Northstar
EXPLORER 550/550i
Installation and Operation Manual
33
To set a low fuel alarm for a tank:
1 Press
one or more times to display
the Setup menu, select Fuel then select
Setup tanks.
2 On a multi-tank boat, select the tank to set
the alarm for.
3 Select Fuel alarm and enter a fuel level to
trigger the low fuel alarm; or enter zero to
disable the alarm.
10-4 Low fuel alarm
When a low fuel alarm is set, the alarm’s fuel level
is shown on the fuel display tank levels as a red
bar. The alarm can also be set using the Alarms
setup menu (see section 14-7)
10-5-1 Selecting a boat speed sensor
The fuel calculations can use boat speeds from
the GPS, or from a paddlewheel sensor or pitot
sensor if these optional sensors are installed:
Paddlewheel and pitot sensors measure the
speed through the water; GPS speed is speed
over ground; these sensors can give different
values for Range, Economy and the fuel
consumption curves (see section 10-5-2).
A pitot sensor is more accurate than a
paddlewheel sensor at high speeds but is
not accurate at low speeds. A paddlewheel
sensor is more accurate than a pitot sensor at
low speeds.
10-5 Boat speed sensors
To select an optional speed sensor
1 Press
one or more times to display
the Setup menu, select Fuel and select Speed
source.
2 To use a paddlewheel or pitot sensor, select
Water speed, otherwise select Ground speed
to use GPS speed.
3 If you selected Water speed and you have
both a paddlewheel sensor and a pitot
sensor:
i
Press
, select Smartcraft and select
Speed type
ii Select Paddlewheel or Pitot.
Tip:
You can select a different speed sensor
during a trip.
Note:
If you follow procedure B every time you
add fuel, then a small error will accumulate,
because it is hard to measure exactly how much
fuel you add. To avoid this, completely fill the tank
and follow procedure A about every tenth time
you add fuel.
C When you remove fuel
1. Before removing fuel, go to the Fuel display,
press
and select Set remaining.
2. On a multi-tank boat, select the tank that you
are removing fuel from.
3. Write down the value of Remaining for the
tank; this is the amount of fuel originally in
the tank.
4. Remove fuel from the tank and write down
how much fuel you remove.
5. Subtract the amount of fuel you removed
from the amount of fuel originally in the tank
to calculate the amount of fuel now in the
tank.
6. Change the number on the Set Remaining
menu to the amount of fuel that you
calculated was now in the tank.
7. Press
Note:
You can also use this procedure when you
add fuel to a tank. In this case, add the fuel you
have added to the amount of fuel originally in
the tank to calculate the amount of fuel now in
the tank.
