Garmin fuel flow sensor vs SmartCraft/MercMonitor vs ???
 

I'd like to add a fuel flow display to my 2003 Mercruiser 496 MAG HO.

I have a GPSMAP 546 chartplotter, so I think I could get the Garmin GFS-10 fuel flow sensor (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=11561) for $200

Alternatively I could get a SmartCraft gauge or NMEA 2000 converter like the MercMonitor, but it's quite a lot more expensive, but then I'd have a dedicated gauge and more engine data available.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Thanks.

I think you are better of with the mercmonitor. The engine knows how much fuel it is using.

I went with the Smartcraft System Monitor. So far it has been very accurate and it gives me important data like water pump PSI, GPH, Gallons used, temp (which seems to be more accurate then my analog gauge), etc. Found it on Ebay for $90 with a cable and the monitor (used obviously).

i cant imagine the GPS would be all to accurate and the engine would know more.

I think they have a device out now that integrates the Smartcraft system with the NMEA system.

I have a Garmin unit that can hook up, but what I'd really like is just a simple dash-mounted gague that would show

speed
fuel useage
RPM

That's pretty much it, and I could do without the speed indicator.

+1

So does the merc monitor; work with the mercrusier 496 engines?

Yes, it's working beautifully with my 2003 Mercruiser 496 and Garmin 546.

NMEA engine data is transfered from the MercMonitor to Garmin, and GPS data is transfered from the Garmin to MercMonitor.

FYI I got mine from europeanmarine.org. If you email them with your specific situation they'll put together a kit with everything you need.

The reason i was asking is that, i'm considering going to the 496ho for repower..and wanted to add this feature for more dash input..what type of data would i get from either of the two mentioned above, because i dont have the room for the big display units on dash..and what is the size of the merc monitor unit

The garmin specs show it must be mounted inline, and uses 3/8 barbs. Not sure of the fuel line size on the 496HO, but wouldn't it be bigger than 3/8?

MercMonitor fits in a 3 3/8" hole. It can display a ton of information on the screen (different models of MercMonitor have different amounts of data, I think I have level 2 which does everything I need: fuel flow, MPG, RPM, speed, trim, and a lot more), but to be honest it's pretty hard to read in daylight, so I use my Garmin to display the information I'm most interested in.

thks tlr,

My boat from the factory came with a 7.4L MPI, and it was changed out to a Carb engine, now i''m looking to go back to an EFI, like the 496HO, can the merc monitor work simaltaneouly, withh the analog guages, or is the merc monitor set up to replace all guages..

I have analog gauges which still work fine with the MercMonitor installed.

The only thing is the MercMonitor doesn't get fuel tank level data because they use analog senders that connect directly to the gauges rather than through the engine. I don't care about that because my fuel tanks gauges aren't very accurate anyway, but if you do you could replace just your fuel tank gauge with a SmartCraft one I think.

I think I get data for all the other gauges, even water speed, which was surprising.

That said, I'm not an expert on this stuff, I'm just giving you my experience.

thats all i wanted, just some general info about it..and i guess my last question lol for now would be..do u fiid function useful, which i'm pretty sure i know what the answer would be, but just asking...lol i guess the more info the better..

i new i had another one...sorry for the questions...and thks for the quick responses...do u have a pic of your dash set up...

Yeah definitely. It's nice being able to track fuel consumption. It tells you your current MPG, as well as how much fuel you've burned, which you can reset whenever you like. Hopefully it will pay for itself over time.

It's not a great pic, but the MercMonitor is under the white cover in the center between the speedo and tach, and the Garmin mounts on the left where those cables are sticking out.

http://i.imgur.com/UucZ1l.jpg

thks a million...you've been a grear help...so basically, the the merc monitor guage, is just a smaller version to the display unit limiting you to: three visual data displays at a time.. and lastly..lol i've been looking for the price of one of these units, the level 2 version....

Yeah, MercMonitor is basically two things:

• a SmartCraft gauge that can display various data, up to 3 or 4 pieces of data at a time depending on what it is and the screen layout
• a SmartCraft -> NMEA 2000 bridge which can send SmartCraft engine data to NMEA 2000 devices like chartplotters, etc.

Note that MercMonitor needs to get GPS data via NMEA in order to show MPG, GPS speed, etc.

The Level 2 kit I got, which included a 20' cable, termination resistors, etc, was $700. I don't know how much the unit itself would be but probably around $650.

so i would need to get the GPS device as well?

Yes, if you want MPG, distance traveled, etc. I think they're $100-200 for a marine antenna with NMEA output.

If you have room/money for a chartplotter I'd just get that for a couple hundred more (GPSMAP 400 series is like $400)

+1

I can't speak about the Garmin or mercMonitor, but Smartcraft is pretty nice. When I fill up (100 g tank) my "Fuel used" is within a gallon or two.