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Did you know that you can use the car’s factory sensor to do GPS fuel tracking?

The main purpose of GPS tracking is not at all to monitor fuel, but due to their high cost and their theft, GPS systems have become profiled in the field of fuel control. The focus from real-time GPS tracking often shifts to fuel control and answering the questions:

Do I have fuel stolen from my cars?

What is the fuel consumption of the vehicles in my fleet?

One of the easiest and most harmless ways in which GPS systems answer the above two questions is the connection to the factory sensor (built-in sensor) of the car. The built-in sensor is level and reads the fuel level in the tank using a float.

How do GPS tracking systems monitor fuel using the car’s factory sensor?

The GPS/GPRS tracking device has inputs to which the built-in sensor of the vehicle is connected. The sensor transmits data about the fuel level in the vehicle’s tank to the GPS/GPRS module. It, in turn, transfers the read information via GPRS to a server and to the user’s software. Thus, the user has the opportunity to monitor the fuel level in the tank. The more important thing in this case is that the user can track drains from the tank and generate fuel consumption reports using the software part of the GPS tracking system.

In order for the GPS device to read the fuel level in the tank using the built-in sensor, a volumetric calibration of the tank is necessary. What does this mean?

Since the factory sensor reads the tank level in Volts (V), and the user is interested in the availability of the tank in liters, it is necessary to perform the so-called volumetric calibration. During volumetric calibration, a value in liters (L) is added to each value read in Volts (V). In other words, each tank level measured in Volts (V) corresponds to a certain volume of fuel, expressed in liters (L).

What is the accuracy of reading when using a factory sensor from the tracking system?

The accuracy of reading depends first of all on the accuracy of the factory sensor, secondly on the calibration of the tank and thirdly on the software that converts the data and minimizes errors that are a result of the fluctuation of the fuel in the tank. The main burden of accuracy falls on the built-in sensor. If it is not working, there is no way to read fuel data.

Advantages of monitoring fuel via a factory sensor

• Low price;
• Applicable to all vehicles with working factory sensors;
• Difficult to manipulate by drivers;
• Fuel refills that did not enter the vehicle’s tank, but were recorded on a document, are traceable;
• Thefts are registered, or let’s call them fuel drains;
• Allows fuel consumption to be recorded

Disadvantages of GPS Fuel Tracking via factory sensor

• The factory sensor is level and is affected by the swaying of the fuel in the tank and the slope of the road;
• Accurate fuel consumption readings over short distances are almost impossible;
• Tanks have an upper and lower dead zone, where the factory sensor does not read;
• Small thefts or drains, of the order of less than 5-7% of the tank volume, cannot be detected. This means that with a tank with a volume of 50 liters, drains of less than 2-4 liters can hardly be counted.

For which vehicles is GPS fuel tracking with a factory sensor suitable?

This method is suitable for light, light-duty vehicles, vans and trucks with a tank volume of less than 80-100 liters. For larger tank volumes, it is good to use other methods for GPS fuel tracking, but this time through tracking devices.

How will the GPS tracking system for fuel control help you when using the factory sensors of your cars?

1. To document thefts or fuel drains reported by vehicles with GPS devices installed

2. To generate Fuel Consumption Reports for cars with GPS tracking devices installed.

3. To generate automatic Fuel Filling and Drain Reports for cars with GPS devices installed.