Fuel flow meter install ??

[Troller]

I am finally getting my standard horizon FFM installed. The directions are not very clear as to how to hook up the power. Do you hook it up to accessory or does it need constant power. I have read the manual and not really sure. If it doesnt have power to it will it reset everytime I turn my motor off. If I put it to a constant supply it will be on all the time. Causing a current draw on the batterys slowly discharging them. I know a couple of you guys purchased them on sale a few months back. I would apprecaite any help on this thanks

[Sensei-san]

Troller, I think you answered your question. Do you want them to reset when you turn off the key or not? The current draw on most instruments is negligible. On the order of a clock on your car dashboard.

Get a small Guest trickle charger if you are worried about drawing down your batteries. If you have followed postings about battery chargers, true marine battery chargers are the only ones to use on a boat.

[ 06-26-2003, 07:03 AM: Message edited by: Sensei-san ]

[Chaps]

On my Floscan the unit keeps track of data even with power off and only resets if you actuate a push button switch. What do your directions say about resetting?

[NAUTI-NOTIONS]

If the motors off there's no reason to have the unit on, I installed mine thru the key , works great,,, however,,,, the first couple hours it worked great,then some funny started happening. on a idle the useage was falling off, at first it idled at .7-.9 gal per hour then it dropped to .5 .3 .0 at an idle. rev it up and it would jump back up. i thought my filters were bad,, changed them to no avail. maybe the carb has a plug needle and seat. rebuilt the carb,,, no change.. did the trouble shooting on the ff41 sending unit , yes it whistles when i blow thru it. put it back together. flow back up to .8,,,, then fell back down to .5 .0 slightly tapped on sender and jumped back up to .8 so with that a bell went off upstairs. sender sticking? called standard direct and thought, here we go,,, ready for the run around... told the guy my problems and stated what i thought was wrong,,, to my suprise the first thing he said was ... where would you like me to send another sending unit to... never asked for proof of purchase or any thing,,, the only thing he cared about was getting my unit right... he said to hook it up but don't run the wire until i was sure this would solve the problem. didn't even care if i sent the old sender back.... that has been the best customer service guy i have ever delt with...
i have yet to take her out since replacing the unit however on an idle it seems t be working fine,,, but then so did the first one for a couple hours ,,,but theres on doubt they will make it right what ever the problem may be.
Sam

[Troller]

I reread the manual. It talks about it having memory. I am going to assume from what you all have told me and from what I have read that this memory will hold the settings even without power. If not I will rewire it permantly hooked to power.

[Miss B Haven]

Flowscans have to be wired direct to battery or they the totalizer will reset. Chaps, you may not realize it but your's is wired permanent hot, should have an in line fuse. The switch breaks the power.
I made the mistake on my first unit of wiring downstream of the bat switch. Every time the bat switch got turned to OFF, the flowscan would reset the totalizer and go to 0.

They need to be wired jsut like a bilge pump, directly off the battery term.
Don't know about horizons. :whazzup:

[MintBrite]

I put that same fuel meter in this year and ran the power through the Aux. This model does have memory and you only need to reset it when filling the tank or wanting to know what you burn on a specific run, i.e. gas remaining vs fuel used. I found it to be very acurate out of the box, no need to do the self cal. If you run the power through the aux just make sure you turn it on before running :shocked:

[corrirod]

Mine is wired to the key and works just fine. They have built in memory so nothing resets unless you press the right buttons. The only thing I have to remember to do is keep the ignition "on" when running the kicker motor otherwise the unit won't track the usage.

[Troller]

That clears it up corrid. The only problem with turning the ignition on when running the kicker on my boat is that the hour meter for the main motor would be running all the time. Also doesn't it put a drain on your battery having everything charged up.

[Miss B Haven]

Having your key on all the time can be bad, depends on your ignition system. Certainly not good on the old points/condensor ignitions. Not sure what the impact is on the various electronic types. You can still run your Horizon fuel meter off a switch (not the ignition) but then you have to remember to turn it on every time.

[corrirod]

As far as battery draining goes it's really nothing to worry about unless you plan on leaving it on for about 5 days. Very minimal draw. You are right about the hour meter running though. Usually I don't even worry about keeping the ignition on simply because the kicker doesn't use that much fuel anyway. I also keep about a 5% error in the fuel meter anyway to make sure I still have a little reserve left in the tank.

You're going to really enjoy having it. It gives you a much more relaxed feeling than trying to tell how much gas you have left on your fuel gauge as it's swaying back and forth. :shocked:

[SlabQuest]

I snoozed on the last rebate deal. But after seeing Pitch Pocket's meter in action, I now want to get one. (also, I figured I'd let him deal with any installation problems B4 I committed)

Is anyone aware of any current good deals? What was the model # of the Standard Horizon unit?

[Miss B Haven]

Slabquest- Search the web. Defender, Boat US, Boatersworld, West Marine are starters. There are a lot more out there. Get the model number (off one of these sites) and put that in a good search engine. You might get lucky.