trouble shooting fuel gauge

[Bob 04 H260]

I have the factory fuel gauge setup on my boat. The indicator is also also used for the holding tank and fresh water tank (they both use a copper strip on the outside of the tank) and both those tanks indicate correctly.

The fuel tank uses an immersion type sender and always indicates full. I have the manual for the indicator panel and have gone through the calibration procedure for the fuel tank a couple of times and no joy.

I have a good understanding of electronics so will get out the VOM next. The sender has 3 wires on it and a couple of LEDs. I am not sure who makes the sender unit. I assume if the wiring checks out the next step is to pull the sender and replace it, any suggestions on manufacturer ? no point pulling it if I do not have replacement in hand.


thanks, Bob

 

[Rich Stidger]

The immersion sender would be similar to the one I have in my holding tank. The three wires are +12V (I think it's 12V- measure to be sure), ground, and sender output. The sender output should vary between 0.5V and 3-5V depending upon the level of the fuel. Low level= low voltage. You can check the sender output with a simple voltmeter. If your fuel tank is shallow- like under 10" deep, the sender output voltage could be 0.2V to 0.8V. The difference in output voltage should be at lest 0.5V between empty and full.

If you need to replace the sender, you need to know the length of the sender. So you may need to pull out the sender to measure it. If you have the sender out you can test the sender in a bucket of water by supplying a power source and measuring the output to ground. I have no idea what the LEDs indicate.

One source for a replacement sender would be Profile Gauges. Check the store on this site because I think they carry the Profile gauges. Otherwise just goggle to get the factory website.

 

[Sandy Stone]

Not sure how old your boat is, but sometimes you can pull the sender out and clean it up, and get it to working again. I pulled mine (after running out of fuel at an especially inopportune time) and it was kind of scary the amount of crud that had built up on it over the years. It's working OK for now, but I watch it every time I put fuel in the tank to make sure it moves.

 

[Bob 04 H260]

thanks guys always good advice here, I think I found a manual for this sensor that may help me, they have no moving parts and may be cut to length for the tank size, (copy attached), Bob

 

[Mulf]

Copy of one post on topic found in this forum's archives

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=837141&highlight=snake river

"If factory installed external sensors they are probably Snake River sensors. I used to sell those to Hunter years ago. The engineer that designed those and myself went off on our own to form Ferriello Sales LLC / New Providence Marine
If you would like to talk about the sensors I will help you figure out if it is the sensor our the panel.
send me an email or call me and I will help you.

Also Thanks Ed for the great article, you did a great job, glad I could help you.


Dennis Ferriello
www.ferriellosales.com
dennis@ferriellosales.com
435.656.0042 "

 

[Bob 04 H260]

Mulf, thanks very much.
I had a long talk with Dennis this afternoon, very good guy. He gave some good ideas and will help get this thing going again.

regards, Bob

(BTW I believe we met at the Hunter Rendezvous in the Chesapeake two years ago ........)