How did I do? Navman 4500 and fuel transduce

[Thebuffalo]

Got hold of one of the above today along with a fuel transducer for $1100. I thought it was a good deal. Have read the manual etc. Any comments or tips for setup would be appreciated.

Cheers

Thebuffalo.

[megafish71]

Price sounds good Buffalo. As with all sounders, position of the transducer is the key. Be sure to calibrate the fuel transducer. Had to recalibrate mine 3 times to get it accurate. The functions on the navman are really simple to use. Yell out if you are having any difficulties with it and I'll help you out. Spent alot of time playing with the settings on mine to get a great picture of the bottom in deep water (60+ metres). But I don't think its that deep in to many places up there. ;D ;D Good luck with the set up mate and let me know if I can be of any help.
Cheers Ron

[blaze]

hi buffalo
bet ya will want to turn off the fuel flow meter when ya see the readings, sounds like a great buy mate, now all you need to do is find the fish
cheers
blaze

[aido]

it's important to mount the fuel transducer vertically with the
outlet end up and ideally downstream of the fuel filter.
you'll probably end up with a length of fuel hose doing a bend,
keep all fuel hose bends as large as possible.
like megafish says, calibration is the key to it's accuracy.

[Thebuffalo]

Blaze I'm not worried about the fish, it's the bottom that concerns me :)

I am dreading the fuel calibration so any pointers would be appreciated Ron.

Aido, believe it or not I actually read the manual :) Point taken about the bends though. I didn't actually find the section on mounting the transducer so any tips would be good. Q. Is it best to mount it on a slide or just a solid mount?

[dnej]

Check it out for yourself, but I was told not to install the fuel transducer, due to it causing some fuel oil seperations.
I will see if I can find out who told me that.
David

[dnej]

Checked with my source.
Its not been proven,( but most likely after research as to why), that "large " outboards have burnt out from running lean ,due to the paddle wheel restricting the fuel flow to the motor.
Apparantly warranty claims have been knocked back due to the fitting of a Navman fuel monitor. Better check with your motor manufacture, if still under warranty. Other than that do your own homework.
Hope this helps
David

[aido]

to calibrate the unit,
i set up a 20 ltr drum of fuel (up high) feeding the filter inlet
and used another hose from the engine feed line (under cowl)
to an empty 20 ltr drum (down low).
reset the used indicator to zero, pump your primer bulb till flow
starts and go have a smoke...(just joking there). once the 20ltrs
has gravity fed thru the system switch the full and emtpy drums.
did this a few times, till 80 or 100 ltrs had passed the transducer
and then calibrated to that amount.
simple and has never needed calibrating since.

cheers, aido.

[Thebuffalo]

Aido that sounds very easy. Q. why couldn't they make the bloody thing so that it didn't need calibration? Also, if you don't calibrate the system does it still give an accurate "amount used". Also I thought the motor had to be running to calibrate the system, the point being that some motors EFI in particular pump up the fuel and store it before injecting it into the chambers... I will do as you suggest but am just a little curious, the manual states that it will show acuratly fuel used without the calibration but it will not give the economy info. The more I type the more confused I am getting.

Running a 2 stroke 200 efi (I don't really give a shit about costs etc) I would like to know what sort of fuel I am using so I know when to turn around :) Get my drift. Can I acheive these results calibrating via your methods? What size motor are you running?

David I will send an em to navman and Mercury and see what they say. I hope it is not as you suggest.

Cheers, thanks for the help.

[Monza]

Out of the box, the transducer should be within 10% accurate, and with calibration you should get within 2% accurate. Just install the transducer, fill the tank - go out and have a great days fishing, fill the tank again and punch in the amount used for the day - simple. You shouldn't have to do it again after this unless you want to improve accuracy even further.

[aido]

i'm running a 200hp efi outboard like you. i had serious concerns as
presented by someone else that the transducer could cause excessive
back pressure and maybe lean the mix. total nonsense i have found the
navman fuel system a top class system, extremely acurate (within +/- 2 ltrs)
when regularly refilling 120ltrs, the klm/ltr 'economy' display is invaluable when
trimming the motor, and traditional fuel qty gauges are totally obselete and
who needs one with the navman system.
you've made a wise decision getting it, set it up properly, you won't regret it.

you don't say, but has a 4500 got a built in gps receiver?
i had to hardwire my fuel 3100 into a furuno gps nmea output.
not as big deal, standard nmea data,
p.m. me if you need a hand.

about mounting the txdcr, it's not explained.
i like free mounting it, like just hanging off the fuel lines.
heres a pic of my set up, bad perspective, sorry...
http://users.tpg.com.au/adessaix/trans1.jpg

[megafish71]

Hey Buffalo, I calibrated mine the same way that Monza did, I recalibrated mine 3 times and now it's within a litre of being spot on. Just have to make sure that the tank is refilled to the same level (no airlocks). So give that a try on your next couple of trips.
Ron

[Thebuffalo]

Aido, a light just came on in my head! Am I thinking I am going to get an economy reading without a GPS? The 4500 doesn't come with a gps receiver, I do have a handheld Garmin unit and the 4500 will accept the data as you suggested. If I don't have the GPS connected I will only get fuel flow / used, thats correct isn't it. I was thinking that the economy reading came from the paddle wheel on the transducer as you moved along...... ???

