Running out of water - WARNING system.

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:18 am

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??

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:29 am

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)

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:44 am

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.

WooHaa · Post by **WooHaa** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:17 pm

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.

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:21 pm

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??

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:18 pm

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???

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:23 am

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.

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:39 am

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?

Doctor G · Post by **Doctor G** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:28 pm

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

ChemCool · Post by **ChemCool** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:55 pm

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

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:02 pm

my cars one was removed by someone!!!

i didn't like that at all.

i still dont like it.

i want it back!

ChemCool · Post by **ChemCool** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:04 pm

what was removed? the bottle, the led ??

Chem

veecee · Post by **veecee** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 2:15 pm

the bottle!

i need a waterwasher bottle!

someone thought it was uneccessary weight or something!

johansx · Post by **johansx** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:00 pm

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.

Phinx · Post by **Phinx** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:14 pm

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 ? "