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Fuel Gauge

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by DAVECAD2.0, May 7, 2010.

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  1. DAVECAD2.0, May 7, 2010
    #1
    DAVECAD2.0

    DAVECAD2.0 New Member

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    Crystal River, Florida
    Double fuel tanks with one fuel gauge on the fly bridge and one in the cabin. Each controled by a three way toggle switch. Up starboard, center nothing, down port. Switches are spring loaded center return. Gauges read erratic or not at all.
    Removed both sending units and checked with a VOM. They read between like 302 to 324 ohms. ?Should this gauge set up use the standard 33-240 senders or some other range. A Electrical Engineer said with the switch arrangement a one gauge sender sould work. They're the old wire wound rheostat, swinging float arm type. Funny they would both fail at the same time though. Oh. I've checked all the wire connections and replaced with marine (zinc coated copper) with shrink tubing ends. Swithches check Sat.


    Thanks, Dave
  2. Fishtigua, May 7, 2010
    #2
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    Silly question time. :)

    Are the senders the same make? VDO senders use one Ohm range and WEMA another. Simple to check, have a look.

    Fish
  3. DAVECAD2.0, May 7, 2010
    #3
    DAVECAD2.0

    DAVECAD2.0 New Member

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    Thanks for the feedback. Yes. They are the same make/model. But, I'm in the office and can't remember the brand. I did a search and they don't seem to be made anymore. I'll need to get back with you. Seems Moeller and Tempo have the lions share of the market.
    Don't understand VDO and WEMA. Types? Brands?
  4. SeaEric, May 7, 2010
    #4
    SeaEric

    SeaEric YF Historian

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    Fuel gauge problems are typically caused by a bad ground connection. If you jump across the connections at the sender, the gauge should peg to full. If it does, then the problem is the sending unit.
  5. NYCAP123, Jun 10, 2011
    #5
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Need Recommendation

    I need a recommendation for a digital fuel gauge. We have 2 (2004) Yanmar 6LY2A-SRP 440hp motors fed from 2 separate 100 gal. fuel tanks. In an ideal world we would like a single gauge, showing total gals. left in tanks, GPH and MPG usage, and total gals. used. Something along the lines of the Volvo & Cummins smart gauges, but I know there are compromises needed. Anybody have suggestions?
  6. Pascal, Jun 10, 2011
    #6
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    floscans will give you burn rate and total used since reset. Best set up in my opinion as the rest can be easily figured out.

    I always log the amount of fuel burned on each run, along with generator usage, and keep a running total of fuel used since last refill in the log. I don't see the point of having a gauge giving you a fuel remaining figure or remaining range since it doens't include genset usage and will be off. on a short run from dock to dock, it may not amount to much, but when you spend a lot of time on the hook the numbers can be off by 20, 30%...

    there are others besides Floscan, which will interface with the GPS to compute NMPG for you
  7. NYCAP123, Jun 10, 2011
    #7
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Thanks Pascale. Flowscan was my 1st thought, but I'm having one heck of a time trying to find if they have a single gauge to monitor 2 tanks. Also, what I've been seeing seems to show fuel usage, but not gals. remaining. If I have to add (2) gauges and keep the (2) regular fuel gauges, the dash will be getting pretty crowded. Plus their cost is a bit crazy although that's only secondary concern.
  8. Pascal, Jun 10, 2011
    #8
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    well, the floscan for twins will show you both engines on one gauge... so you only add one instrument.

    they measure the burn for both engines and show you the combined usage. since both sides should be burning about the same the Gal remaining in each tank will be almost the same, less genny for one tank, which is why i keep track of it in the log book.
  9. Trak, Apr 22, 2018
    #9
    Trak

    Trak Member

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    I installed a Maretron 410 display, a FPM-100, and the correct fluid pressure senders in all 6 of my tanks. The monitor reads out fluid remaining in 5 fuel tanks and fresh water. Since it is all powered by the N2k network, the monitor will also read other sensors on network, like gps, wind Inst, compass, etc. You can custom program a bunch of screens. I also bought the IPG 100 and can read all info remotely from my iPhone and iPad. Nice when refueling. I installed myself. Used existing wiring from tanks to bridge. Whole system was about $2200?