Monza, I like your method of calibrating the system. I will try it and see how I go. I have a 80km trip I am doing next thursday so am expecting the buffalo will drink a few litres. Fenton Patches is the name of the place, Ron you should know it.

Thanks for the help, I'm sure this topic is not dead yet.

Cheers

[aido]

get the basic flowmeter/used/remaining stuff going first.
economy/speed display is icing on the cake you can do
later. using a handheld garmin ?? i'd consider a cradle for it
and hardwire that to pwr and nmea output to the navman.

second thoughts...
maybe your right about the transducer paddlewheel buff.
should be possible, maybe not that accurate though.
something else to calibrate, lol.
good luck with it.

[Thebuffalo]

Bought a cable for the garmin to interface with the navman today. give me a day or so and I'll let you know how it goes.

Buffalo

[megafish71]

Yeh Buffalo, I know the Fentons. Have caught some really nice goldies and black jew out there. Always put a floater out too, as the odd mack and cobia turn up there as well. We're all expecting a full trip report now Buffalo, plenty of pics would be good too. Gee I miss the Top End, have a great day out mate.

Cheers Ron

[Thebuffalo]

Ron I will make sure I have a good day out. Don't know if I will catch anything though. Have finished setting up my Navman. I was amazed at how easy it was in the end. The menu's etc are really easy to undrstand. I have set my Garmin up to feed data to the unit. Don't really know what I am going to acheive with this. I suppose I will only have total distance etc. I did notice that the unit will display speed from the GPS as well. I thought that it would display the lat long as well. I was hoping for too much I suppose. I am happy anyway. Rang Navman with a querie and good some good advice. Were off to a good start. Just have to sort the calibration for the fuel now.

As far as the Fenton's are concerned, there has been a bit of wind around at the moment, I am sure the buildup has started. I am hoping it will settle later in the week.

Cheers.

[propdinger]

buffalo
make sure you use there plastic crimps when putting the fuel flow meter on as if you use metal hose clamps it crushes the plastic ends on the flow meter and you get a false reading cause of restriction. it something that is in the instructions but i have seen alot of people think the plstic clips aint strong enough beleive me they are


jeff

[Thebuffalo]

Oop's, I used the stainless one's provided. Seemed to work ok today when I had her out.

For those of you who are interested, I tok the Buffalo out for a wollow today to test out the Navman. The Navman worked great, only problem is where I have the transducer mounted. At speed I am getting a stream of water which shots up over the top of the motor. This means I have to raise it then lower it when I get to the spots. I will have to play around a bit.

I have been really suprised at how easy the functions are to master. Probably a good thing as my manuel is now out in the sun drying after todays efforts. Wind picked up a bit.....honest.

The fuel flow gave me a reading 18.9 lt. The trip I did today was 20km approx. I filled the tank back up and that took 20lt (give or take) I am guessing that is roughly a 5% error out of the box. I can live with that. I recalibrated it anyway so I will see how it goes on thursday.

Did I catch any fish you ask? Two tiny trevally, one volunteered for live bait duty, and earn't his freedom for it. Dad was with me and managed to lose three decent fish. One straightend his hook out. (might have to spend a little more on hooks next time) My uncle was with and managed to land a nice little spanish mac which volunteered for his tea. Other than that, plenty of bite's which kept me interested. Went out to the Bottle washer off Lee Point by the way. Some will know of it. No picture so you'll just have to beleive me. :)

[blaze]

Hi Buffalo
Does the navman give LPH while crusin
Sounds like ya had a fun day, did the little trevally get released or earnt its freedom as a feed for a bigger fish that got away. Also love your term of volenteered for dinner.
cheers
blaze

[Thebuffalo]

Blaze, the Navman does give LPH and...... I know you will find this hard to believe, but at one stage I managed 50lph. Average was 42lph sitting on 4500rpm at 47kmph. I thought that was fairly reasonable. A dollar a KM is not everyone's cup of tea though.

