RV Monitor Panel Overview
Dave SolbergAn RV Monitor Panel is the information center for most of the systems in your RV. It is generally located in an easy to read location such as the kitchen or hallway. Older models provide limited information on holding tank, freshwater tank, LP power and battery power levels. An older RV monitor panel may have a single switch for the water pump and there may be some other switches for the water pump in the bathroom or outside. There is also a water heater on and off switch at the panel. The older models are very basic.
Some of the newer models make it possible to adjust the sensitivity of the RV monitor panel. This comes in handy when the readings are not matching what the actual levels are. Also, a newer RV monitor panel comes with more options and offers a lot more information to the RV owner.
A newer RV monitor panel shows individual levels for the battery, fresh water tank, gray water main, black water main, gray water number two and black water number two. It also shows the generator fuel level if here is a generator onboard. You can also start the water pump, LP gas water heater and operate all of the lights in different zones of the RV from one single control panel. Being able to control the lights form the RV monitor panel makes it possible to turn the lights off all at once, rather than having to go switch to switch.
Depending upon the RV unit, the monitor panel also controls the slide room mechanisms and any other mechanical features the RV has.
The monitor panel makes everything needed to keep an eye on the RV conveniently located in a single area of the unit.
The monitor panel in your RV is gonna be located in the convenient location, usually around the kitchen area or a hallway inside. Now this is an older unit that doesn't have a whole lot of features to it. We got our tank monitors here. The first one is our holding tank number one, number two. Then we can see our fresh water tank, our LP and our battery gauge.
Some of the newer models allow you to actually take this apart and then there's a little dial you can adjust the sensitivity, if your monitor readings on your tanks are not gonna be correct. Next thing on here is we have the water pump. These models typically you'll have a pump switch on the monitor itself, because I'm gonna be able to run the kitchen sink. I'll have another pump switch outside if I have an outside faucet usually one in the bathroom as well. So this will tell me, here I may have this off, but if I switch one of the other switches and I'm gonna go in the bathroom and turn it on, you can see how this comes on.
So we can see that the water pump is on and then I can turn it off from here. So it's kind of a three-way switch, allows me to do that. I don't have to go in the bathroom, and if I didn't turn the pump on, come back outside, outside etcetera. We have in the middle here then that is going to turn on my water heater and like that. So this is an older switch it doesn't have much diagnostics that can go with it.
So let's take a look at one of the newer ones that's in the fifth wheel. The monitor panel on our fifth wheel here, since it's 2014 has a lot more options, a lot more information. First of all on our levels here, we can see we've got, individual levels, where in the other one we hit one button and they all came on. So we've got first of all this tells me my battery power, it's full. Freshwater tanks almost empty on these our Gray water main, our Black water main, we've got a little bit in there it looks like.
Our Gray water number two and our black water number two again, that's about half full. So from here we can also start the water pump. We have our LP water heater here, and it's got a little DSi button on the top of it. What this tells me is that if it gets too hot there's a reset on the water heater itself. I can then see at this buttons go have to go back in there and reset that button.
Now, this will also work on 120 volts when I'm hooked up to 120 it's automatic let it default, and use that. If for any reason that goes off, it's going to go to LP. Then I have interior lights, porch lights, a lot of my functions right here that in some of the coaches, they're all over the place. This is a nice kind of a control panel here tells me my fuel level. And that's going to be for my generator outside.
I have an extra fuel tank on this unit that feeds my generator. Most of your trailers are not going to have a fuel tank on it. This one's a Toy hauler. So it does. So I usually going to have to use LP but that's nice that I can run off a separate fuel.
It makes my LP lasts a lot longer. Then I also have my slide room mechanisms here. This is my generator hour meter, tells me how many hours. So I can kinda tell by maintenance wise changing oil, am doing the Carburetor work and that stuff. Generator start and stop right from here.
And then I have speakers that inside outside and a subwoofer speaker. So this one here has a lot of bells and whistles on this monitor panel.
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