The Sieltec Marine Black Tank Monitor provides peace of mind that your holding tank will not overflow by giving an early warning signal.
Black tanks on large vessels need to be emptied periodically and if that function is not performed expensive repairs may be needed. If an overflow happens on a black tank, the overflow can ruin any filters located in the breather system. The charcoal filter is designed to allow the black tank or vent to the atmosphere but reduce odour.
The applications for the Sieltec BTM-1 helps boat owners or skippers know when the black tank needs to be emptied to avoid the overflow problem.
An alarm sounds when the black tank reaches a preset level. This audio alert and flashing light indicates attention is required. If that alert is ignored at a higher black tank level the flushing function of the heads is inhibited.
In the event the flush inhibit function needs to be overridden, it can be easily controlled by the main BTM-1 unit.
Sieltec have designed a simple solution to this problem, the BTM-1. A main unit is connected to the black tank resistive senser unit. When the BTM-1 is installed two levels are set using a simple push button programming method.
Level 1 sets the sensor level for the alarm state. When this level is met as the black tank fills, an audio alarm sounds and a small LED flashes at the helm on a 50mm x 50mm remote panel. The alarm can be acknowledged and silenced with a button push at the helm. When the alarm is silenced the light will stop flashing and will simply stay illuminated. The alarm silence will remain latched in a silent state until the level of the black tank reduces below the Level 1 setting for the alarm activation. When the black tank level reduces below the alarm level, the alarm silence is unlatched and the alarm will work normally next time the Black tank level rises above the alarm level.
Level 2 sets the sensor level where the flush inhibit is enabled. Flush inhibit ensures that the tank cannot overflow and encourages action to empty the tank. When Level 2 is reached, once again the alarm will sound and the corresponding LED at the helm will flash. If the alarm is silenced the alarm will stop and the flashing LED will simply remain illuminated. In the event that the flush inhibit needs to be overridden, provision is made at the main unit through simple push button control. When the flush inhibit override button is pressed, the heads can be used even if the tank is full. The flush inhibit override resets to normal operation when the level of the black tank reduces below the flush inhibit (Level 2 ) level.
The unit can operate on 12 or 24 volt systems, is reverse polarity protected and can be retrofitted to existing installations.
A typical remote solution used to effectively remotely monitor the boat black tank levels using the Sieltec interface is the Victron CerboGX. This system allows remote monitoring free of ongoing charges using the Victron Virtual Remote Monitoring (VRM) service. The output from the BTM-1 simply connects to one of the digital inputs on the CerboGX. A Black Tank alarm can be set on the CerboGX so it is obvious what parameter is monitored associated with that digital input. The full setup of the CerboGX can be found on the Victron Website.
BTM-1 User Manual Issue 1.0 (1) (1) (pdf)
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