On Saturday my car ran out of water, I sawit in time so no damage was done but it was too close for comfort.
I am looking at building something to tell me when I out of water, any ideas?? I was thinking something to put a light on when the water is not flowing in the upper radiator hose, something that can measure flow or something.
What ideas do you guys have??
you can put something similar to what the brake fluid has, very simple to implement, think Freddy can give you loads of details, he has/had something like that for his ChemCool (water/meth) 😂
The problem is the water in the system is flowing so that wouldnt work and I dont want to rely on it syphoning water out of the bottle.
What about a pressure sensor?? If the water leaks out the system the pressure will drop and then that could put the light on. That would be a simple quick solution.
Gary57 wrote:
The problem is the water in the system is flowing so that wouldnt work and I dont want to rely on it syphoning water out of the bottle.
What about a pressure sensor?? If the water leaks out the system the pressure will drop and then that could put the light on. That would be a simple quick solution.
You already have a gauge that measure's water temp & adding one that measures pressure...(just like the oil gauge), seems logical....sounds good.
I have 2 water tempreture gauge and neither picked up I was out of water. The Wolf's one actually got hot hotter when I ran out. I am just wondering if the pressure system would work??
i reckon the theory is right.
a leak in a pressurised system would manifest through a loss in pressure right???
but it sounds like that will work fine in closed water system like most VW's, but i'm not sure about the open types like ours. we have a pressure cap, and thats going to release pressure at a certain critical point, and then your gauge reading will drop.
also, it will show a drop in pressure right, but has that got anything to do with the volume in the system??? what was that silly law we learnt about in high school about pressure, volume and temperature???
cos the temp will also affect it, no???
Yeah VC the school theory is correct but that is the great thing about that idea cause when there is no water the systme will be full of hot air and not much pressure.
Found a better idea... the old Alfa Suds tempreture gauge was never taken from water temp like our cars, it was taken from head tempreture. So obviously when the car has run out of water the head will get very hot and put on the light before any damage is done. I have a few of these lying at home so will try fit one this weekend.
Gary57 wrote:
Yeah VC the school theory is correct but that is the great thing about that idea cause when there is no water the systme will be full of hot air and not much pressure.
Found a better idea... the old Alfa Suds tempreture gauge was never taken from water temp like our cars, it was taken from head tempreture. So obviously when the car has run out of water the head will get very hot and put on the light before any damage is done. I have a few of these lying at home so will try fit one this weekend.
you and your alfa's!!!! 😂 😂 😂
let us know where you intend drilling and tapping the head???
is there a way of getting an oil pressure reading from the head, like the golf guys do?
Just out of interest, how many of you have noticed the window washer bottle warning light next to the fuel light in the dash?
I only noticed it yesterday when it came on. Filled some water in the window washer resevoir and it went off. Never knew it had that... So essentially it's already set up for water/meth injection 😂
Just out of interest, how many of you have noticed the window washer bottle warning light next to the fuel light in the dash?
I only noticed it yesterday when it came on. Filled some water in the window washer resevoir and it went off. Never knew it had that... So essentially it's already set up for water/meth injection
We do this long time ago. whe meth brothers
CHEM 8)
my cars one was removed by someone!!!
i didn't like that at all.
i still dont like it.
i want it back!
what was removed? the bottle, the led ??
Chem 8)
the bottle!
i need a waterwasher bottle!
someone thought it was uneccessary weight or something!
The ideal is to have a sensor which actually reads the conductivity of the water, no water, no conductivity, alarm goes off. Easy to construct a circuit with one transistor and a buzzer, but the only problem is that a constant voltage over 2 electrodes will quickly erode 1 of the electrodes. The only way is with the trusty 555 times ic which oscillate the positive and negative electrodes. Three stage is also a good idea, 1 to indicate full, 2nd to indicate not full but also not empty. 3rd with buzzer, no conductivity at all. If you can solder and don't mind forking out a couple R100, get the Velleman kit nr P2639, water level indicator. Next you need to make a fitting that fits into your top radiator hose with 4 elctrodes at different levels. Use a copper or simular pipe with 4 electrodes, spark plugs comes to mind but t will be ugly.
