Northstar
EXPLORER 550/550i
Installation and Operation Manual
31
10 Fuel functions and display
The Fuel functions require optional petrol/gasoline or SmartCraft fuel sensors to be installed and set up.
Each engine has a flow sensor installed to
measure the engine’s fuel flow.
The EXPLORER uses these flows, together
with boat speed and engine RPM if available
to estimate the fuel remaining in the tank(s),
fuel used, range and fuel economy. This data is
displayed on the fuel display (see section 10-2).
You can:
display the fuel used during a trip
(seesection 10-2)
set low fuel alarms (see section 10-4)
make fuel consumption curves - graphs
of fuel consumption and boat speed as a
function of engine RPM - to monitor and
optimise boat performance.
(see section 10-6)
10-2 Fuel display
To go to the Fuel display, press
, select
Other, then select Fuel.
The display differs according to the number of
engines and tanks. If engine RPM is available
and if you have made and selected a Fuel
Consumption Curve (see section 10-6), press
to switch between a Summary or a Fuel curve
display.
The Fuel display shows
Speed
To select a boat speed sensor, see section 10-5-1.
RPM (if available)
If engine RPM is not available, the display shows
depth.
Remaining
The fuel remaining in the tank(s) is shown as a
vertical gauge on the right of the display. The
height of the yellow bar(s) show how much fuel
remains in the tank(s). If you have set a low fuel
alarm (see section 10-4), a red bar shows the level
at which the alarm will trigger. If there are two
tanks, the left bar shows the port tank, the right
bar shows the starboard tank.
10-1 What the fuel computer does
Used
The fuel used during a trip. On a multi-engine
boat, the data for the port engine is on the left of
the display.
When you want to start measuring how much
fuel is used, go to the Fuel display and:
In a single engine boat, press
and
select Clear used.
In a multi-engine boat, the fuel used by
each engine and the total fuel used are
shown. Press
, select Clear used
and select:
Port or Starboard to clear the fuel used
by one engine
Both to clear the total fuel used.
Fuel flow
The fuel flow for the engine(s). On a multi engine
boat, the data for the port engine is on the left
of the display. Use the flows to check the load of
each engine.
!
WARNING
To ensure the fuel data is accurate:
When you add or remove fuel from a
tank, tell the EXPLORER (see section 10-3)
If the boat has petrol/gasoline sensors,
calibrate them during installation or if
the fuel readings seem inaccurate (see
section 10-7)
Choose an appropriate type of boat
speed sensor to calculate economy,
range and the fuel consumption curve
(see section 10-5)
If the boat uses a paddlewheel sensor
to measure speed, calibrate it during
installation or if the speed readings seem
inaccurate.