Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Motorcycle petrol tank fuel gauge
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langwadt:

--- Quote from: Koubek on November 20, 2017, 10:46:33 pm ---I was dealing with the measuring level of the petrol trough the hydrostatic pressure. With some kind of pressure sensors it is the working way. Only bigger problem was finding of the pressure sensor for reasonable price that can be used with petrol. Device worked as well as i decided to offer it for others. It was some years ago. I must do some advert for me  ^-^ Today i have an manufactory, this device is tuned into perfection and still in production.  😎 https://www.lskelectronics.com/fuelgaugepro1
I also described there some restrictions of this system so maybe it can also help to someone with constructing his own.

--- End quote ---

does that really work reliably? gasoline is lower density than water and the tanks isn't very tall so there is not a lot of pressure differential to work with
CatalinaWOW:
I think the external tube approach is by far the easiest and most reliable posted so far.

Depending on how you want to use the gauge there may be a number of options worth considering.  A binary indicator (above or below reserve level) would be much simpler to make and calibrate.  A simple pair of capacitive plates at the appropriate level.

Another approach which might work would be to directly measure the mass of the gasoline with a load cell.  This approach gets rid of all of the complications of relating depth to volume in a complicated tank shape.  You can get adequate load cells for well under 20 USD.  Vibration, bumps and the like can be filtered out.  But there are lots of issues to sort out.  Is the tank supported in such a way that the load cell can weigh it?  Will your body weight or saddle bags or the like sometimes rest on the tank?  How much dynamic range do you need to handle the various bumps and jiggles?  What are the appropriate time constants?  I can see this working on some bikes and being totally hopeless on others.

Back when I was riding a motorcycle a lot I was like you and would often forget to reset the reserve valve.  But I always filled the tank to the top.  If you are consistent in filling your tank each time you might even get away with an open loop approach, using a counter on the crankshaft to represent petrol usage and a switch on the gas cap to do a reset.  Could justify a lot of fun test rides to calibrate the revolutions per liter ratio and evaluate its variability.
Fred27:
I've had a lot of motorcycles and never seen one with a fuel gauge - even on bikes like BMWs where it would be a welcome feature. The best I've seen is "X miles since the low fuel light came on". This leads me to believe that the dynamics of the fuel sloshing around makes it impossible to do well.

Actually, that's not quite true. I have had a bike with a fuel gauge - it was a Zero FXS.  ;D
AndyC_772:
My Ducati Diavel had a perfectly good fuel gauge.
Fred27:

--- Quote from: AndyC_772 on March 16, 2020, 09:56:51 am ---My Ducati Diavel had a perfectly good fuel gauge.

--- End quote ---
Fair enough, then! It seems it has and can be done. Odd that my Hypermotard 950 (with the latest colour dash as on the Panigale V4) hasn't got a fuel gauge.
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