Those of you familiar with RVs know that it’s nearly impossible to know how much propane is in your tanks, as equipped from the factory. If you are going on a short trip, you may not need both tanks to be topped off, but you can’t have them empty either.
Auto changeover valves are awesome! When the tank with unknown status is empty, it automatically swaps over to the fresh tank. I just don’t like the idea of having to rely on that and leaving with one tank that has 10% left.
Did a lot of looking around, reading reviews, forums, blogs, manufacturer websites, etc. I found that the typical propane pressure valves that screw between the tank and the hoses don’t do that good of a job.
Fortunately, there’s a fairly neat product out there that’ll tell you (near) exactly where your tanks are at. It’s wireless (woohoo!) and will even sync up to your iOS or Android phone.
Mopeka/AP Products makes a sensor system that uses magnets to attach to the bottom of your propane tanks. It then transmits the signal to the receiver which can monitor 2 tanks. The receiver runs off of a battery as well, so there are really ZERO wires to run for this install.
The one gripe I have with the kit is the little plastic spacers (green in the picture) that are included. Everything I read indicated they fall apart in days or weeks due to the weight of the tanks. When they fail, the sensor gets crushed (broken).
Mopeka released 2 fixes for this. There are metal stands for the tanks now, that don’t have the failure problem. They also released a ring that attaches to the bottom of the tank to give some standoff and to prevent rust issues. I could have purchased the metal standoff kit for half the price of the rings, however I was concerned about losing the metal pieces over time as I remove my tanks to get filled. The rubber ring also seemed like it would be a lot more stable as it covers 100% of the bottom of the tank. Note: I’ve been told that the new kits ship with the metal spacers. I must have gotten an old stock kit when I ordered from an online vendor, my kit had the plastic spacers. This wasn’t a big deal for me as I intended to use the ring spacers.
After putting the tanks back in place (and locking them with my bolt lock), I went into the trailer and tested the gauge. At the rear of the trailer (as far from the tanks as I could get) I quickly got signal on the included gauge. I wasn’t surprised to find that my primary tank (driver’s side) was fairly low and my secondary tank was full.
They have an iOS and and Android app as well to monitor your levels from your smart phone. This would allow you to check your levels before you leave or as you pull into a campground without having to go into the trailer to see the gauge.
Don’t make the mistake I did. I put my tanks back up, locked everything in place, and then realized that I needed to press the Sync button on the transmitters to get them to work with my phone. Sigh.
With your phone not only do you get the level of your tanks, but you are able to see what percentage the transmitter’s battery is at, as well as the signal strength. You’ll also be able to assign names to the various sensors you are using; ie, one for your gill, your RV tanks, etc.