Freedom is freedom. I did consider eating it myself. If I was living down south I would have and have before. Plenty of Garfish arund too at the moment, couldn't interst any Mac'c in them, well I couldn't. Today was just a quick trip. Got back and the tide was out so I had to skull drag the bloody big fat arse Buffalo onto the trailer with my Suburban parked up to it's elbows in the salt. I was calling it a few other names, and none of them were the buffalo. :-/ I rang the missus and asked her what time low tide was... three O'clock luv, 1.5m. Back at 11, must have been a minus 1.5 :( won't happen again.

Otherwise I had a great day.

Figured out that I was running my transducer too low. Navman sent me the instillation manual that I asked them for the other day (very quick). I was also running it parralel with the bottom of the boat, apparently the arse needs to be kicked down a few degrees. See how I go on Thursday.

Thebuffalo

[blaze]

sound like ya having a ball, glad my fuel figures are a little better than yours
cheers
blaze

[Thebuffalo]

I could do better but that would require patience. I thought you were on holiday's anyway!

[blaze]

Back in wonderful tassie now, to bloody dry over there for me. Went hunting a couple of rivers in SA for a fish, but bugger me we have more water over here in our street gutters, so i was pleased to get home and sniff a bit of fresh salt air and never complain of our fishing again
cheers
blaze

[Thebuffalo]

we've got water in our rivers up here. There is the odd steering wheel cover or handbag as well. you come to Darwin and I'll come to tassie........ in summer.

[megafish71]

I'd go back to Darwin anyday, But Tassie BRRRRRR to bloody cold for my northern blood, even in summer. I don't know how you guys live there. Went to Hobart once for work, coldest 3 days of my life.

Better chance of catching up with you in Darwin Buffalo than bumping into you Blaze down there in Tassie. BRRRR getting cold thinking about it, better go and put a T shirt on.

Cheers Ron

[Thebuffalo]

Ron, this could be a new thread, I can just see it now.....what do you wear whilst on the Ausfish forum......... :-/ :-/ :-/

Maybe better leave that one alone.

[blaze]

not what i wear Buffalo, but what it cost to run the electric heating in the office and the 20 ton of wood i burn to keep the house warm
cheers
blaze
ps
pi**ing with rain, humid, think we are in for a storm

[megafish71]

And the weather just keeps getting better in Tassie :D :D

[Thebuffalo]

Fishing tomorrow ;D ;D ;D Can only get half a day in as the wind will come up in the afternoon. Still half a day will do hey!

For what it's worth Blaze you were fishing and Mutton birding when I was waiting for the rain to stop, remember? ;D

[blaze]

not bloody fair gonna sulk now,weather should settle down soon and then we will get the big thaw, iceburgs will disapear etc etc
gotta love tassie
cheers
blaze

[Thebuffalo]

Had a good run today, got four mac's, not real big, landed two, lost two. caught a stingray wish was interesting for a while. Had a great big Hammer head follow one of the mac's in, that was very intersting.

Managed to get my transducer set at just the right height, didn't drop out at all. It's amazing what you can acheive when you have the instillation manual.

Figures for today's effort using the navman fuel flow were, at 4600rpm, .7lt per km @ 50kmph.

Giving it another 1000 rpm bought the consumption up to 1.3 lt / km @ 58kmph or something similar. Wasn't really worth it.

That was with four blokes and a 11 year old + gear

[megafish71]

Hey buffalo those fuel figures sound pretty good to me considering the weight of the hull and the two stroke pushing it. Where did you get out to today, I know a great Mac spot just outside of bynoe. Caught 50 odd mac there in a morning session with some fishery guys once. Might be getting a little late in the year for big numbers to be there, but the big ones will still be there, so will the dam lemon sharks too. Pm me if you'd like the mark.

Cheers Ron

[aido]

hi buffalo,
is that using the gps input or paddle wheel sensor?

[Thebuffalo]

Aido, that was via my GPS. I suppose I should add that it was pretty flat and no wind to speak of. The paddle wheel sensor has not been calibrated yet, fuel has but I haven't got around to the speed. I have to read up on it. The Navman sounder did not drop out either which I was really rapt about. The buffalo's belly is not the flattest so I was expecting bubbles etc to effect the reading.

Ron I went back out to the Bottlewasher were I was on monday. Thats about ten K's off Nightcliff. I would love any 'points of interest that you may have and are willing to provide. I haven't ventured around to Dundee yet but will as soon as I have a few more hours up on the motor. It has only 8 under it's belt. I would think that if anything was to go wrong with it, then by now it would have reared it head, what do you recon? The figures I have provided are off my instruments so give it a ten percent error and I am very happy with the figures. I was surprised that the extra RPM did not really give much more for the fuel investment. Next time I'm out I will take a notebook and pen and write down a bit more. economy is supposed to improve as the engine gets run in. I think I will keep a log as the hours build and then post the results. Don't hold your breath though.

Cheers