Fuel Meter - At Last..

[ported0]

My 12' extension /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif cable arrived yesterday so had a working from boat day today and managed to fit a lowrance network and ep-10 fuel flow meter.

Fired up the plotter and configured the new bus and bingo ep-10 appeared. must confess had a moment first when i couldn't see the thing then remembered that the network has a seperate power connection, eventually managed to convince it that i didn't have three engines and three tanks but just one of each.

Configured the display to overlay all the fuel date then moment of truth.. fired up the beast and and viola fuel usage appears on the screen.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to get the boat out but can confirm that my big petrol lump burns 5.6 lph at idle.....

will post usage figures as soon as i get out.

John

 

[Alrob]

Hi John

I work on the principle that its better not to know /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Alan

 

[ported0]

indeed... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif however the last mag ymb had a brief article on fuel metering and he reckoned you could save the cost of your meter as you can trim the boat for the best economy / speed..

we shall see /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

for info cost was £128 for the network bits and the meter, only took me two hours to fit.

 

[SnaxMuppet]

John,

I have a Lowrance in my new boat and they installed the new cable today. I didn't manage to get to the boat today (pouring down anyway /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif ) but I am hoping that the next time I fire up my engine it too will have fuel flow data.

Mine is directly from the data port on the engine - it is a Suzuki DF115 with a builtin NMEA2000 data port that the engineers use for their diagnosis.

I'll post tomorrow if I get there!

 

[ported0]

Cool Arny, i nearly didn't fit it today the weather was so good, flat calm, blue skies, no jacket required. I would have gone out if swmbo hadnn't arranged her scan for the middle of the day /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Clyder]

[ QUOTE ]
my big petrol lump burns 5.6 lph at idle.....


[/ QUOTE ]

OUCH!!!! 5.6lph @ idle!!! My wee four potter will maybe use that at WOT.

I await your figures with bated breath.....it could shape the future of my boating...or more like the lack of it!!

Cheers

Clyde

 

[ported0]

Clyde

thats only 1.2 gallons an hour i am expecting big numbers at WOT ....... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

my 55 hp rib was burning 6 gallons an hour at cruise.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]

Mine is directly from the data port on the engine - it is a Suzuki DF115 with a builtin NMEA2000 data port that the engineers use for their diagnosis.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't suppose the Suzuki 90 has a data port. Do you happen to know?

 

[SnaxMuppet]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't suppose the Suzuki 90 has a data port. Do you happen to know?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I am 99.9% certain it does... the 90, 115 and 140 are almost the same engine and share many parts (including props).

 

[MapisM]

[ QUOTE ]
the last mag ymb had a brief article on fuel metering and he reckoned you could save the cost of your meter as you can trim the boat for the best economy / speed..

[/ QUOTE ]
I didn't see the article, but can't see much use of the fuel meter in a planing boat, at least not in terms of trimming/optimizing.
Once you reach the planing speed, the higher the speed, the lower the mpg - knowing exactly by how much might be interesting, but the optimization just depends on the value you put on time.
PS: I'd second Clyder on idle consumption, that does sound too high.

 

[ported0]

7.4 litres of V8 has to drink something to keep going. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Major Catastrophe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't suppose the Suzuki 90 has a data port. Do you happen to know?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I am 99.9% certain it does... the 90, 115 and 140 are almost the same engine and share many parts (including props).

[/ QUOTE ]

I know it has all the electronic engine management system, but I cannot find any mention in the manual to use the data port for fuel information.

 

[clivew05]

I am very interested in this actually - do they do one for twin diesels? I recently looked at the Navman but this is over £800 - where can I find info on the what you guys fitted? is there a UK vendor and tech info site?

Thanks in advance

 

[SnaxMuppet]

It won't be in the manual I believe... it is the data port used by the engineers and so they don't publicise the fact that it is there but none the less, it is there /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Recently Suzuki were doing a promotion on the DF40-70 range... the promotion has now finished I believe but it was that if you bought an engine in that range then they gave you a free Lowrance LMS-522 and the data cable to give you the engine data overlayed... so it is certainly on all the DF engines at least down to the DF40. I don't know if it is on the smaller engines though.

In fact, it was the adverts for that promotion that directly led me to get the Lowrance plotter... prior to me seeing that promotional advert I was going to get a Garmin as I have always had Garmin and was happy with them but I wanted the engine management data so the Lowrance won.

 

[SnaxMuppet]

Well a partial victory...

Data cable is installed and working, rpm, cyl head temp, but no feul flow. Fiddled about with the setup but to no avail.

I am on the my supplier as the fuel flow was the only engine data I was worried about having. Mind you, it also shows engine hours which is useful.

I suspect that it needs a firmware upgrade as it also has problems reading the Navionics charts on max zoom.

 

[ported0]

what plotter are you using?

 

[SnaxMuppet]

Lowrance LMS-332

 

[ported0]

Arny

Had a quick scan through the manual for your device and it looks like there are a couple of items missing from yours that I have on mine, 3600i, bus setup and fuel management, yours doesn't mention fuel flow at all are you sure it can read the data?

John

 

[SnaxMuppet]

Hi, yes I noticed that... they are not in the manual BUT they are on the device.!!!

I think that this was possibly an early NMEA2000 device from Lowrance and it simply doesn't work. Perhaps a firmware upgrade might do it?

I have set the engines/fuel tank settings and fuel tank size on the bus setup but it still won't allow me to add fuel in the fuel management screen... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[ported0]

Well if you have the menu then at least you are getting there, on mine the fuel management was greyed oout until i ran the configuration which kept resetting it back to three engines and tanks then when i tried to set it back to one it kept telling me that the tank size had to be greatwer than zero even though it was set at 266 L /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

eventually i set all three tanks to 266 then it seemed happy to accept that i had just one tank /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

does your fuel flow meter show up in the nmea devices menu?

mine didn't until i remembered to power the bus.

John