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Old 09-13-2007, 06:35 PM   #1
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Micro-Pulse Systems Monitor Bites the Dust

It started shuting itself off and now it goes through the startup sequence of flashing lights, but conks out somewhere (different each time) through the process. Looks like it will be easy to swap it out for a new unit, hopefully I can swap parts through the mail and avoid a 5 hour drive to a dealer.
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Old 01-26-2008, 10:07 AM   #2
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Mine has done the same, I'm heading north and it went south. Anyone else have this problem? Any hints on fixing it? A search only turned up this thread.

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Old 01-26-2008, 11:30 AM   #3
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Hey W&S,

We have had a few of them do this too...Bill can sometimes re-calibrate them and everything will be fine and other times we jsut have to replace the unit...not to hard of a job...just contact your dealer or micropulse and they can give you the procedure to re-calibrate OR they can send you a new one...if no luck there, pm me and I will get you with my service guy (Bill) and maybe he can walk you through it.

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Old 01-26-2008, 11:32 AM   #4
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You also might give a shout out to Lewster and see if he can give you some advice today!

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Old 01-26-2008, 12:02 PM   #5
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hi wayne n sam...

is there ANY change of frost in your tanks/lines? i've had very strange start up sequences when really cold,

that return to normal when warmed later in the day...

the micropulse folks are VERY GOOD about sending u new parts to try and fix this system...

the bad news is many of us have had LOTS of issues with the sensors, wiring or main panel control unit....

and the sensors themselves are very hard to access on some units, but very easy to change IF u can get to them.

search under the the 'plumbing threads' or with micropulse (one word) or tank monitors or sensors...

here are a couple to get ya started....

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f444...ors-11864.html

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f163...ion-14877.html

my trailer has had 5-6 sensors replaced and the main control twice...

i did the last round myself, but haven't posted the pictorial 'how to' yet...

soon.

cheer
2air'

or u could have devoman's problem...CREATURES growing in the tanks!

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f444...ank-24903.html
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Old 01-26-2008, 01:27 PM   #6
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Mine does the same thing. Works fine at times and at others goes completely wacky. Temp doesn't seem to have anything to do with the way it acts. Don't bother turning it on any more - I don't boondock so my water tank is always empty and I make maximum use of CG facilities for everything else so the tanks aren't allowed to fill up. Just checked if for the first time in quite awhile and it's working OK now but likely won't last.
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Old 01-26-2008, 03:42 PM   #7
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Beyond the standard Airstream warranyt, the system itself has I believe a 5 year warranty. I contacted the company directly and they sent me out a new one with a return label to send the old one back. They can come pre-configured to your specific model.

I am on my 3rd one.

First one had dead LEDs, manufac sent me a new one, I installed it.

Worked for about a year, Airstream replaced the second one when I was at JC for the same reasons. So now my 3rd one randomly stops reporting the black tank.

I will be contacting the manufac again to get a replacement control unit.
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Old 01-26-2008, 03:43 PM   #8
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If you can locate the sensors by the dump valves pull the connector out and inspect the contact pins. If they are corroded they can cause feedback to the monitor panel.
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Old 01-26-2008, 03:51 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeatAirstream
If you can locate the sensors by the dump valves pull the connector out and inspect the contact pins. If they are corroded they can cause feedback to the monitor panel.
Thanks Patrick...I will give that a try, esp since I didn't really care for tearing into the wall to remove and reinstall the panel.
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Old 01-26-2008, 03:58 PM   #10
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The sensors are easy to access on the Rear Corner Bath models like the 19' 20' 23' and 25'SS Safari.
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Old 07-22-2008, 03:57 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeatAirstream View Post
The sensors are easy to access on the Rear Corner Bath models like the 19' 20' 23' and 25'SS Safari.
I could use a little help with this, I think. I have a 2007 20', and like everyone else my monitor isn't doing it's job. I've replaced the panel, performed the recalibration (twice). Think it's time to have a close look at those sensors.

So how do you access the sensors, exactly? I see the black tank sensor at the exterior dump valve, but not a separate gray, nor fresh tank sensor.

Having access, do they unscrew or what? Didn't want to just yank on a wire to check for corrosion...

Cheers,
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Old 07-22-2008, 04:39 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 5cats View Post
...Having access, do they unscrew or what? Didn't want to just yank on a wire to check for corrosion...
jd the sensors are SCREWED into the tank walls...

in different locations for different models.

the sensor wiring uses rj11 (phone) plugs and that's where corrosion can be an issue.

on some units the access to the fresh/wash water sensors is very tight.

so the belly pan is loosened, or better yet...

a HOLE is cut into the pan near the sensor...

the service shop in j/c cut nice big holes and made screw in belly pan patches for my unit...

that makes changing sensors EASY and it's been done 5 or 6 times now on the unit...

my first post in this thread include links to other threads on this issue...

the VERY LAST LINK includes devoman's pix of a sensor after removal...

cheers
2air'
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Old 07-22-2008, 06:13 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2airishuman View Post
jd the sensors are SCREWED into the tank walls...
[*snip*]
the VERY LAST LINK includes devoman's pix of a sensor after removal...

cheers
2air'
Cool, thanks for that pointer, it helps to know how to take the sensor out.