Kit - Assembly Required
Did you forget to turn off the tap? Is the washing machine leaking? Will the aquarium level go too low? Has the rain water butt overflowed? Do you have water in the cellar? Just a minor mishap, or a disaster! You can avoid all this by installing the liquid level controller in the right way and in the right place. -Level indicator: three led's are used to indicate 'LOW LEVEL', 'MEDIUM LEVEL' and 'HIGH LEVEL'. -Level controller: the relay switches automatically a pump and/or valve on and off to keep the level between 'LOW' and 'HIGH'. -Alarm : an 'alarm' signal is available to indicate 'wet' or 'dry'. Some applications may demand a siren, or perhaps a bell or a lamp may be more suitable. It is possible to replace the liquid sensors with other sensors, e.g. temperature or light dependent resistors (NTC/LDR) and thus use the device as a temperature/light controller. Computer interfacing is also possible utilising input card or interface card K8000
Specifications
* Power supply : 12 to 14 V AC/300mA min. or 16 to 18 V DC/100mA min.
* Supply current : 80 mA max.
* Relay output : 240V/3A max.
* Dimensions : P.C.B. : 104 x 60 x 29mm / sensors : 104 x 25 x 1.5mm
I bought mine from http://www.electronics123.co.za in Pretoria.
Also look at this general purpose engine monitoring system at http://www.madman.co.za/
Use it, don't use it. 😉
I think the question that lingers in my mind is not how do I monitor my water level but “Why is my car using water ? "
MadMan EMS Pricing in ZAR excl Vat October 2008
Recommed Retail Price Johannesburg RSA
MADMAN Products Including Vat
EMS1 Rectangular 1846.80
EMS2 Square 1430.70
EGT Probe 100mm + 2m lead 262.20
EGT Probe 30mm + 2m lead 262.20
Land Rover Td5 EGT plate Tapped for EGT probe 57.00
Land Rover Tdi EGT Plate Tapped for EGT probe 27.00
Land Rover Td5 Coolant Adapter Tapped for Temp sender 136.80
Land Rover Td5 Sump plug adapter Tapped Sump plug for oil temp 57.00
Land Rover LT230 Tapped Sump plug for oil temp 57.00
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VDO Pressure Sender 360/081/029/012 433.20
VDO Temperature sender 323/801/009/001 91.20
Oil Pressure Tee piece 1/8 NPT Running Tee 557.00
Coolant Level Sensor Drill 2 x 1mm hole 273.60
Float Switch RS # 3389744 Drill 22mm hole 273.60
The level meter in the water bottle is not foolproof though. In my case, where a radiator hose blew (sounded like a stone hit the underside of the car), there was still water in the water bottle as I continued to drive. I'd be happier if the sensor could detect:
FFFLLLLOOOOOWWWWWW
of water 🙂
The Madman thing does look good but I have most of those gauges in the car except oil pressure and temp.
Johansx where did you mount the board and the sensor?? I like that idea a lot, even more than the Alfa one. Would it be possible for this to just simply turn on the LED in the cluster that is not being used?? I dont need the 3 stage one just a simple system when there is no water the light must come on.
Gary57 wrote:
The Madman thing does look good but I have most of those gauges in the car except oil pressure and temp.
Johansx where did you mount the board and the sensor?? I like that idea a lot, even more than the Alfa one. Would it be possible for this to just simply turn on the LED in the cluster that is not being used?? I dont need the 3 stage one just a simple system when there is no water the light must come on.
Build this about 3 years ago.... 😳 still not mounted. Best place is probably to mount it at the highest point. Me thinks just where the top rubber pipe goes into the radiator. Yes, you can mount a simple LED only if there is no water at all. It comes with 3 LEDS, red, orange and green. Just extend the red 1 to anywhere on the dash. I want a red flashing strobe light and and a cow protter under my seat ... 😂
Biggest problem is to build the level sensor fitting into the main radiator top hose. Spark plug electrodes with the ceramic insolator should work, just don't know if the steam will provide enough dampness to give a false reading.
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