My ongoing fuel sender saga... good news!! <replacing fuel sender>

[Scottintexas]

my new sending unit just arrived, I'm a little confused about the calibration process, I know it will calibrate itself if you go under a certain amount and then fill up but not sure what to do on my initial install,

my boat currently has about 1/2 fuel,
should I fill it up before I install it,
should I install it and then fill it up,
should I install it and try to burn some more fuel up before I refill

normally I'm a "install and ask questions later" but I'm trying to get better

 

[Yamatuf]

I tested mine before install out of the tank, it has a float that I just tilted the tube. Mine was plug n play. I would call the MFG for assistance

 

[Andy S]

my new sending unit just arrived, I'm a little confused about the calibration process, I know it will calibrate itself if you go under a certain amount and then fill up but not sure what to do on my initial install,

my boat currently has about 1/2 fuel,
should I fill it up before I install it,
should I install it and then fill it up,
should I install it and try to burn some more fuel up before I refill

normally I'm a "install and ask questions later" but I'm trying to get better

Here is what I did when I installed mine and it has been working perfectly every since. I have burned about 5 tanks of fuel since installation.

I did a partial calibration with mine before fully installing, something I didn't mention in my previous post. With the new fuel sender electrically connected but only partially in the tank, about 1" of the probe was in the gasoline, I turned on the key to get the low fuel setting, then with the key still on I slowly installed the sender, and once fully installed it read what was in the tank (about 3/4). To get another empty calibration, I won't refuel until I am closer to a 1/4 tank and then post my results.

 

[Scottintexas]

I installed the sender with the tank half full. The install was super easy and the tank read close to the half mark. I filled the boat up this morning and spent the day at the lake. When we were idling to the dock I noted the tank the gauge read just under 3/4 tank. I filled up this evening and it took 22 gallons. I was expecting closer to 14-16 gallons. As long as I can trust it close to empty I'll be happy but I'll have to continue to monitor it for the full range.

 

[waterboy]

So I have to add an update on this... After initial install I was very happy with the new sender and how it performed. Although I was using pump gas with ethanol only though too.

My first foray with non-ethanol came during my trip to Bimini. No issues on my first fill up there, everything worked well. I filled up for the return trip. All the numbers made sense during these refuelings. We had a smooth crossing but it showed I only used 1/3 of a tank coming back across. My first thought was no way did I burn that little...

Well I wanted to get the sender below 1/2 tank so the sender would auto-calibrate now that I was back home so I did not refill when I got back. Busy past month, so I have only had 2 short outings at the lake (I'm sad to say). The gauge was only showing just below 1/2 tank and I'm thinking no way, there still is a flaw in sender equation... There is just no way I have only burned that little of gas, but I'm below half tank so let's see what it takes to fill her... expecting a 45 gallon fill up.

Filled up and only put 30 gallons in the tank yesterday. HOLY CRAP!!! This thing does work as advertised.

Guys. I'm sold. This is the best upgrade I've done by far.

 

[justason]

My fuel sender saga.....Seems I have a black sheep among the series here. (2009 212x)

I started into this project last week. My sender was not like the others here. More important, my wire harness was only a 2 conductor (even tho it terminated in a 3 contact connector
My stock unit is a WEMA 001306 float style....I'm surprised it is as accurate as it is...which it isn't.....

The wires match up to the GND and SEND wires of the connector, the 12v positive in non-existent ?

I'm finishing up a conversation with Centroid engineering now before I cut/splice any wires. but in short all I need to do is bring 12v ignition wires to the unit. As a matter of convenience it would be substantially easier to bring a direct 12v from the house battery. I cant imagine there is threat of draw down here, and the boat is plugged in almost constantly. I'm tracking down an ignition wire inside the engine compartment now too.


tag @waterboy @andy07sx230ho

 

[Andy S]

@justason I hooked up my hour meters to the ignition switches and I pretty sure I connected them to a purple wire at the switch. I will have to pull the switch panel to make sure. Whenever my switch is in the on position there is power to the hour meters which should work for your fuel sending unit.

Since you have the fuel deck removed it would be easy to fish a wire from the helm/ignition switch to the fuel sender.

 

[waterboy]

I thought Centroid made a 2 wire sensor that pulls power from the dash guage ??? That would be plug and play but would require a different one than the sensor you have in the hand. Would they return the one you bought??? Seems easier than fishing a wire, etc???

 

[Julian]

@justason Have you owned the boat from new? I didn't know any of the boats had float sensors.....could it have been replaced with a float by somone else? Complained to the dealer and they "fixed it" with the float style leaving a wire in the boat?

 

[Julian]

Mine has been working fine, and per Centroid...there is no calibration required....which is holding true for me.