Now to NeatAirstream's mention that my model made for easy access to the sensors: if so, I'd like to try that access before cutting holes in the belly pan. But the more I think on it the better I like the idea of a cover plate I can swing out of the way (once I locate the right place!). So thanks x 2 for that idea, too

Cheers,
-jd.
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Old 07-22-2008, 06:41 PM   #14
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Whacky Monitor

Mine goes whacky some times too. The latest iteration was when I was using the "flush king" to fill up the gray tank for rinsing. When I would try to use the "Constant Monitor Mode" it would blink past the fresh and gray water lights and then stop on the black water indicator, even though I had only pushed and held the status button once. This post got me thinking tonight so I went out on to the trailer, removed the panel in the coach and refreshed the three RJ-11 connections. That seemed to do the trick and now I can get it to stop at the fresh, gray, and black water indicators.

The monitor is great when it works and very frustrating when it doesn't. I think mine has lost the calibration on one tank or another at least three times. At least now I know the company will replace it without too much balking.
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Old 01-18-2011, 01:20 PM   #15
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trouble with mine too. tt at dealer now for round 2 of fixing. i spoke to randy,customer service at as and asked him "can these units really be fixed or are they just low bidder junk made to be thrown away/replaced?" and he said "they can be repaired."

I don't get it I guess, seems to me alot of them don't work well. is there a better replacement out there? happy with input about that
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Old 01-24-2011, 12:12 PM   #16
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rj11 corrosion

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2airishuman View Post
jd the sensors are SCREWED into the tank walls...

....

"the sensor wiring uses rj11 (phone) plugs and that's where corrosion can be an issue."
I think airishuman is right on the mark about the corrosion with these connectors. Many years back we mistakenly used these on marine applications and found this was an issue with digital level signals. We found filling them with silicone grease applied with a syringe after they are connected really helps to exclude moisture and helped a lot. Connector quality is also important; North American manufactured connectors to old AT&T/IBM specifications are far superior to Asian sourced hardware and will function a lot better and longer.
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Old 08-06-2011, 10:28 AM   #17
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Newbie system monitor question: Just moved in our AS. We ran the systems monitor after about 4 days. The black water showed red. We dumped the black water, all worked great. Flushed afterwards with gray water and did not use sewer flusher since we had no "solid material" in our black water. Ran the system monitor afterwards and all was green. We were feeling pretty confident that we knew what were doing so the past couple of days we have added the "solid material". Ran the system monitor the other day just to see what the levels were and it showed red right beside the word black water. We knew it could not be full since we had just dumped a few days earlier and had been using the RV park bathroom most of the time. We looked in the toilet and saw that it was not full. We went ahead and dumped again, flushed with gray water. Still showed red so we hooked up the hose to the sewer flush and flushed. Still shows red by black water!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhh
Do we need to calibrate? Any suggestions on what we might be doing wrong?
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Old 08-06-2011, 10:57 AM   #18
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The monitoring system is often wrong. You will get inconsistent results as well.

It is possible the sensor is covered with toilet paper or other waste products. It is also possible the electrical contacts are dirty and have to be cleaned—they are telephone wire and connectors. It is possible the monitor has to be recalibrated.

If you have the instructions, you can recalibrate the monitor, or you check the company website for instructions. You can call the company for help if that doesn't work. Cleaning the electrical contacts is much harder since I think you would have to drop the belly pan and it is just not worth it. You could unscrew the monitor from the wall and check those contacts also.

After a while you get to know what is happening without relying on the monitor. It takes a long time to fill a black tank. You can look down the toilet with flashlight to see what is happening. If you overload the grey tank, the shower will not drain, so you can monitor that. If boondocking, we wash dishes in a pan in the sink and put that water down the black tank through the toilet because the grey tank always fills faster than the black tank.

Fresh water monitor readout can be checked when filling the tank if you fill 5 gallons at a time from a container (or 3 or 1 or whatever) and with each 5 gal. see what the light is reading. We've done that and found it working perfectly and a few days later on a trip, it acted wacky.

I think the black tank is the one most likely to have wrong readings. Fresh water least likely.

I think people have been complaining for decades about these monitors and they still don't work very well. After a while, we adjust.

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Old 08-06-2011, 12:06 PM   #19
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Hi, kds; if fresh/gray are still in the ballpark, it's probably the sensor in the black tank, rather than a sudden loss of calibration. The sensors themselves are all the same, but I have found that they don't last very long when exposed to black water. For example, in my present trailer, the sensors originally installed in the fresh and gray tanks are still O.K., but the black sensor has been replaced several times.....some only last days, or a few weeks, tops.
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Old 08-24-2011, 03:47 PM   #20
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We took delivery of a "new" 2010 International Serenity 23D three weeks ago. The dealer is a 7-hour drive from here. It didn't take us long to figure out that the black water monitor was reading "FULL," blinking red, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. We drained and flushed the tank. Turned to Green. Put less than 2 gallons of water in the tank, and it went back to flashing red. Drained and flushed the tank again, went back to green. This sounds like the exact same problem that was being reported in this forum by multiple owners 7 years ago. Has no progress been made on this? This doesn't seem like the "Airstream Quality" that I was expecting.
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