Fuel usage gauge for DF 140

[Jarrah Jack]

This is probably one for Moonlighter.

I have an '07 DF 140 and need to get a gauge to read the fuel data. My sounders and GPS's aren't NMEA compatable.

What would be the easiest and cheapest way to get the data?

[scottar]

The easiest and probably the cheapest would be something like a flowscan. Accuracy - dubious due to the way that modern 4 strokes fuel delivery systems operate.

The best way would be with the NMEA2000 interface and a Lowrance GPS unit that is compatible. Unless things have changed in recent times, it has to be Lowrance so you can program and calibrate the engine interface. There are digital gauge options that are cheaper than the GPS displays but then you have to add in the price of a NMEA2000 GPS antenna so the system will calculate economy meaning the cost differential between the two as against the capabilities,IMO, sways towards a 5 inch HDS type display. If you are happy enough to simply have a fuel flow and total used, this swings the costings back in favour of a gauge display.

Neither method will be particularly cheap.

[Moonlighter]

Moonlighter is in the house!

Simplest and cheapest gauge to display engine and fuel data would be the Lowrance LMf200, as far as I know.

As well as that gauge, you will need:
1. Suzuki engine interface cable
2. Reverse K8 adapter cable. The interface plugs into the engine, but you need this adapter cable to connect the new interface ecable to the round SDS plug on your 2007 engine. The other option, instead of the adapter cable, that many people now do, is to take the round SDS plug off the engine and replace it with a square one that the interface cable will plug into.
3. A Lowrance NMEA2000 starter kit. It has all the bits you need to create the NMEA2000 backbone that the interface and gauge connect to.

It's not a real cheap process, but this is kind of unavoidable if you want to get the real fuel flow data etc from your engine, rather than rely on an old fashioned fuel gauge. The only downside, as Scott mentioned, is that because there is no GPS antenna on the network, you won't get real time fuel economy data.

For a bit more $, you could pick up a HD5 combo or just a M version and use it as your engine and fuel data display instead of the LMF gauge. Because it has the GPS antenna built in, you then get everything in one.

This gives you some more info and some diagrams that help make sense of all of this.

You can get parts price ps for the interface and adapter cable online. The starter kit is available from most Lowrance dealers for about $70. It's far, far cheaper to get this kit vs buying the cables and other bits it includes individually.

http://www.lowrance.com/Global/Lowra...Connection.pdf