Scanguage II

[KraftyPg]

Have you taken your fuel usage on the scangauge into the negative?

Fuel usages as in LHK or the like? No but I've had a 480% error when filling up after I forgot one setting in the reset procedure and it resulted in me having constant 250+ reading for my LHK. Then in further stuffing around the next tank I was able to get a massive negative percent error on the fill and the LHK wouldn't get over 4 no matter how far I put the foot down.

I've seen 0.0 remaining when I've just topped up the tank with 20 litres instead of filling it up. That screws the figures a little bit and you have the choice to ignore it or add the top up figure to the total fill figure at your next fill. Either way you're going to stuff up the figures you see on the screen but it's not going to be anywhere near as much as telling the thing you "filled up" with 20 litres having already used 70 litres since the previous fill. The minor errors should right themselves within about a tank full where as massive 400% errors take a bit longer.

 

[Krankin]

What gauges do you want Krankin, maybe there is a difference between what the D22 and the D40 show because I can't say I've noticed things not showing but I could easily have skipped some things given that the majority of the time I only have LHK, CWT, KPH and Vlts showing. If you've got something specific I'll have a look on mine next time I'm out and see if mine shows anything different.



I had hoped that the forum member who said he was the aussie rep for these things was going to provide us with a bit more information and maybe some helpful tips but it appears he was either stumped by the questions asked in the other thread or he fell off the face of the earth.

I have displayed all the time, intake air temp and water temp and then toggle between volts and loading and rpm
but i really would like Oil press,
and would be good to have HP/KW and MAP/ Barometric press
Have prog'ed HP into the SG but no show.
There is heaps of other gauge prog's on the SG w/site though hardly any work on our nav's


One will get an answer to questions/problems (to your satisfaction? maybe), but i had to email direct to the aussie reseller.

 

[WoodyD40]

Well, i went to the servo last night, and fully filled up.

This morning i finally took the Scanguage out of the packet and sat in the car. the OBD port easy to find. Setup the basic settings, and yes the Fuel tank size does go up to 144 litres (didint see how far past it would go though).

Changed all the setting to be metric - and for now i'll just go with the 4 preset guages that come up.

So in about 1 hours time, i get to see it in operation for the first time whilst i drive the misely 7 kms to work with a cold engine. I wonder how bad the readings will be with a cold engine in slow traffic.

Note on tank size:
after reading the posts again this morning, i decided to fake the fuel tank size at 144 litres right now, even though the tank is not installed until next week, this way i can get used to the readings this weekend (going upto the snow for a day trip - including 4wd'ing) and then put up with some inaccuracies when the tank is installed - but i wont need to change any settings at all.

 

[WoodyD40]

Where is the best place to mount the scanguage? Sorry, wrong question!

Where do D40 owners have their scanguage's mounted? (photo's please)

Initially i have it loose in front of the gear stick until i can work out where to put the thing.

 

[Old.Tony]

Krafty has his in the tray on top of his dash - I thought he'd put a pic of it up on the site but I can't find it in the gallery. Kramtsew has his mounted up near his visor as you can see in this pic:

 

[WoodyD40]

Thanks Tony for the pic - looks like a good location up there

some stats from my morning trip to work, with a cold engine and traffic was almost non existant (dont know how that happened)

Driving very carefully, 10.6 l/100 ave, max rpm approx 3200, ave speed 30, top speed 61
and only done about 3.6km (i thought it was closer to 7km - but i must have doubled the figure as a round trip)

Now i do realise that these figures will not be accurate, as i have not done a couple of fuel tank cycles to configure the scanguage - but i found it interesting just the same.

 

[KraftyPg]

Mine is installed in the tray and if the pics aren't in this thread they are in the dash removal thread (I think it was part of the dash removal when I eventually mounted it). I had it sitting in the center console for a while and was really tempted to mount it on the steering column but it did hide a bit too much of the dash read outs. Sure the dash readouts can be emulated by SG but that requires button pushing where are the trip meters on the dash don't.

The main reason I mounted mine where I did and not on the visor was because I found myself looking at it more and more and the visor was in my opinion too high for the amount of times I looked. Essentially I've created a center dash which I never really liked from the early X-Trails but I've got used to it these days and it's more comfortable there than anywhere else. The only problem some might have with mounting in the center is that the passenger can see it and if KPH reading is on the gauge all the time you might find the coppers aren't the only ones who tell you off when you speed.