 

[justason]

@justason I hooked up my hour meters to the ignition switches and I pretty sure I connected them to a purple wire at the switch. I will have to pull the switch panel to make sure. Whenever my switch is in the on position there is power to the hour meters which should work for your fuel sending unit.
Since you have the fuel deck removed it would be easy to fish a wire from the helm/ignition switch to the fuel sender.

thanks @andy07sx230ho that's kinda where I 'm at. Its easy to go from the fuel tank to the engine compartment.... I haven't seen what it takes to get behind the helm yet...

@justason Have you owned the boat from new? I didn't know any of the boats had float sensors.....could it have been replaced with a float by somone else? Complained to the dealer and they "fixed it" with the float style leaving a wire in the boat?

I bought it used with 22 hours on it...I questioned if it was replaced earlier....but the 2 conductor factory harness would be a 3 conductor per the factory

I thought Centroid made a 2 wire sensor that pulls power from the dash guage ??? That would be plug and play but would require a different one than the sensor you have in the hand. Would they return the one you bought??? Seems easier than fishing a wire, etc???

Engineering comes online at 3pm at Centroid, thats one question I have for him pending....all centroid products have a 2 year RMA policy..so says Mary..so it is returnable.

 

[waterboy]

ok ... staying tuned to see how this works out...

 

[justason]

ok ... staying tuned to see how this works out...

Ok, I think we've closed this out. Here is my most recent email from Centroid: It only took 8 emails for him to realize I had a Yamaha, a detail I re-stated every step of the way..

-----------------------------snip--------------
Eric:

You've called your boat a Yamaha. Does Yamaha actually make boats, or just parts for boats?_______________ Oh, wait: when I look up Tennessee Watercraft on the internet, I see "Tennessee Watercraft/Yamaha". OK, then I think I understand the situation. Tennessee Watercraft used our senders for about a year and then switched to Wema. So my guess is they still had the 3-terminal Deutsch connector in their harnesses for our senders and just switched to Wema senders, or if you're not the first owner of the boat then maybe the previous owner did......wait, though. If my explanation is correct, shouldnt the harness have all three wires in it? I guess I'm still confused, but I'm fairly confident that's the source of the 3-pin Deutsch.



Ethanol in gasoline is a complication for capacitance senders. Gasoline with 10% ethanol has twice the capacitance of gasoline without ethanol (!) and the percentage can be anywhere between 0-10%. To correct for this, we have a Full Detection scheme where the sender corrects its Full cal at each fillup. But boat owners often dont actually fill but just add enough for the day's trip, which doesnt let the Full Detection do its thing. If the percent ethanol in their area is steady, which has been my experience in our area, then only one fillup is needed for the readings to be corrected to the local percent of ethanol. At the time Tennessee Watercraft decided to switch to Wema, we didnt even have Full Detection.



Given the explanation above, you can decide if it seems worthwhile to run the ignition wire that you'd need to add to use our sender.
------------------------------end snip-----------------

O wait..there's more!~!...wait... ..anywho, I found this on amazon, I'll order it to properly rebuild the connection after running a new ignition wire.
http://www.amazon.com/Deutsch-3-pin-Connector-housing-Terminals/dp/B00B4FAU7S/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1441039179&sr=8-1&keywords=DT04-3P

all should be good after that.....
thanks

 

[Scottintexas]

After the weekend I had just a hair above 1/4 of a tank left. I filled up on the way home with 37.5 gal (at $1.94/gallon )

If my math is correct that's just about a perfect reading!!

 

[waterboy]

glad this is working out for everyone... oh except Justason

I thought his boat was some bastard child. I guess Yamaha made a switch in 09. This fuel sender is a great upgrade for all but certainly a good easy one for the 07-08 boats.

 

[Alex Smith]

I know this is an old thread but Would this be a fix for my gauge? It always shows full even without power going to the gauge.
Thanks

 

[waterboy]

@Alex Smith Don't know about your situation. The first question is to figure out where the problem is at. If it is reading full all the time, if you pop the floor hatch to get to the tank, pull the sender and move it up and down, and all the way out to see if you get a reading. When out completely, if it doesn;t read empty, then you have to chase down that problem. If it does read, then you could calibrate what you have or replace. Is it a bad sender or do you have power problems somewhere or is the gauge broken? Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Alex Smith]

@Alex Smith Don't know about your situation. The first question is to figure out where the problem is at. If it is reading full all the time, if you pop the floor hatch to get to the tank, pull the sender and move it up and down, and all the way out to see if you get a reading. When out completely, if it doesn;t read empty, then you have to chase down that problem. If it does read, then you could calibrate what you have or replace. Is it a bad sender or do you have power problems somewhere or is the gauge broken? Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks took it out this morning per your advice. Bad gauge put new one in seems to work. Will find out over the next few days!

 

[Murf'n'surf]

I'm calling Mary today! My sender has been pegged on full for 1.5 years, time to replace it.

 

[Scuba_ref]

I'm calling Mary today! My sender has been pegged on full for 1.5 years, time to replace it.

Or take the boat out for a run!