Fuel flow meter

C

cruiserlessvinny

New member
To no avail I've been viewing various posts regarding fuel economy and have hoped to see someone post information on how to monitor real-time fuel consumption so I must poke my nose into the site and ask a simple question: Is there a way to install a fuel flow meter on a 70 hp 2003 2 stroke yamaha w/o purchasing the high dollar yamaha instrumentation?
Thanks,
CV
 
Probably but it will only measure the gasoline usage, not the oil. It's a turbo type device in the gas line. Several different mfrs. FloScan, NAVMAN are the primary ones!


Charlie
 
I use the flow scan on my 27. its great for giving me instant gph and total fuel used. it does not give me mpg on the gage but i just figure that out on a calculator.

Some of the newer models will figure out the mpg instantly. Its great to figure out the best speed and trim but from a year of using the flow scan I have figured that there is little I can do to change the mpg very much. under 8mph i get one mpg from 13 to 30 mph I get another mpg and above that its hold on to your wallet time.
 
Once you learn the best trim and throttle setting for the load you are carrying, a fuel flow meter serves two purposes, tracking fuel consumed/remaining and giving an indication of the health of the engine.
 
Thanks starcrafttom.
tpbrady, I had considered that aspect of a fuel flow meter: Once you know the engine/boat sweet spot there's not much need for the meter; at least in my particular application.
The Nevmar 2100 appears to be pretty much what I need and at $120 it has a price I can live with. One review I read indicates the need to have the sensor in a vertical position. My question to that is: How much out of vertical can it be?

Thanks for the help.
CV
 
CV

I had the similar NAVMAN model on my 22 and it was about 15 degrees out of vertical and seemed to run fine that way. After 4 years the fuel flow transducer started sending strange readings, but that was because it was wearing out. It has a finite life since it is mechanical. On the newer Honda BF90D, the sweet spot kept moving based on boat weight and engine loading, so I was always using it because as little as a 200 rpm increase could almost double the fuel flow.
 
...because as little as a 200 rpm increase could almost double the fuel flow. Wow, 200 RPMs almost doubled the fuel flow. Never would have thought it would make that big a differance.
Thanks again.
CV
 
CV

That's an attribute of the fuel injected Honda 90 (BF90D) with lean burn. You won't see that with the carbureted models or the larger VTEC engines.
 
On Sea Angel, with twin carb'd HONDA 90s, I have the NAVMAN 3100. Yes, a small change of throttle can make a difference in your FF. This '3100 is an easy way to optimize the trim and tabs against the GPS SOG.

I have the GPS data fed to the NAVMAN and I use this to track against my mechanical fuel quantity gauge besides all the other data such as:
fuel remaining and total NMs available for fuel left,
FF per each engine (Neat way to track what is going on against the engine's RPM.)
or total combined FF; plus many other other features.

Personally, I feel it was a good investment.

To help keep the transducer remain clean, do place it behind your fuel/water separator filter, using the best that you can afford while changing it faithfully when recommended or separation is seen in the bowl(s).

Art
 
Is there a way to install a fuel flow meter on a 70 hp 2003 2 stroke yamaha w/o purchasing the high dollar yamaha instrumentation?
Click to expand...

Like Art above, I have the Navman 3100 and it works great providing real-time data such as mpg, fuel used, fuel remaining, range, and much more.
Real accurate too !

Sadly, they're out of production .

They turn up on Ebay occasionally (Northstar 3100 too).

You can click on the image below to see mine installed on a gimbal-bracket instead of in-dash.

Navman_1.highlight.jpg
 
Any experiances with the NMEA-2000 network compatable sensors, such as the Garmin GFS-10, or the Lowrance the EP-60R? Then all the data is together on the chartplotter. (plus fewer holes drilled in the dash) I've been thinking of going this route when I upgrade to a new chartplotter
with radar and GPS.
 
CougarMtn

I've been experimenting with NMEA 2000 in a hyrbrid environment. My Raymarine C-80 can handle a limited number of NMEA 2000 sentences ( called PGNs) and my Yamaha 150 outputs fuel flow, water temp, rpm and oil pressure. I am showing my fuel flow, water temp, and oil pressure on a screen on the C-80. I also have a NMEA 2000 gateway into Coastal Explorer so the same info is available there to the extent it shows engine data which is also limited. The C-80 does output depth in NMEA 2000 but not enough GPS data to make it useable by Coastal Explorer. If you have NMEA 2000 compliant GPS Chart Plotter go with the Lowrance System. The LMF-400 will handle a lot of NMEA 2000 PGNs and display the data. I am tempted to install an LMF-400 this winter as it can directly read the data from the engine including fuel flow and can be programmed to keep track of fuel remaining if I add external storage. With the data from the engine I won't need the EPR-60. It won't be able to keep track of MPG as it won't have a GPS input unless I get hold of a NMEA 2000 GPS sensor such as the Lowrance LGC-4000.

It sounds complicated but NMEA 2000 with fully compliant devices is easy to work with as long as you plan it out. Either do a lot of reading or call BOE Marine. They are very good at putting things together.
 
What a "Duh" moment I just had. I'm pretty sure my Lowrance Elite5 is NMEA2000 compliant as is my 2003 Yamaha. I'll check it out and get back with the results. Thanks to all and especially to tpbrady for mentioning the electronics compatability.

CV
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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