Woody you're figures wont be grossly inaccurate, because SG is still figuring out things, telling it there is an extra 60 litres in the tank today wont really have an effect on it until the next fill up. If the second tank isn't in SG will be expecting you to fill up to 140 litres not 80 and therefore keeping its calculations based on the idea that you used 120 litres and not 60 (i.e filled up with 20 lt left and only got 60 in the tank SG thinks you should get 120). If the second tank is in and your figures will begin to level out and you're reading will become closer to true with each subsequent tank. Still and average but closer none the less.

It wouldn't have made a difference how you set your gauge today the fact you are getting a bigger tank means that you will go through a period of inaccuracy at some stage.

 

[WoodyD40]

Krafty

I was thinking along the lines that you only do partial fill ups initially to calibrate the scanguage, so whats the difference if its a 140 litre tank that you put 60 litre into, vrs a 80 litre tank that you put 60 litres into?

I dont think the fuel tank sensor works through the cars computer, and therefor scanguage wont actually 'know' how much physical fuel is remaining in the tank, it is only calculating what it thinks is in the tank... is that a correct assumption?

i'll try to do a search for your dash removal post, and see if i can find ya photo ...

 

[WoodyD40]

Adding the Scangauge
With the top plastic surround removed there is ample room to feed wires up from below the steering column and since the Scangauge comes with about 1.5 meters of cable there was a lot to get rid of and I couldn't be bothered shortening the cable.

I fed the cable up beside the stereo, over the venting duct (making sure I pushed it forward to ensure the plastic clips and vent surrounds don't squash it when it's back together) then just looped the majority of the cable around itself and tied it off with a cable tie so it sat on the top of the stereo (or thereabouts)

Using a 12mm (I think) drill I drilled a hole in the tray at the top and fed the plug for the Scangauge through. Scangauge comes with velco so it's more than adequate to keep the thing from moving.

Once I had it in place I cut the dashmat (which was bought purely for this purpose and fits better than dashmats I've put in previous cars) so that it covered the unit. I'll never hide the thing completely from prying eyes but atleast its a little hidden and is shaded from most of the sun.

And before anyone comments one the bad fuel reading on the gauge it's only because the engine isn't running and hadn't been run since the unit was reconnected.

The credit for the covering technique should go to Aussie Frontera, I don't think his is exactly the same but I'm pretty sure thats where I first saw the idea

Krafty ... copied the above from your dash removal post

ADMINS ... i like the search tool in this forum - much better than another forum that i'm a member off

 

[KraftyPg]

Ok let me see if I can explain this.

SG relys on you putting in the right figures so if you set the gauge up and tell it the tank size is 80 litres it does it's tank calculations at 80 litres. SG may not be able to physically see how much you put in the tank but it expects when you use the "Fillup" option that you indeed fill it up to the top. Then as a part of the next tank it can work out how much fuel you've used and give you it's tank predictions.

When you add a bigger tank SG still does exactly the same calculations on now it's working out your tank predictions based on the bigger tank size. Same goes if for some reason you went to a smaller tank.

It doesn't matter how big your tank is (if set correctly) if you only fill the tank to 50 litres and tell SG you've filled up it's going to assume that your 50 litres is in fact 80 litres (standard tank size) then all it's calculations become based on that. Therefore when you only get 500ks out of you 50 litres SG is going to assume you got 500ks out of 80 litres.

Doing partial fills wont calibrate the gauge it will in fact make it worse because SG does not have the ability to "top up" only "fill up". Now you can only put $10 in your tank every week and providing you had the thing calibrated right in the first place and never use the "fill up" function you LHK will be fairly accurate for a fair while but your tank data will be out.

Then if you do fill up and tell SG how many litres you put in the you will begin with some error but it will level out after another full tank or so. The one thing to remember is that these gauges work on averages so therefore are not entirely accurate but if you don't give it the exact data it wants the error can be grossly exaggerated.

 

[KraftyPg]

Krafty ... copied the above from your dash removal post

Geez lucky I'm sitting in the garage there, that fuel economy is shithouse.

 

[WoodyD40]

Krafty

I was thinking along the lines that you only do partial fill ups initially to calibrate the scanguage, so whats the difference if its a 140 litre tank that you put 60 litre into, vrs a 80 litre tank that you put 60 litres into?

I dont think the fuel tank sensor works through the cars computer, and therefor scanguage wont actually 'know' how much physical fuel is remaining in the tank, it is only calculating what it thinks is in the tank... is that a correct assumption?

i'll try to do a search for your dash removal post, and see if i can find ya photo ...

