Ive been doing some chipping away at my tank water problem, and the Nagambie weekend catchup reminded me I still can't get my tank water out whilst connected to the mains. I had 2 full tanks of the best drinking water in the world, beautiful Melb water which I can't get to, and the water quality in Nagambie was crap.
Id previously spoken to Jayco tech support, Setec (manufacturers of the Drifter), the dealers service guys, and finally the one who had the most knowledge as it turned out ... my budgie.
I was trying to break down the Drifter function and the toilet pump override. Setec were very helpful with their end but had no clue what Jayco do to get the water pump to bypass the Drifter battery switch. After trying to get some qualified and quantified advice direct from Jayco tech support, it was ever so painfully apparent that Jayco is not sophisticated enough to have done any complex circuitry etc, so the solution must therefor be simple ... Jayco simple. It dawned on me its likely the toilet is nothing more than a direct and independent short across the battery direct to the pump.
Whilst not connected to mains pressure, and with the pump turned off I flicked the hand basin tap on; when I flushed the toilet the basin tap ran. Too easy, and thanks Jayco you simpletons.
The plan was always to adapt some kind of integrated way of accessing the tank water without having to leave the van, disconnect the mains, install a hand pump, and I wanted to use the existing configuration if possible and not add additional switches or manual valves.
I found and ordered a 20mm 12v "NO" solenoid rated at 1250kPa that drawers only half an amp when active, to install inside the van directly behind the main pressure hose connection point. Being "normally open", it remains idle, unpowered and open in normal mains pressure connections when the pump isn't required. Because of the low half amp draw of the solenoid, I can connect it directly to the water pump for power, so when the water pump is activated by the existing Drifter pump switch the solenoid automatically closes off the mains and the pump then draws the good water straight from the tanks .... and this all happens automatically when I flick the pump switch on. Switch the pump off and we automatically go back to mains pressure.
The only foreseeable issue is when the toilet is flushed, the pump will activate the solenoid and the mains pressure will momentarily be shut off for the duration of the flush ... about 2 seconds I suppose. The toilet draws from the tanks anyway, so I can live with that momentary "flushing" disconnection from the mains.
