Hey friends, welcome back to Grand Adventure!
I'm your host Marc Guido, and if like us
you hate those inexact sensors on your fresh water tank,
you're going to appreciate this week's episode because we are installing
the Mopeka Pro ✔ ultrasound freshwater tank sensor, so stick around.
So the way this little guy works is it attaches to the bottom of your fresh water tank
and it sends an ultrasonic signal up through the tank
to measure how high the water is in your tank.
So you have to have access to the underside of your freshwater tank.
You have to know how tall your fresh water tank is.
And then it connects to your phone via Bluetooth
to give you an exact percentage of how much water remains in your freshwater tank.
Now if you watched last week's episode you know
that we were dealing with a disaster with our fresh water tank
as we stupidly caused a situation that caused the tank to literally
drop right through our underbelly onto the ground.
We got that all fixed in last week's episode
but because we had easy access to the tank we figured,
why not take the opportunity to install the Mopeka Pro ✔ sensor on our fresh water tank?
So please excuse that my hands are all beat up and stained
from repairing our broken water tank in last week's episode,
which we'll put right here on the screen if you didn't get a chance to see that.
But we're taking advantage of the opportunity to install
the Mopeka Pro Check water tank sensor that uses ultrasonic technology .
Right here in the center is a little ultrasonic sensor
and this mounts on the flat surface on the bottom of your water tank
using this clip ring right up against the tank.
It measures the height of the water in your tank for an exact reading
to show you just how much water you have left.
Now hand in hand with this project we're installing an inspection hatch,
a marine inspection hatch that will allow us to access through our underbelly
the sensor that we're about to install.
That sensor has a battery life of about two years
and that'll make it super easy to change the batteries.
We're going to epoxy this ring right onto our underbelly.
Here are our existing traditional tank sensors that show 100% full,
two-thirds full, one-third full and empty.
Is it any wonder that they are so inexact?
Look at how they were placed in there by the factory.
Look at how close together they are because our tank is only six inches tall.
So look at one-third left and empty, they're almost exactly right next to each other.
This will be a lot more precise for when we're boondocking
and trying to manage our water resources.
As were were replacing the corrugated poly underbelly panel beneath our RV
that was damaged in the water tank mishap last week,
that gave us the perfect opportunity to place the cutout for this 6" marine inspection hatch
right in the underbelly before we put it up under the trailer.
Understand that if your underbelly panel is not damaged the way that ours was,
you can simply trace out the hole for the inspection hatch
right in the underbelly panel as it's sitting beneath your trailer,
being careful to not damage your water tank in the process.
The poly underbelly material is soft and easily cut with a utility knife.
Our water tank is wrapped in this reflective insulating barrier,
so we're going to have to trace out and carefully cut a section for the sensor
and its retaining ring, again being careful to not score the polyethylene water tank itself.
Let's pause for a moment to ensure a correct fit.
We're next going to apply to the tank some of the primer provided with the sensor
to help the 3M VHB tape on the retaining ring to adhere to the tank.
After breaking the seal on the tube,
it's applied in much the same way as ink from a magic marker.
Next, we'll squeeze a pea-sized dollop of dielectric grease, also provided in the package,
right on the sensor to improve its contact with the tank.
Finally we'll snap the sensor against the tank with the retaining ring.
Care should be exercised when separating the two halves of the retaining ring,
for you may notice that we've already cracked it in one spot.
One spot shouldn't matter,
but cracking it in two places will render the retaining ring useless.
Next, we're going to mix up some two-part plastic epoxy to attach
the outer ring of the marine inspection hatch to our poly underbelly material.
We'll now press the outer ring of the marine inspection hatch into place.
You don't want to be here holding this with pressure until it cures,
so have something handy to hold the hatch ring in position under pressure.
We're going to do exactly that, and leave it overnight to cure and harden.
Now the next morning,
we'll enhance the placement of the hatch by inserting the six provided screws,
ensuring that the tips of these screws won't reach our water tank and pierce it.
Finally, I'm going to make extra sure on the seal
by surrounding the inspection hatch with a bead of silicone caulk.
Connection to the free Mopeka Tank Check app on your phone is made via Bluetooth,
and is as simple as opening the app and holding down the sync button
on the sensor until it appears in the app.
Within the app you input the height of your tank -- in our case, six inches --
and the update frequency, as longer update intervals increase sensor battery life.
Let's now drain the tank and check back periodically to ensure proper calibration.
Sure enough, it's steadily going down as the tank drains.
And by the time the tank is drained completely, the sensor reads "Low".
By monitoring our water consumption while boondocking more precisely,
we'll be better able to effectively manage our resources
and prolong our boondocking stays.
So we truly hope that you found this episode's information useful to you.
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