Fuel meter or estimate?

[mainshiptom]

On my Cummins QSC8.3 540hp there is a Mercruiser info panel that tells me about fuel consumption, does this estimate the use of each engine or does it have meters and tells the real story?

Tom

I tried to look for meters but could not see them?

 

[Latestarter1]

Do you have Diesel View, Vessel View or just anologue instruments out of interest.

Regardless of the above they all get the same infomation down the data link.

In order to run the engines sensors provide all the input infomantion to the ECM (Electronic Control Module). The module has a look up table, so for any combination of engine speed/load the look up table which says for this specific combination each injector requires X cc's of fuel per injection.

Having the input data the ECM takes a quick thumb though the pages of the look up table telling it out the fuel quantity and injection timing required. The look up table gives the length of the PWM signal to the injector to inject the correct amount of fuel. Therefore the engine 'knows' exactly how much fuel it is consuming, all it needs to do it keep a track of what is going on which is kept in the fuel log and transmitted down the data link.

If you have a Cummins Quickcheck it will also drill down into detail such as idle time and quantity of fuel consumed at idle. If you really wanted to know.

REMEMBER they are small U.S. Gallons, there is an option of Litres. Just as easy to remember the magic 1.20094 and convert accurately to good old Brit Gallons.

 

[rbmitchell]

The fuel use is measured. The QS Series Cummins engines are totally electronic and the fuel use rate measurement comes "free with the purchase of...".