria agent!

 

[njsail]

The gauge reads wrong on both front and back. Where I'm puzzled is the gauge seems to only be just that a gauge. Do you know if there is any electronics between the gauge and the sending units? I can't seem to find any. I may have taken apart every system on my prior boat but I haven't worked on the tank monitoring system of this boat yet. I might break down and buy a new monitoring system for 2 water, 1 fuel, and the holding tank. I've been caught a couple times with a full holding tank which is no fun....especially when I have a bunch of women aboard when it happens. hmmm....strange coincidence? Here goes another boat dollar.

 

[duncan99210]

The senders in the tanks are essentialy 4 wires dipping down into the water. If they're become bent or distorted, then you'll get inaccurate readings. Only course of action to repair them is to get to the tank tops and remove the units.

 

[itspaul]

As above there are 4 wires that sense level and a common there is a multipin connector close to the tank sensor check the continuity on the plug i had probs with mine and i now have a sensor fault where my gauge drops from 3/4 to 1/4 so the 1/2 sensor is faulty on the tank sender ....

 

[Playtime]

The gauge reads wrong on both front and back.

This indicates that the problem is in the gauge or the power supply to the gauge etc.

As I suggested earlier, take out the panel (4 screws?) with the gauges and have a good look around inside. There are some electronics to convert the 4 wire signals (assuming you have the same 4 wire (0, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% read out)) system others have mentioned) into the percentage read out.

The problem will be understanding the electronics as there are no circuit diagrams available AFAIK.

Good luck!

 

[njsail]

For future reference to anyone looking for information on bavaria water gauges referencing this thread....I found out there were two types of boards used for the gauge. One has the small board soldered onto the rocker and another has the electronics board wrapped (not soldered) onto the water tank rocker switch. I'm just waiting to go down to the boat to see which gauge I have because i don't remember seeing a board.