Both new and existing Smart Oil Gauge users might know that the original Smart Oil Gauge has two boards in the interior. One controls the sensor on the bottom and the other communicates with the battery box and the inner computer. However, sometimes when you swap out the batteries in the gauge or during the config process, these boards will get disconnected. The result of these boards disconnecting is the gauge reading full. What the exact reading will be depends on the maximum capacity of your tank in particular. In this article, I’ll be explaining how this happens and the process of reconnecting the boards!
How Does this Happen?
This typically will happen during either troubleshooting or when you change out the battery in your device. Often when this happens, the battery box of the gauge is pulled out too hard and the battery box pulls the board out of the connection with the pins.
Sometimes this can also happen after the initial configuration. However, this is more likley to happen after you put it on the tank and try to troubleshoot it if it doesn’t come back online. This will only happen though if you remove the top board from the interiors of the gauge. DO NOT remove the top board from the interiors of the gauge, unless specifically told to by our support team. This won’t damage the gauge, but it can be quite frustrating to get the gauge to reconnect and to reconnect the boards.
What does It Look Like on the App?
When you load up the Smart Oil Gauge app with the boards disconnected, you will get a reading that says “Full”. But sometimes this can show up as greater than what your gauge normally reads. For example, on a gauge that is reading for a 275 gallon tank, might get a reading of “Greater than 235 Gallons”. This is partially due to the standard Smart Oil Gauge’s Sensitivity. The Smart Oil Gauge will not be able to see anything above the 8″ mark of the tank. This is because the signal will bounce around a lot at the top of the tank which will cause the gauge to read less. So, your gauge will not be able to read more than what is at the 8″ mark on your tank. Depending on your tank size, this can vary.
A good indicator of when the boards are disconnected is by looking at the graph reading. The reading on the graph on the app will show that the tank is also “Full”. Sometimes it’s harder to see on the app’s graph display. You can always check the Smart Oil Gauge’s website and login there! You can view your graph and data there which you’ll be able to see that maximum reading a little better there.
Reconnecting the Boards
Going through the process of reconnecting the boards is very simple. You will need to reconnect the boards together. To get a better idea of what you’re doing, you’ll first want to take the board and battery box out of the gauge. Once you have the board in your hands you’ll want to locate the bottom where you will see a little black rectangle with four holes. That rectangle is where the pins connect to the boards. You’ll want to slightly push that black box back to make sure it’s as close to the back of the board as possible. Then, make sure you slide the four pins into the pin ports of the black rectangle. The two boards should click together and reconnect!
As shown in the above pictures, the reconnection process for the boards is relatively simple. You want to make sure that the pins on the bottom board line up with the pin port on the top board. This should allow the boards to connect and return to normal readings! However, it’s important to know that the boards can be a little sensitive. This means that even if one pin doesn’t connect properly, the gauge will still only display a “Full” reading. So it’s important for you to make sure that all the pins connect to the pin port properly.
Does this Happen on the Duo?
The boards disconnecting on the Duo is very rare. That’s because the boards for the gauge and sensor connect on the inside of the trash-can like structure that comes with the Duo. The boards and gauge are connected very well and the boards will often not disconnect with each other.
However, sometimes you’ll get a full reading on your Smart Oil Gauge Duo. This is often caused by moisture or oil on the sensor. You can usually resolve this by using a dry cloth such as a paper towel or wash cloth to clean off the sensor. That will normally clean off anything on the sensor that is causing it to read full.
If wiping the sensor of the gauge off doesn’t work, contact our support and we’ll be happy to try troubleshooting with you over the phone! But make sure you have your gauge’s order number handy! This is so that we can determine if your Duo is still under warranty incase we need to replace the device!
Conclusion
If you have a Standard Smart Oil Gauge, reconnecting the boards is something that you will have to do at some point. Especially if you recently changed out the batteries or the gauge was offline for a brief period of time. You should be able to reconnect the board using this blog as a guide!
As always, if you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to our support team! We are available from 8am-5pm EST, Monday through Friday at 203-456-1499 option 3. If you do not reach someone over the phone, please leave a voicemail and we’ll get back to you at our earliest convenience!
Happy Heating,
Hunter
