How much fuel is each bar on the digital gas gauge

[Beer Money]

2022 195 ID with 31 gallon fuel tank - How many gallons is each bar approximately

 

[Ronnie]

How many bars does the digital guage have? Just divide 31 by the number of bars to get the approximate gallons per bar.

Is this a trick question?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Sorry @Ronnie and @Beer Money , the digital gauge is NON linear no matter how hard you try. It's a literal float on an arm. It has a resistor card that measures degrees which corresponds to a certain resistivity which in turns gets converted to a digital gauge. They try to make reasonably linear but that just isn't the case. The resistor card has variable spacing to try and adjust for this. But it's not customized PERFECTLY for your tank. It's a generic card.

Each fuel tank will measure a little differently depending on the design. For example, in my little 165 (20 gallon tank), The first third of the tank when burned corresponds to about only ONE tick on the digital gauge. If I were to top it up at that point, I'd probably put about 6 gallons. The next 7 ticks correspond to the bottom 2/3 of the tank. And again, that's non linear.

You'll need to get to know your boat. I'd recommend writing down how many ticks were left when you top it up and take note of the corresponding amount of fuel you put in relative to the tank size. After doing that at different tick levels, you'll get a good gauge (ha!) of what they mean in your case.

Obviously what Ronnie is saying is what most people do. And it's good enough assuming you aren't running on fumes. But just be warned that the bottom third can go much faster than the top third since a portion of that top third is off the charts.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

In case you'd like to see, here's a closeup of the resistor card. You can see the two rows of metal contacts and the metal golden knobs touching one row each. The bridging of those two rows = resistivity. As you can see, there are divisions inside which correspond to various levels. Full is at one end of the arc, empty on the other.

 

[Ronnie]

@Luc Lafreniere it sounds like digitally monitored tanks are much like conventional tanks in both water craft and cars. that is, they indicate a low fuel usage when they are full and high usage when they are close to empty.

I think it’s important to know how far you can go on a full tank but also think those numbers can be misleading because the conditions may be different in each instance and how the boat is driven may be different was well. My boat burns 26 gallons an hour at wide open throttle, considerably less at cruising speed.

these days I don’t rely on the gauge for accuracy especially on the water. If I’m on the water when the meter reads 1/3 full I look for a gas station.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

@Ronnie, exactly! Weight, speed, water conditions, etc. Boat fuel gauges are an approximate thing at all times. In my case, I've done various tests to know how much fuel I actually have when I get to that bottom third. lol And how much longer I can run after I get an actual no more fuel light. Totally by choice... I swear!

 

[Ronnie]

@Ronnie, exactly! Weight, speed, water conditions, etc. Boat fuel gauges are an approximate thing at all times. In my case, I've done various tests to know how much fuel I actually have when I get to that bottom third. lol And how much longer I can run after I get an actual no more fuel light. Totally by choice... I swear!

This reminds of of two experiences one was on my 2006 waverunner and happened over five years ago. My bother took it camping with him and I joined him with my boat a day later. I asked him if the waverunner had any had in it since it had already been in the water for a day. His response, it’s got half a tank, 2 bars out of 4. My counter, that’s a quarter tank, 2 bars out of 8. All FXHO Waverunners since 2003 or 2004 have 18.5 gallon tanks.

Last october I took the new Waverunners out with a friend for a final lunch on the water. At the end of the day we hit a wind protected slough with water like glass, just as a squeezed the throttle to boil some water/carve it up a little, the low fuel warning light on my ski not only came on, it started blinking and I heard an audible alarm (ring tones) as well. So a putted back to the ramp like that. When I got the ski on the trailer and blew out the water in the pump the guage read that I had close to a quarter tank left. MF not WTF since I pretty much knew WTF but am glad I was complaining about it From the trailer v. A drift on the water. I hate ending the a season being towed in.

 

[dnicholas47]

Using the trip function and looking at gallons used is much more accurate than the gauge itself. In my experience it is within 5 gallons every time, usually closer .

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Using the trip function and looking at gallons used is much more accurate than the gauge itself. In my experience it is within 5 gallons every time, usually closer .

On my boat I have found it to be within 1 gallon on every tank, sometimes it’s within 2/10ths of a gallon.

 

[dnicholas47]

On my boat I have found it to be within 1 gallon on every tank, sometimes it’s within 2/10ths of a gallon.

Mine is actually much closer than 5 gallons, but I’m a big under-promise, over-deliver guy so I figured I’d give myself a cushion.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Mine is actually much closer than 5 gallons, but I’m a big under-promise, over-deliver guy so I figured I’d give myself a cushion.

Ah yes, I remember all too well my CSR training…