Fuel monitoring

Andy Moore · 01 October 2005, 12:47

i have an Avon 620 with an OptiMax 135 on order.

What I am wondering about is how does one keep an eye on how much fuel is left in the built-in 100 litre fuel tank. Do the SmartCraft displays take care of this? Or do they just monitor how much fuel is being used? Do folk get a separate fuel sensor fitted?

TIA.

--Andy

LURCHER · 01 October 2005, 16:07

I have a Navman Trackfish6600 with the smart gauges interface and it works very well though i dont have atank sender so that part is not working yet .
If you get the chance upgrade to the 150 optimax do it .
We went from Chi Bar to Poole and used 45 litres at about 24 mph with 4 on board

Andy Moore · 01 October 2005, 16:32

I have a Navman Trackfish6600 with the smart gauges interface and it works very well though i dont have atank sender so that part is not working yet . If you get the chance upgrade to the 150 optimax do it .We went from Chi Bar to Poole and used 45 litres at about 24 mph with 4 on board

I have really just revised my decision on the outboard from the OptiMax 115 to the 135.

How does the smart guages interface work? Do the SmartCraft dials connect to the Navman?

--Andy

Stuart M · 01 October 2005, 19:51

I use a Navman 2100 it fits in the fuel line and measures the flow rate. It also calculates how much fuel is left in the tank. It is meant to be accurate to <5%. I have found it invaluable. Cost approx £125 from memory. Used on a 5.6 avon with a 4stroke Honda 90hp

It works like this:

1) Fill up the tank.
2) Set gauge to total fuel in tank (either through fuel pump reading if empty tank, or total size of tank) - Suggest downrating this to 90% of tank size for obvious reasons!
3) If you then add more fuel - then just adjust the current fuel level on the gauge.

It did prove my manual guage was accurate, and also shows current fuel rate. This is interesting to watch as you reduce the revs and watch the speed and fuel flow change (sometimes dramatically!)

2100 Manual available to download from:here

They also do a 3100 which has many more features (two fuel tanks, visual bar chart display) - uses a large square gauge as opposed to a small round one with the 2100. you may need to buy an additional flow sensor for two tanks though.

Any other questions just ask

p.s. I have no connection with navman other than being a satisfied customer!

Andy Moore · 01 October 2005, 19:56

Stuart,

Would this then be duplicating readings from the SmartCraft dials?

--Andy

Stuart M · 01 October 2005, 21:23

I use the 2100 completely stand alone as one unit. I understand that you can buy just the fuel flow bit to connect it to other navman stuff but have no experience with "smartcraft" at all. I only have manual fuel guage and Navman 2100 on the boat, all other stuff is independent (except gps feed to dsc radio).