Anyone using fuel meter with F250 and Raymarine C80?

[lgusto]

Searching this site yields a ton of hits on fuel flow meters but there's much confusion about connecting to Raymarine. Calls to manufacturers are answered noncommittally. So, I thought I'd ask specifically:

Is anyone successfully using a fuel flow meter with a Yamaha F250 and connected to a Raymarine C80 GPS? If so, what make and model of flow meter and were there any tricks to getting it to work?

A thousand thanks,

Larry

 

[Pez Vela]

My gear does not fit your specifications, but if you would be satisfied with displaying GPH and other engine data on your C80 directly from your motor, without a fuel flow meter, I can tell you how I did it on a C120W with 2005 F150's. I am also displaying total fuel remaining and individual fuel tank readings from traditional senders. If your motor is C/L compatible, it should work for you too.

 

[lgusto]

Indeed, I'd love to hear how that works.

Thank you

 

[Pez Vela]

I have twin engines. I have no Command Link gauges and no Command Link System. I built a proprietary Raymarine SeaTalkng (NMEA2000) network connected to the SeaTalkng port on the MFD. At the stern of the boat, I dropped down two SeaTalkng "stripped end spur cables" spliced to a proprietary Yamaha Command Link (double ended) pigtail connector, which I had cut in half to yield two single ended pigtails. The 4 wire colors of the competing systems match up exactly ... blue/white and black/red. The Yamaha pigtail connectors plug-in to each motor using the pure white Command Link connector with the blue/white wires. 2005 motors may have this connector, 2006 and later motors all have this connector. The engine data transmitted to and read by the MFD depends on the MFD software. Mine includes fuel rate in GPH, rpm's, alternator output in volts, oil pressure and engine hours.

For the fuel tank data, I connected the SeaTalkng network to two Lowrance EP-65R "fluid level" sensors, which in turn were connected to the traditional fuel level sensors in each tank. That was easy enough, but there's a big catch to this method. The Lowrance sensors are programmable units, and must be programmed with a Lowrance head unit. I got it done (long story) but I'm not sure I'd do it again if I was starting from scratch.