NMEA 2000

NMEA 2000 is a standard for connection electronics on boats.

What I want to do is monitor fuel consumption in a car. I have an old but very fuel efficient car, a 1985 Chevy Sprint (built by Suzuki). It gets around 40 miles per gallon but I want to modify it to improve that.

1996 and newer cars all have a computer with a OBD "Onboard Diagnotics" connector, and you can just plug in to that. My car is too old for that.

On cars with electronic fuel injection, you can count the injector pulses to measure consumption. The Sprint has a carburetor so that is not an option either.

The best option I have found so far is to use a Lowrance EP60R sensor.

The EP60R is designed for marine applications using the NMEA 2000 standard.

I am thinking that I should be able to build a point to point connection to read the data from the EP60R without too much difficulty. I have not bought any parts yet, I just started exploring the idea.

To be continued... Brian Wilson 18:44, 2 February 2009 (UTC)