Fuel usage readout merc 60 hp 4 s ?

[patrol50]

Hi all - I have Mercury 2012 60 hp 4 stroke OB and want to measure fuel use etc and I have all Lowrance HDS gear on the boat – reading up on the simple fuel measuring device EP60R indicates it may not do the job on a Merc 4 stroke OB very accurately

so I am also looking at the Lowrance Fuel Data Manager but this has to be connected to the Merc electronics read out via a nema 2000 system (which i have ) to measure fuel use etc and I don’t believe it’s a direct connect to the merc OB

i.e connecting to a Mercury engine will need aa Vessel View 4 or a Mercury Single Engine NEMA 2000 Gateway Module or a Merc Monitor that has NEMA 2000 output along with a Smartcraft compatible Merc engine ( and these add on bits aint cheap of course - about $550 for the merc gateway module )



Lowrance Fuel Data Manager

The Fuel Data Manager stores data for fuel used, trip fuel used and seasonal fuel used from a compatible engine or engine interface connected to your NMEA 2000® network. A single Fuel Data Manager can support up to three engines. For installations with more than three engines, use a second Fuel Data Manager sensor.


Lowrance EP60R Fuel Flow Sensor - Electronic Probe Sensor
The Fuel Flow Sensor tracks engine fuel flow, fuel used, trip fuel used and seasonal fuel used ─ sharing the information with any compatible display unit connected to the NMEA 2000® network. With a speed source in the network, the Fuel Flow Sensor can also calculate fuel economy

So any one done this with a Merc 60 or similar as i think i would need both a Lowrance Fuel Data Manager plus the Merc NEMA 2000 Gate way Module total about $ 800 all up - or can provide some helpful input as i dont really want to spend a lot to mainly get a simple fuel read out and yes i would get a bit more engine info with the gateway module connection to the merc - but not a real lot f info available on a 2012, 60 hp 4 s

cheers rob

[ranmar850]

The Lowrance fuel flow sensor is not at all accurate, compared to the information you will get from the ECM, if you can connect direct to that. I had one on my last boat, combined with the Lowrance dash unit. No matter how often you calibrated it, it was hard to get under 10% error. It was useful in my case, as the boat had a 150 l + underfloor tank with gunwhale filler and no fuel gauge. The error in flow was always on the high side, too, so you always had more fuel left than the totaliser told you. And, of course, you have to input any fuel manually when you fuel up. I used to drain the tank twice a year to keep accurate track of contents.
Reading what you have italicised there, why would you connect o the Merc gateway, if it was not reading something from the ECM? That Lowrance sender will network direct to your HDS via the NMEA 2000 system. So, if you are connecting to the motor, you would be reading from the ECM, and, hence, no need for the Lowrance fuel flow sensor. ECM's meter very accurately.

[patrol50]

thanks for the feed back ranmar and yes i agree with you - but from what i can ascertain all i will get from the ecu readout / gate way module is the fuel flow and yes it will be accurate - but i wont get total fuel used etc i dont think - and thats where i thnk i may need the lowrance fuel flow sensor as well which i believe gives both the fuel flow , total fuel used etc

cheers and thanks rob

[ranmar850]

I'd be surprised if you can get ECM fuel flow but no actual cumulative total--after all, it is just flow multiplied by time.

[patrol50]

cheers - yea you may be right - so maybe the go is (grit the teeth pay the $550 and get the merc gateway module ) and then see what i get from it - and then get the lowrance fuel flow sensor if need to

[Skusto]

I don't have the same setup to you but if I'm reading right it should be similiar.

I have a 90 etec with a Garmin 95sv, all I had to do was grab the nmea cable for the etec and hook it into the nmea circuit.

The Garmin 95sv shows me the trip fuel used, l/km trip km etc. I can even set the tank level on the Garmin to know how much fuel is left but generally just reset it each trip to know how much fuel has been used.

The sounder stores all the information the cable is just grabbing the information from the motor and the sounder is storing the information if that makes sense.

So if your merc has the nmea cable to hook from outboard into the nmea network your lowrance should be able to give you the current fuel flow and trip fuel used.

As I said different setup but I'm sure they would be similiar.


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[scottar]

Lowrance units will not show cumulative totals unless the information is put onto the data bus by something else - primarily the Fuel Data Manager but it can also be done by things like the Suzuki Engine interface. Whether the Mercury interface has this capability is something you will need to find out - never done one so I don't know. If it cant you will need the Fuel Data Manager as well.

Garmin GPS units are different. They have their own on-board fuel management software. They do not however put this information onto the data bus. On my own rig I have an E-Tec feeding data to a Garmin and an Evinrude gauge (Lowrance in different clothes) and I have previously run a Lowrance GPS. The Garmin is the only one to have ever shown a cumulative total as I do not have a Fuel data manager.

[Brad O]

Consider Mercury vessel view mobile. It connects easily to your motor and output can be read from your mobile. https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/...now-available/
About $500.00

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[patrol50]

thanks for the replies guys -

skusto cant just plug nema 2000 straight in to a merc unlike most other ob as merc were keen to push their smartcraft system so were the odd men out dhs - typical merc

thanks scottar yea i think it will be try and see waht it does read but i suspect it will be need the lowrance fuel data manager to get the info i want

cheers brad not a great smart phone app user but still worth knowing about