C 10 gauge question

[RRovang]

I have twin 2016 DF300's with C-10 gauges. I recently bought this boat. There are 4 fuel tanks, 2 @ 150 gallons and 2 @ 50 gallons. In the fuel tank setup in the gauges, the only option I can find for a 4 tank setup is 4 tanks all of the same size. So, when I enter my total capacity of 400 gallons, the gauges each read at 100 gallons each, not, 150, 50, 150, 50. That gives me inaccurate information.

Any idea how to fix this?

Thank you in advance.

Randy Rovang

[Moonlighter]

The gauges aren’t actually the issue.

The gauges just display information sent to them via the network.

The gauges are used to configure the network and that is what is happening when you set the number of engines and number of tanks. You are configuring the Suzuki network and what happens is that the tanks are assigned to the engines, so you can then see how much fuel has been consumed by each engine and how much is left in their tanks as a result.

So as you say, for your new boat the intuitive setup in the fuel menu would be to set the Vessel setup as 2 engines/4 tanks. But then you have the problem as you stated.

Im not 100% sure but 90% I dont think you can set the tank capacities individually. I will talk to my Suzuki contacts to be sure, and will hopefully be able to give you the 100% answer in a few days time.

So meantime, the next best is look at the situation from a practical perspective…. And work out a decent solution from there.

If it were mine, and in practice, each engine draws first from one of the 150 gal tanks, and when that is low/empty (its unwise to run the engine completely dry) you would switch across to the “reserve” 50gal tank.

Is that how you see this working?

If so, here is how I would deal with the situation if it were my boat.

I would do the Vessel setup as 2 engines/2 tanks, then set total fuel as 400 gal which will mean each engine gets assigned 200gal.

I would then go into the alarms menu and set a low fuel alarm for each engine at say 55 gal. This will then give you an alert when 145 gal has been used from each engine, so you know its soon time to switch across to the reserve tanks.

You can then cancel that alarm when you have done the switch, and the gauges will continue to show the correct fuel used/fuel remaining.

When you refuel after using some fuel from both tanks, just remember to fill the 50gal tanks first, then fill the big tanks. If you do a trip but dont use the reserve tanks at all, then filling the big tanks can be done as a “set to full” if you fill them all the way, or, if you add x amount but dont fill to the top, you can refuel and just input the amount added.

All in all, a fairly workable solution, I think?

How does that sound?

[RRovang]

Brilliant, Moonlighter. I appreciate the sage advice. Although being able to set them at 150 and 50 would be ideal, you've laid out a great plan B that can help keep me out of trouble. Thank you.

[RRovang]

You really have me thinking now. What if I kept the 4-tank set up, but put it as 600 gallons capacity? That would always give me accurate info for tank #1 (150 gallons) and for the reserve tanks, I would just need to remember to drop the "1" from the total displayed.

[Moonlighter]

You really have me thinking now. What if I kept the 4-tank set up, but put it as 600 gallons capacity? That would always give me accurate info for tank #1 (150 gallons) and for the reserve tanks, I would just need to remember to drop the "1" from the total displayed.

I like my solution better because the “fuel remaining” figure will always be correct. Your method it will be misleading.

My method also allows calibration to be accurately done if necessary. Where you need to compare fuel actually used with what the system tells you.

But anyway, whatever works for you!

I havent heard back from my contacts yet re the individual tank volume settings.