FloScan, doing N2K right

FlowScan_N2K_cPanbo

FloScan has been measuring fuel flow for over 30 years, so I’d guess they have a darn good idea how to do it. It’s refreshing that their new NMEA 2000 Diesel Monitoring System focuses on what they know well and let’s the resulting data go wherever you want. The flow sensors and those “hubs” seen above, bigger here, are all you need. Yes, you can buy FloScan’s round gauge upper right, but you don’t need to. All data is sent in standard N2K messages, and the little calibration needed is done right in those boxes. The rest of this NMEA Conference booth had Simrad, Lowrance, and Raymarine displays all showing the gallons per hour, remaining fuel, etc. Note that FloScan’s site says that, “Furuno is currently developing NMEA 2000 products which will interface with our system.” But we knew that, right, and will know more when NavNet #d debuts (hey, I might live blog it, if there’s WiFi there). Note, too, how the port engine is “Instance 0” in the N2K system and the starboard engine is set as “Instance 1”. You can set that with a switch in the hub. But who the heck decided to start instances at zero instead of one. Wouldn’t it be better if, say, GPS #1 was instance 1, GPS #2 instance 2, etc.? 



Ben Ellison

Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

7 Responses

  1. Roger says:

    I can only assume that because the first number in binary is zero the first instance becomes zero and not one.

  2. Steve says:

    There are two kinds of people in the world: those that start counting at zero (c programmers and European elevator designers) and those that start at one (Basic programmers and American elevator designers). Each is “normal” in its own way .

  3. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    OK, Roger and Steve, but if you have 5 tanks, or 2 engines, or 3 heading sensors on your boat, do you ever think of the first one as the zero one?

  4. Roger M says:

    Has anybody every read through the NMEA design specifications? FWIW, they established this and therefore it is a REQUIREMENT.

  5. This is a solution for diesel engines. Our Alba-Fuel is for both diesel and gasoline engines that works with the FloScan sensor or any other on the market.

  6. Jim Thompson says:

    Any decent UI will re-label these as “Port”, “Starboard”, “Center”, “Aft-Starboard”, “reserve”, etc.

  7. nanoman says:

    Ben,
    Read the saga we went through trying to get our Raymarine E80 displays to communicate with the FloScan NMEA 2000 units at
    http://makaicruising.com/

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