Fuel flow meter

[cruiserlessvinny]

Just call me Homer Simpson.

CV

[Will-C]

C.M.,
We run a Garmin 4208 with the Garmin GFS 10. We have a smaller inline filter in front of the fuel sensor(paddle wheel) before the fuel runs thru the bigger 10 micron filter. I have added extra fuel line to be able to jump the gas feed line around the smaller inline filter or both including the fuel sensor should either or both become clogged causing the motor to be fuel starved. The fuel management screen on the GFS -10 seems to work fine. Our boats fuel gauges are a little whacky as most are. The info screen for the GPS-10 shows fuel remaining, fuel range in miles and fuel flow in gallons per hour also shows miles per gallon etc so you can trim and set RPM for max fuel efficiency. I have tried to make note of how much fuel we burn per hour since I normally run the boat in the same RPM range. If you start out full and keep track of the hours run, then refuel you should be able to come up with a pretty good idea of what you burn per hour in case the fuel flow device, or gauge(s) take a dump. Write your fuel per hour down somewhere or use a nice label printer to put it on the front of your chartplotter or helm area for additional fuel usage information. Just my 2 cents.
D.D.

[tpbrady]

CV

i don't think Yamaha did anything with NMEA 2000 until 2005.

Tom

[cruiserlessvinny]

Well drats. Homeresq or not, it's a moot point. As tpbrady suggested, my engine is not NMEA2000 compatible. My assumption (yes, I know about ass-u-me) was that the "2000" following NMEA indicated some sort of a date that outboards manufactured after would be NMEA compatible.

Also, I found out that my Lowrance Elite 5 isn't capable of displaying engine information. The only accessory information it can display is speed over water (as opposed to SOG) and an auxillary temp sensor often used for baitwells and livewells.

So it's off to find a NavMar 2100 or a 3100 I suppose. Any suggestions?

CV

[CougarMtn]

One other thing you might want to check..... Is your Yamaha 2 stroke fuel injected? Many 2-stroke fuel injection systems use a VST tank with it's own high pressure fuel pump to the injectors. The VST tank has a float valve to keep the proper fuel level. The low pressure pump feeds the VST, and that feed is intermittent, depending on the float valve. It's this intermittent flow that skews the inline fuel flow sensor, and the recorded data. The fuel useage would be correct, but realtime data would be off.

[Matt Gurnsey]

The two stroke Yamaha 70 is carburated, so would have no problems with the fuel sensor.

Navman is no more. It became part of Northstar, which was bought by Navico, which owns Simrad, Lowrance and B&G. I don't know if any of the Navman products survived the changes beyond their integration into the Northstar line. There may still be some product on shelves out there.

[cruiserlessvinny]

As Matt said, my motor is carburated. What appears to have happened is that when Navman was purchased by a company that also manufactures GPS equipment that can interface with engine operating data they shut down the Navman line. No use in competing with yourself I suppose.

Floscan is an option but I'd be just as well of to sell my Elite 5 and upgrade to unit with engine data compatability.

If anyone knows of a Navman 2100 for sale please let me know.

Thanks,
CV

[srbaum]

This morning I was busy looking on the web for a new suite of instruments to replace my Navman instruments that are loosing the led data. After a while, I switched over to look at the most recent postings on the C-Brats site and fortunately, I saw the link that showed how to repair failing Navman instruments. I've ordered the recommended donor instrument to get the needed repair part and look forward to not spending at least $1800 for instruments plus the man hours required to install them.
For those of you that know Navman instruments, go to this site and view what looks exactly like the Navman and later Northstar instruments. http://www.plastimo.com/uk/pdfbase/advansea.pdf

[tpbrady]

CV,

I priced out fuel flow using the Lowrance LMF-200 with EP-10 fuel sensor and other parts to start up a NMEA-2000 network on Amazon and it came in right at $301. For a fuel flow meter that isn't bad. You won't get MPG off it since there is no GPS input (LGC-4000 another $200) or be able to use fuel remaining (EP-85r about $85) but think of the adventures you can have in NMEA 2000. I don't think the 5500 Floscan system has a serial GPS interface for NMEA 0183 and it is in the same price range as the Lowrance without the flexibility.

Tom

[Mike_J]

I am thinking of adding a SIMRAD EP60R to my Lowrance HDS8 system to monitor fuel usage as I am sure I am being quite wasteful...
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=617216&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50157&subdeptNum=50177&classNum=50185#.UhwVrZK1F8E
I have twin 50 Yamahas.
Does this sound like it should work? Some of the docs suggest that I will need a unit for each engine...

[potter water]

I've discovered the expensive way that the little paddle operated fuel flow meters like the one you are looking at simply don't work with 50 hp engines, particularly fuel injected. There is a kind of pulsing draw of fuel with the EFI engines and they are so fuel stingy that even a WOT the two I've tried simply didn't function any better than my making a wild guess at fuel flow and economy. I'm going to put up the grand or so to attach to the computer of my twin Suzi's.

So, be cautious. Maybe the turbine/paddle type will work with carbed engines.

[thataway]

The Simrad and Lowrance EP 60 R are the same products, so it should work. I have no experience with the smaller engines..

[Mike_J]

I will ask a local marine shop what they think and then decide.

[nmitch2859]

I installed a Flow scan fuel flow meter. I have a 2007 Honda 150. On the helm I also have an older Garman GPS. On the top, I have speed and distance. At a glance, I can tell how fast and look to see how many gallons I am using per hour and distance. I am able to trim and see at a glance the results. I also watch my tachometer. I do believe in knowing my fuel consumption. I like the totalizer feature. I do keep a log of my trips, fuel used, max speed, average speed, moving time and total distance. I also include when I got fuel, where, how much and price per gallon. Neal

[thataway]

The manual for both the Yamaha 50 and the multi function Yamaha Gauge say that the fuel metering function can be used. Yamaha transducer is different then the Simrad transducer is--but appears to be a paddle wheel type of flow meter.