Ok let me see if I can explain this.

SG relys on you putting in the right figures so if you set the gauge up and tell it the tank size is 80 litres it does it's tank calculations at 80 litres. SG may not be able to physically see how much you put in the tank but it expects when you use the "Fillup" option that you indeed fill it up to the top. Then as a part of the next tank it can work out how much fuel you've used and give you it's tank predictions.

When you add a bigger tank SG still does exactly the same calculations on now it's working out your tank predictions based on the bigger tank size. Same goes if for some reason you went to a smaller tank.

It doesn't matter how big your tank is (if set correctly) if you only fill the tank to 50 litres and tell SG you've filled up it's going to assume that your 50 litres is in fact 80 litres (standard tank size) then all it's calculations become based on that. Therefore when you only get 500ks out of you 50 litres SG is going to assume you got 500ks out of 80 litres.

Doing partial fills wont calibrate the gauge it will in fact make it worse because SG does not have the ability to "top up" only "fill up". Now you can only put $10 in your tank every week and providing you had the thing calibrated right in the first place and never use the "fill up" function you LHK will be fairly accurate for a fair while but your tank data will be out.

Then if you do fill up and tell SG how many litres you put in the you will begin with some error but it will level out after another full tank or so. The one thing to remember is that these gauges work on averages so therefore are not entirely accurate but if you don't give it the exact data it wants the error can be grossly exaggerated.

OK ... i guess its MY bad ...

I meant if you USED 60 litres AND filled it up with 60 litres (to the top assumed) - then it would not really matter if the tank size was 80 litre std, or 140 litre longrange

 

[quinny]

for some reason on my 08 navara the live figures for fuel, etc including fuel trip data only work when set in GAS mode. when in DIESELA or DIESELB i cant get any of those figures to work.

i sent it back to them to check it out and they couldn't flaw it so sent me a new one. so i'm just using it in GAS mode now, but just calibrating it for correct fuel consumption.

hi just on scangauge web site they say that D22 (08) on use in gas mode dont know if that helps you at all

 

[KraftyPg]

Oh ok then. No it wouldn't make a difference in that scenario. As long as you fill it up when you say you fill it up SG doesn't care.

However if you only put 20 litres in it when it needed 60 and used the fill up it the tank size does come into the calculation because when calibrated it assumes you've used 60 but you're telling it you only used 20, hence the percentage error at fill up becomes massive and SG begins to work out your averages taking the error into account.

Are we close to the same wavelength yet?

 

[KraftyPg]

hi just on scangauge web site they say that D22 (08) on use in gas mode dont know if that helps you at all

Maddog got rid of his Nav as far as I remember, his post was a fair while ago

 

[WoodyD40]

a few more kilometers now, and i've got an average reading for the day of 9.0 litres per hundred KM's

well i know i'm not getting 800 km's per tank usually about 600 kms and putting 70 litres in - so cant wait to calibrate the SC so i get slightly more realistic figures.

But its fun now knowing what the affect of putting the lead foot down on SC.

 

[maddogrc]

on another note, my SC is for sale as i no longer have a car that i can use it with

 

[KraftyPg]

a few more kilometers now, and i've got an average reading for the day of 9.0 litres per hundred KM's

well i know i'm not getting 800 km's per tank usually about 600 kms and putting 70 litres in - so cant wait to calibrate the SC so i get slightly more realistic figures.

But its fun now knowing what the affect of putting the lead foot down on SC.

Even after it's calibrated you'll still have to take into account that your averages are based not just on the time when you're cruising but when you idling and when your powering.

It's not that you shouldn't believe the figure but if you are cruising down a hill and take your foot off the pedal your LHK can easily drop to 0.0, where as powering up a hill it might quickly jump to 30 or 40 LHK. All these figures are used (every 2 seconds) to calculate an average figure. Your average trip or tank is calculated by each 2 second reading, the argument is that any lows will be negated by the highs and while this is true to some extent it will rarely be perfect.

The only figure that isn't used to make the calculations is the times where you might see 9999 LHK. But then using that much would certainly kill any economy you thought you might have.

 

[WoodyD40]

Thanks for your help and advise Krafty ... i mounted mine propertly this arvo when i got home, used the leads from your Dash removal post and your PM's ... here is my result:

12mm hole on the right hand side to pass the cable through, and also took the oportunity to thread the cable for the navman through as well.

 

[Aussie Frontier]

I mounted mine same place but made a cover for it so it was easier to read

There is also a kit called a Blendmount available to put it on the morror