Does anyone know of a type of fuel sender that is not float based. I have seen some capacitance type ones but are not suit about for normal gauges (0-80ohms), and are very expencive.


Anyone used anything different from a float? I would like something that can fit into a 1/2 fitting.

I dip it in the tank and if it smells of petrol there's some in. If it doesn't I panic.

I've already got 2 dipsticks in my car , one is in the engine!!!!!

and if anyone asks why he looks like he does ..... he tells them he's been sniffing petrol! sorry, checking the fuel level officer

was kinda hoping on something a little more hi-tech than that.... although I did do that for years with an old land rover.

How about a sight glass tube on the side of the tank with a camera and LCD screen on the dash.

If you know the capacity of your tank, and start with a full tank, you could count the injector pulses&duration, and work out your exact fuel level....

<edit> only if its an injection engine though

[Edited on 21/1/05 by MonkeyHunter]

Quote - "How about a sight glass tube on the side of the tank with a camera and LCD screen on the dash."

Alternatively fit a tank level gauge with digital output that feeds signal to a PLC. PLC outputs signal to bank of LED's on dash. LED's go out as the tank progressively empties (ive seen something like this in a factory, some PLC's are quite low cost).

Is a fuel tank level indicator part of the SVA?

why not carry a spare gallon for a week, run out the first time, record how many miles it did, then give a margin of error and remember to reset the odometer whe you fill up with fuel!

Ned.

and carry a spare gallon for the times you forget
or even have a reserve tank, run out of fuel, switch to reserve and then find a petrol station!

[Edited on 21/1/05 by MikeR]

I have the sender from a motorbike tank in mine. Fitted to bottom of tank and is about 75mm tall x 8mm dia. Works via relays to the original clocks, and has two lights which come on "Low" and "None"!!!

Surely a transparent tank's the answer.

Sarcastic bastards....

I was serious..........my idea would work, just have to hope it doesn't run out of fuel mid bend!!!!!

then again, combine it with the idea of a light so when you get to 'low' you switch on the reserve ....... and hope you find a station...

or how about a web cam in the tank? you could have it rigged to a sat phone that sends the image back to your pc at home. This inteprests the picture. When it gets low it sends you a txt message with directions to the nearest petrol station!!! Of course you'll need a light in the tank for the web cam to see anything......

i was thinking of useing a "rekstrookje"

that a small piece of something and if you put pressure on it it streches and then the resistance changes...

put it on the bottom of your tank and fill it up! then meassuere the resistance and calculate the ohm/liter..and there you go..

that signal you put in to a microcontroller
and that one controls a pair of lets.. or offcourse a LCD...

TKS

Once had a really old split screen VW camper that didnt have a fuel gauge , just had a knob under the drivers seat for the fuel reserve . Worked like a motor bike reserve. Also the Rover P6 cars had a fuel reserve knob and seem to remember an after market reserve tank that automatically held a gallon after the main tank was empty, not a gauge I know but could be worth a thought. Rusty

The capacitance measurement gadget works well with water-based salt solutions, but I don't know how to do it with a non-conductive hydrocarbon like petrol.
There are fairly cheap pressure transducers. You can get one for a few pounds in RS (or at least you could back in the 80's). Connecting this to a vertical tube that reaches to just above the bottom of the tank (i.e., similar dimensions to a glass site tube), will allow you to read out the height of the liquid. You can then convert the voltage output of pressure transducer either to a calibrated analog signal (by using a volatge follower circuit), or preferably, to a digital signal. In the second case you can do the integration, to minimise the fluctuations, in software.
Cheers
KT

Capacitance fuel senders are used extensively in aircraft, I'll see if I can get some more details.

Mick

i think anyway that is quet difficult to know it exactly...

what if you park on a hill? then start then calibrate and then on a even way the chips noway we started with less....
pfff...i think you have to do somethin with the median of the measure ments and some measure ment just drop the,,..

if you take the measure ment in the middle of the middle of the tank, will then the presure be always the same???

TKS

you could have a tube coming out of the bottom of the tank and then back into the top so at a glance you would know how much is in it ,but i used the R1 fuel sender ,,i think it works by temperature change,,when the sender head is out of the petrol the avaporating petrol being splashed off it is colder and sends the signal to the clocks

[Edited on 30/1/05 by OX]

[Edited on 30/1/05 by OX]

I just received a newsletter which contained details of this ultrasonic level transmitter , which though may not be typically Locost, may serve someone's purpose.