Fuel guage on fiberglass tank
Submitted by Coben13 on Sat, 2017-04-01 11:28
Hi all,
Can anyone help a novice? I have installed an after market fuel guage on my boat. The tank is fiberglass and I have earthed it to my negative earth that all my other guages, ( Fish finder, GPS, radie..etc.) are connected to. Is this the correct method or should I be running a separate earth to the motor?
Looked on the internet but can't find anything except steel tanks.
Would appreciate any feedback amature or tinkerer or prof.
Cheers Coben13
Marineboy
Posts: 842
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Earth
yes that's ok to have a common earth, is there a problem with the gauge not working ?
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
Coben13
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 22/03/15
Marineboy
I am not sure, I put 50lts in the tank and it's only reading just over a quarter so might be a bit low.
I just wanted to check because didn't want to overfill it.
Looking at the tank it looks about 100lts to me but just guessing. Did all the calculations on the chart when installing so should be right.
Just thought maybe the earth is not giving me full voltage reading?
Cheers
Coben13
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 22/03/15
Marineboy
I am not sure, I put 50lts in the tank and it's only reading just over a quarter so might be a bit low.
I just wanted to check because didn't want to overfill it.
Looking at the tank it looks about 100lts to me but just guessing. Did all the calculations on the chart when installing so should be right.
Just thought maybe the earth is not giving me full voltage reading?
Cheers
Marineboy
Posts: 842
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Fuel gauge
sounds ok to me, if the gauge is reading and the sender is matched to the gauge I think you will find its all good. Just make sure your main earth wire is heavy enough.
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
Coben13
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 22/03/15
Fuel guage
Cheers Mate,
Earth wire is heavy and all ok. Will go back and fill completely if you think it should be ok.
Thanks for the help.
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
you need to tune it
if its a 4 to 20 ma fuel gauge you will need to callibrate it ie empty equals 4 Ma and full equalls 20 Ma easy to to do just put your multi meter on milli amps in seiries with the fuel gauge but do it in steps empty empty is 4ma quater full is 8 Ma 1/4 full is 10 Ma half full 16Ma is 3/4 full 20 Ma is full and tune your fuel gauge as required
Coben13
Posts: 46
Date Joined: 22/03/15
Tuneing
Cheers Pete,
It's not exactly accurate but doesn't really matter. All I need is an indication. Might try callibrating it when I have timw.
Thanks for the feedback.