Suzukis and fuel flow meters

[Whitty44]

Team,

I want a reliable fuel indicator for my boat. The analogue gauge i have - useless. The Navman fuel flow sensor hooked up to my Explorer 660 - useless. (Good for two or three months - then - useless) Suzuki DF115 to Navman - useless. (different languages apparently??) What i want to do is get one of these jobbies http://www.lowrance.com.au/en-au/Pro...auges/LMF-200/ and hook it up to the Zuke, and hopefully get some meaningful fuel flow and usage figures. Am I on the right track? Has anyone done this before? Am I also useless?? Thanks for your time,

Whitty

[frank100]

Whitty,
Done it on a 140. A couple of issues tho
- it has to be calibtated
- I had an intermittent problem initially with it showing no fuel figures every now & then. Turned out to be a "T" connector not done up tightly enough.
- Depending on the year the connector to the diagnostic plug for the interface can be an issue due to changes in connector type.

I am pretty happy with mine & have the GPS aerial hooked into the 'bus' whick gives you Km/litre as well as GPS speed & position.

Frank

[barneyII]

Whitty,
Done it on a 140. A couple of issues tho
- it has to be calibtated
- I had an intermittent problem initially with it showing no fuel figures every now & then. Turned out to be a "T" connector not done up tightly enough.
- Depending on the year the connector to the diagnostic plug for the interface can be an issue due to changes in connector type.

I am pretty happy with mine & have the GPS aerial hooked into the 'bus' whick gives you Km/litre as well as GPS speed & position.

Frank

Frank

Any ideas on the price of the Lowrance sensor and meter? Looking at getting one of the new light weight 60 Suzi's when they get to Australia but was looking at fuel flow meters and the navman and others were no good for the fuel injected 4 strokes. These meters would give highly variable and inflated instantaneous fuel flow figures, but total values are supposed to be OK.
Cheers

Andrew

[frank100]

Barney,
(Sorry been away for a couple of days).
Got mine from US, Brownspoint marine. When I brought mine the guage & interface came as a kit. Can't really remember the exact price (380US ?)but the Oz dollar was .95US which really made a difference,.
Check out Brownspoint on the net they are Suzi dealers.

Frank

[Whitty44]

Whitty,
Done it on a 140. A couple of issues tho
- it has to be calibtated
- I had an intermittent problem initially with it showing no fuel figures every now & then. Turned out to be a "T" connector not done up tightly enough.
- Depending on the year the connector to the diagnostic plug for the interface can be an issue due to changes in connector type.

I am pretty happy with mine & have the GPS aerial hooked into the 'bus' whick gives you Km/litre as well as GPS speed & position.

Frank

Thanks Frank. So it is as simple as plugging one end to the motor and one end to the gauge?? The local Lowrance dealer has only just started stocking their stuff and as yet hasnt got any experience with the stuff, so cant help me out too much. Costwise, the little gauge, a cable and a kit to mate the two will cost me just over $400 from the local fella. How does this stack up to prices in the big smoke??

[frank100]

Whitty,
Not quite but sort of simple.
The interface cable cable connects to the motor diagnostics plug, the other end goes into a "T" connector. "T" connectors are connected in a line, the first & last have terminating resistors. You need a "T" connector for every device ie engine, GPS, Display, power and so on. think of the "T" connectors as an upside down T. on the left of the "T" is a terminating resistor, on the right of the "T" is a cable (called an extension cable ) going to the next "T" the "T"'s continue in this fashion one for each item mentioned until the last "T' which will have a terminating resistor.
Each device is connected to the vertical leg of each upside down "T'.
Confusing eh !
If you go to the brownspoint site they have an explanation & a picture of what I have tried to explain.
Anyway $400 sounds in the ball park, I have the 4" guage, I actually removed my std. speedo to fit it. Had a look lastnite brownspoint has the 4" guage on special.
Hope that helps, any more Q's , no worries.
There are a couple of guys on this forum who have installed the NMEA2000 system (that's what it actually is called). The only difference is that most guys use their sounder sreen as the dispay.
BIg smoke ? I'm in Cairns
Frank