Washer fluid low level warning

[deejay_xb]

Wow that's a sizable reservoir. Sorry mate, I stand corrected!

no problem!

Screen wash fluid capacity is approx 3 litres unless you have the headlamp washer function in which case it is 6 litres.

on the Partner/Berlingo? if so then maybe I should just change the reservoir to a larger one..

[paradox1001]

When I moved to a berlingo from my Suzuki jimny I was surprised how quickly I got through the screen wash that I suspected I had a leak.
I think the berlingo puts a lot more fluid per squirt than the jimny.
Over time I’m just getting used to topping it up more often.
I’ve also had to mix the screen wash up stronger than I normally would as the location of it makes it more prone to freezing.

[Big_Jim1967]

There's a channel on YouTube - Britannica Restorations, who has just fitted a low fluid sensor to the radiator expansion tank of a Land Rover. The same sensor should work in a washer bottle. It cost about a tenner on the Bay. It needs a little understanding of vehicle electrics, but doesn't look too complicated to fit.

[deejay_xb]

someone on this forum mentioned something about washer fluid getting low activates the rear wiper wash
i had this happening to my car just a day before running out of washer fluid, it washed the rear window by itself for 1-2 seconds (also wiped like i was activated the washing function by i had not!)

i will test this once more, i will use the washer fluid and see if the car will wipe the rear window and then run out of washer fluid, because if this is true then the sensor is already there but not putting the warning on the display

[Mark604]

With all the automated warnings on cars now I'm just a little bit happy there is still something that isn't and I can check it.

[Hughzie]

It would last a lot longer if Citroen didn't have a bloody timer on the squirt cycle!
You really don't need that much water for a bit of road salt!

[Sol]

I know, just pull the lever for a second and let it go as you would when flashing the lights, the automatic washer cycle just puts enough out to clean the window perfectly. Maybe folk are holding it on like other cars, it will squirt far too much in that case.

Just pull, and release within 1 second. It will do the rest by itself. Even every day use, several times a day, I only have to fill it once a fortnight.

[Gryffindor]

There are cheap water level detectors aplenty on EB - search for water leak alarm. One of hundreds of examples is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184380439686. They sound a buzzer when the level of water in a container rises and covers the sensor.

It may be possible for someone with a little electrical/electronics knowhow to adapt one to work the other way round, so that the positive signal from the sensor becomes negative until the fluid level falls below the sensor.

Then dangle the sensor on its wire inside the washer bottle so that it is a little higher than the bottle's base, and experiment with that height.

[Sol]

Could do, a common-emitter NPN switch circuit would work, feed the buzzer in parallel with the collector pin and emitter pin, then the sensor needs to turn the transistor on by biasing the base pin into being on (greater than 0.7v positive) - so when the sensor and transistor base pin are on, the buzzer is shorted out by the conducting transistor.

https://www.electronicshub.org/transisto...transistor.

[Gryffindor]

Well done for the technical details!

I began wondering how quickly the sensor would dry once it's above the fluid level - could potentially be a problem. So I just found the vid Big Jim mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehsYHsXyQ7A

Probably a much a better answer - replace the EB kit's sensor with one of these switches.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202565103001 - one example. Trying to keep to genuine UK sellers.

Curious accent for a Canadian!