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Kondo 1
12-01-2010, 06:41 AM
Gday Guys,

This is not a strictly boating question - howver I am hopeful someone can help me.

Just wondering if anyone has had much to do with the northstar/Navman fuel flow meters?? I was initially looking at the Lowrance meter but it is apparently not suitable for Diesel.

I am looking seriously at doing and engine swap in my landcruiser for a chev diesel and was wondering whether or not I could get a fuel flow meter like this to work?? It will be linked up with a Garmin 76csx GPS which apparently has a NMEA 0183 output.

What do u reckon? Could I get it to work or does anyone have any other suggestions??

Cheers.

Kero
13-01-2010, 04:49 PM
I'm no expert on this but I do have one hooked up to a Northstar GPS/Plotter.
I can't see why it wouldn't work on a Garmin since it's just a paddle wheel with magnets that counts revolutions as fuel flows through it. You just need to be able to calibrate your GPS to get it to read accurately.
I find that, once calibrated, they are a very accurate tool/guide.
Hope this helps!:)

FNQCairns
13-01-2010, 05:40 PM
Only problem you will have is with the fuel return, if you can get it to read only what the engine takes and uses then it will work fine, although I do not know that engine I suspect your idea will not be possible.

cheers fnq

Redrocks
15-01-2010, 05:09 PM
Kondo,

As FNQ says, you will only be able to do it with 2 units. One measuring what the transfer pump draws from the tank, and the other measuring the "spill" to tank. The difference in numbers is your consumption.

Redrocks

FNQCairns
15-01-2010, 07:58 PM
Kondo,

As FNQ says, you will only be able to do it with 2 units. One measuring what the transfer pump draws from the tank, and the other measuring the "spill" to tank. The difference in numbers is your consumption.

Redrocks

Redrocks do you know if this is the way modern efi and dfi engines work their fuel usage meters, like with 2 sensors?

cheers fnq

Redrocks
15-01-2010, 10:40 PM
Redrocks do you know if this is the way modern efi and dfi engines work their fuel usage meters, like with 2 sensors?

cheers fnq

FNQ,

No I don't think there are 2 sensors that measure flow. While I'm not an expert on the car stuff, I think it works like this; There is a single high pressure fuel line or common rail (thousands of psi) that delivers fuel to electronically controlled injectors. These fire when the ecm sends current to solenoids mounted on the injectors, and based on factors like fuel pressure, rpm, duration of current, etc, the ecm is able to calculate exactly how much fuel the injector fires per cycle. It adds up the total for all of the injectors, usues vehicle speed and is able to give an instant fuel rate.

The engines in the Cat dump trucks at work use the same principle, but on a much larger scale. Some of the machines we manage have fuel usage in the millions of litres, all calculated by individual injections.

By the way, I think the common rail technology is light years ahead of normal four stroke petrol engines and will only continue to develop. Just look at the power figures from some of the latest Korean suv's with relatively small capacities.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Redrocks

Kondo 1
18-01-2010, 08:08 PM
Cheers guys,

I actually had that thought after I posted about not being accurate due to the fuel return, but tankyou for the comprehensive answer.

Is there anyway of measuring fuel consumption on a mechanical injected deisel aside from running 2 units??

I know it is not necessary but I do love gadgets :)

Thanks again.

Alchemy
18-01-2010, 08:34 PM
Have a look at the Floscan range of fuel flow meters, especially designed for diesel.

file:///C:/Users/David/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.pnghttp://www.floscan.com.au/Content_Common/pg-Series75000.seo