Low water sensor.

[mikeonb4c]

I was wandering whether a side entry float could be used in the header tank with a buzzer or led connected to indicate a low water situation. Here is a link to what I mean
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stainless-St ... cdIx-QcuLw

Any thoughts as to whether this is a practical solution as its very easy to install and would cost under £10.

You could fit an ultrasonic sensor, no need to drill tank it simply fits on the outside of the tank and only cost a couple of quid.

Thats an interesting idea. Are there now LCA kits using a reliable ultrasound technology?

[JulesMartin]

The sensor that comes with it is not the screw in type, you'll have to adapt it to be one, i bought the other type thinking it would work but didnt, wrong impedance so i used the stainless parts to cover my sensor, fitted on in the back of the head where thre two threaded holes are, and another in pas side no 4 cylinder, a switch allows me to choose which sensor to read from, the relay earths the required ecu wires to awitch the fans on full speed, i also have another 3way switch that allows manual fans of both speeds, along with led's to tell me when the fans are switched on by either manual, my mod or the ecu

That sounds like a real belt and braces setup and I'm quite envious. I'm still running-in the skimmed head and gasket and first big(ish) outing tomorrow to Herne Bay will give it it's biggest test since the rebuild. Have you by chance written up on here your wiring of the fans and LED's and switches. I really like the idea of being able to switch the fans manually. if stuck in traffic or a long hill where you know you are gong to push the temp up it must be great to pre-empt the situation.

[Jsmith125]

Excellent - the STC 1000 costs £6.51 from Singapore - its a no brainer really!

Also the ultr sonic sensor on the header tank is a great idea.

[g8dhe]

Nothing extra heard yet but see here https://www.facebook.com/geoff.mather.1 ... 8007012:78
However I know from other experience that getting a useful echo thru thick polythene can be interesting, the above doesn't appear to be a real tank merely a plastic bottle with a much thinner skin.....

[g8dhe]

Indeed, but polythene has a quite strong absorption factor as its flexible and quite heavily deadens the acoustic signal which means you need quite a lot of power and ideally a 1/4-wave acoustic matching section too help focusing and get good results without inserting the sensors inside the tank!
See here for quite a good right up on they type of problems https://www.ndk.com/en/sensor/ultrasonic/basic02.html

[JulesMartin]

The sensor that comes with it is not the screw in type, you'll have to adapt it to be one, i bought the other type thinking it would work but didnt, wrong impedance so i used the stainless parts to cover my sensor, fitted on in the back of the head where thre two threaded holes are, and another in pas side no 4 cylinder, a switch allows me to choose which sensor to read from, the relay earths the required ecu wires to awitch the fans on full speed, i also have another 3way switch that allows manual fans of both speeds, along with led's to tell me when the fans are switched on by either manual, my mod or the ecu

That sounds like a real belt and braces setup and I'm quite envious. I'm still running-in the skimmed head and gasket and first big(ish) outing tomorrow to Herne Bay will give it it's biggest test since the rebuild. Have you by chance written up on here your wiring of the fans and LED's and switches. I really like the idea of being able to switch the fans manually. if stuck in traffic or a long hill where you know you are gong to push the temp up it must be great to pre-empt the situation.

Hacking into the ecu loom to send any false unexpected and deeply untested signals is not something I would advise anyone to mess with, one wrong move and you could fry your ECU, with that said... in plain English, it's not my problem if you fry your ecu trying to copy my doings, however I can say that what's been done it's quite simple, the signal's from the ecu to switch the either of the fan relays on is just an earth, earth the black/orange for speed 1 and then also black/green for speed 2 if i remember correctly, you can always double check the colors and trace it back from the relays, pop your engine temp sensor on and off and feel for the fan relays click if you have to. the only clever bit here is the switch and diodes, another relay and leds as switch position 2 needs to short both orange and green to earth and position 1 just short the orange

Thanks for the info really helpful. I might leave that until really happy that all is well with the cooling system. Good to know what to earth out though in an emergency.

[teenmal]

Nothing extra heard yet but see here https://www.facebook.com/geoff.mather.1 ... 8007012:78
However I know from other experience that getting a useful echo thru thick polythene can be interesting, the above doesn't appear to be a real tank merely a plastic bottle with a much thinner skin.....

Hi Geoff, the poster has updated some results just scroll down . cheers.

[Jsmith125]

Found this thermometer which i've glued the thermocouple onto the header tank to give an indication if anything goes amiss. Not sure how useful this is but its a quick and easy job. See link https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/312874927940?c ... =137722329