Lowrance EP-85R
Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 9:26 am
The following is distilled from a prior and much longer discussion about the behavior of the EP-85R.
LOWRANCE EP-85R
Failure to record fuel used
About five years ago in 2013 I discovered an anomaly in the function of the EP-85R and Lowrance FUEL MANAGER software, which I describe below. In my boat's NMEA-2000 network it was possible for the EP-85R to be powered and active when the E-TEC engine was not on the network. During a eight-day cruise in 2013, I discovered that the EP-85R recorded no fuel usage during one day of the cruise. I believe that the circumstances in which this occurred were as follows:
I discovered this when I logged the fuel data at the end of the day. All the fuel data (taken from the EP-85R) was identical to the prior day, that is, no fuel consumption was recorded, even though the boat had certainly burned at least three or four gallons of fuel.
My hypothesis for the cause of this omission in fuel flow recording is:
When both the E-TEC and the EP-85R were powered OFF, and, after a short delay, powered back to ON, the operation returned to normal.
Fortunately for my fuel tank level computation, the fuel actually burned on this particular day of the cruise was only about four-gallons at most. The fuel tank is a 70-gallon tank, so the values for FUEL TANK LEVEL and FUEL REMAINING were only off by a small percentage. Also, because I was logging the daily fuel used data, I noticed this problem right away.
Firmware Updates for EP-85R
At some point in the process of investigating how the EP-85 behaved or misbehaved, I applied a firmware update patch to my EP-85R Data Storage module, bringing its firmware up to the 2.3.0 revision level. The updater was applied by using my Lowrance HDS chart plotter. The procedure is as follows:
--copy the firmware updater software file onto a SD Memory card
--boot up the HDS-8
--load the SD memory card into Slot 1
--use the PAGE carousel to navigate the HDS to the FILES option, see
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... html#FILES
--navigate to Memory Card 1
--expand Memory Card 1 to show its files
--navigate to the updater file
--a soft key option should appear with the legend UPDATE
--push the softkey; the update process should begin, first commenting that the EP-85R has been restarted, then showing a grow bar with the percentage increasing toward 100-percent.
I found that after applying the firmware patch, the EP-85R lost all of the stored data except the configured tank volume. If you want to memorialize that lost data, copy it down before applying the patch. Also, the updater left the EP-85R showing the present fuel remaining level to be the full-tank volume, and the present fuel tank level to be 100-percent full. This was something of a surprise. In my case, the fuel tank was not full and the fuel remaining was less than the tank volume set. I will have to wait until I burn off enough fuel to get back to my actual levels (that I wrote down before updating) so I can then make an allowance at the next fueling.
In my case the tank has about 58-gallons, not the 70-gallons now shown on the EP-85R. I will have to burn off at least 12-gallons before adding new fuel. When I add fuel, I will subtract 12-gallons from the actual amount added to the amount I enter into the EP-85R; this will get the EP-85R back to an accurate fuel tank level. This seems like a cumbrous process. It would have been simpler if the EP-85R update just set the fuel remaining to zero. I could then use the ADD FUEL function to add imaginary fuel to the tank to get it back in calibration.
Readers should be aware that updating the EP-85R firmware as I described above caused all sorts of problems. These problems, and their resolution, are described in detail below in a follow-on article.
LOWRANCE EP-85R
Failure to record fuel used
About five years ago in 2013 I discovered an anomaly in the function of the EP-85R and Lowrance FUEL MANAGER software, which I describe below. In my boat's NMEA-2000 network it was possible for the EP-85R to be powered and active when the E-TEC engine was not on the network. During a eight-day cruise in 2013, I discovered that the EP-85R recorded no fuel usage during one day of the cruise. I believe that the circumstances in which this occurred were as follows:
- the network power was left ON for a long period of time after the E-TEC had been shut off, perhaps 18-hours;
- hours later, when the E-TEC was switched on and returned to the network, the EP-85R did not return to functioning with the E-TEC;
- the fuel consumed during that day's operation was not recorded onto the EP-85R
I discovered this when I logged the fuel data at the end of the day. All the fuel data (taken from the EP-85R) was identical to the prior day, that is, no fuel consumption was recorded, even though the boat had certainly burned at least three or four gallons of fuel.
My hypothesis for the cause of this omission in fuel flow recording is:
- with the EP-85R left powered ON, and the E-TEC powered OFF, after a long period of time the EP-85R gave up on communicating with the E-TEC
- when the E-TEC was much later switch ON and returned to the network, the E-TEC was likely reporting its fuel flow rate to the network,
- the instantaneous data, like MPG was being computed by the gauge
- the accumulator data, such a TRIP FUEL USED, SEASON FUEL, and TANK LEVEL were not being updated.
When both the E-TEC and the EP-85R were powered OFF, and, after a short delay, powered back to ON, the operation returned to normal.
Fortunately for my fuel tank level computation, the fuel actually burned on this particular day of the cruise was only about four-gallons at most. The fuel tank is a 70-gallon tank, so the values for FUEL TANK LEVEL and FUEL REMAINING were only off by a small percentage. Also, because I was logging the daily fuel used data, I noticed this problem right away.
Firmware Updates for EP-85R
At some point in the process of investigating how the EP-85 behaved or misbehaved, I applied a firmware update patch to my EP-85R Data Storage module, bringing its firmware up to the 2.3.0 revision level. The updater was applied by using my Lowrance HDS chart plotter. The procedure is as follows:
--copy the firmware updater software file onto a SD Memory card
--boot up the HDS-8
--load the SD memory card into Slot 1
--use the PAGE carousel to navigate the HDS to the FILES option, see
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... html#FILES
--navigate to Memory Card 1
--expand Memory Card 1 to show its files
--navigate to the updater file
--a soft key option should appear with the legend UPDATE
--push the softkey; the update process should begin, first commenting that the EP-85R has been restarted, then showing a grow bar with the percentage increasing toward 100-percent.
I found that after applying the firmware patch, the EP-85R lost all of the stored data except the configured tank volume. If you want to memorialize that lost data, copy it down before applying the patch. Also, the updater left the EP-85R showing the present fuel remaining level to be the full-tank volume, and the present fuel tank level to be 100-percent full. This was something of a surprise. In my case, the fuel tank was not full and the fuel remaining was less than the tank volume set. I will have to wait until I burn off enough fuel to get back to my actual levels (that I wrote down before updating) so I can then make an allowance at the next fueling.
In my case the tank has about 58-gallons, not the 70-gallons now shown on the EP-85R. I will have to burn off at least 12-gallons before adding new fuel. When I add fuel, I will subtract 12-gallons from the actual amount added to the amount I enter into the EP-85R; this will get the EP-85R back to an accurate fuel tank level. This seems like a cumbrous process. It would have been simpler if the EP-85R update just set the fuel remaining to zero. I could then use the ADD FUEL function to add imaginary fuel to the tank to get it back in calibration.
Readers should be aware that updating the EP-85R firmware as I described above caused all sorts of problems. These problems, and their resolution, are described in detail below in a follow-on article.