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Garmin Display gas gauge reset

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Hartwell Ski

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Just purchased a 22lfb with a 200 HP mercury and the garmin display instead of regular gauges. Does anyone have a similar setup?

Lots of good options for engine displays but it appears that I have to manually reset the garmin fuel gauge whenever I add gas. That just does not seem right - as though there is no gas tank sending unit link and it calculates fuel level based on fuel flow rather than the actual fuel level in the tank. I have looked through the manual and it gives instructions on when you either fill the tank or add a number of gallons and how to set the gauge level accordingly. So when you add gas, the gauge level doesn’t change at all until you go in and adjust it.

Am I missing something? Seems like I must be.
 
Hartwell Ski said:
Just purchased a 22lfb with a 200 HP mercury and the garmin display instead of regular gauges. Does anyone have a similar setup?

Lots of good options for engine displays but it appears that I have to manually reset the garmin fuel gauge whenever I add gas. That just does not seem right - as though there is no gas tank sending unit link and it calculates fuel level based on fuel flow rather than the actual fuel level in the tank. I have looked through the manual and it gives instructions on when you either fill the tank or add a number of gallons and how to set the gauge level accordingly. So when you add gas, the gauge level doesn’t change at all until you go in and adjust it.

Am I missing something? Seems like I must be.
Click to expand...

If it’s a anything like a SIMRAD, for it to recognize fuel level you have to install a sending unit (or tap into existing ?). I‘m thinking Garmin is probably the same. What model is it?
 
Is there an N2K or J1939 wire from your fuel tank connected to your MFD or network? If not then the Garmin has nothing to "see" even if you had a fuel sending unit.

If you don't have any other gauges, analog or digital, then my guess is Bennington had no reason to install the FSU.
 
I had a similar problem on my 2021 Bennington + Garmin. It turns out there are two different fuel trackers on the Garmin. One is manual (Fuel -> Total Fuel Onboard), where you have to mark when you add fuel, and it subtracts automatically based on (I assume) a flow meter. Not super accurate, and annoying to use each time you add fuel.

I was able to find a *second* type of gauge (Fuel -> Tank Level, I think) that only reads in a %, not in gallons, but it's automatic. I've stopped marking when I've added fuel and just use this gauge on my custom Garmin screens. Can see the difference here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbhxs87vftyycw0/IMG_3191.MOV?dl=0
 
chrislca said:
I had a similar problem on my 2021 Bennington + Garmin. It turns out there are two different fuel trackers on the Garmin. One is manual (Fuel -> Total Fuel Onboard), where you have to mark when you add fuel, and it subtracts automatically based on (I assume) a flow meter. Not super accurate, and annoying to use each time you add fuel.

I was able to find a *second* type of gauge (Fuel -> Tank Level, I think) that only reads in a %, not in gallons, but it's automatic. I've stopped marking when I've added fuel and just use this gauge on my custom Garmin screens. Can see the difference here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbhxs87vftyycw0/IMG_3191.MOV?dl=0
Click to expand...
Perfect. Thanks so much
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
Is there an N2K or J1939 wire from your fuel tank connected to your MFD or network? If not then the Garmin has nothing to "see" even if you had a fuel sending unit.

If you don't have any other gauges, analog or digital, then my guess is Bennington had no reason to install the FSU.
Click to expand...
Thank you
 
I'm not a fan of abandoning the traditional analog instrumentation.
 
The Garmin fuel used/remaining is a "paper" calculation only, based on RPM and the ECU's fuel/air map. There is no flow meter present to measure fuel use. You always have to reset the Garmin to "fill all tanks" or "add xx gals fuel", as well as the set the total fuel capacity in the settings. Normally, an analog sending unit (if present) would talk through a Mercury Smartcraft connection. If your boat has a VesselView Link Module (not very likely), this module would bridge the Smartcraft communications from the engine to a separate NMEA 2000 communication bus. The Garmin MFD then displays fuel data sent from the sending unit onto the NMEA 2000 bus, in addition to the calculated fuel consumption as mentioned above. Hope this helps.
 
I purposefully have both on my boat for redundancy - I have the Fuel tank level on a Yamaha 6y8 round gauge (8 bar meter) as well as engine fuel burn data to both my Garmin MFD and another Yamaha 6y8 gauge.

I will say, the tank level sensor is not very accurate at all, and I would never use it unless in an emergency. On the other hand the fuel burn data is EXTREMELY accurate coming from the engine ECM, and is almost always within 1/10th of a gallon of actual. So while it's a pain to reset after each fill up, it's also the best way to know exactly how much fuel is left.

Two fundamental things I never hope to do as captain - drink and drive and run out of fuel.
 
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