First Attempt at Fuel Consumption

Setup

I set the ATV up on some substantial blocks that all but negate any possibility of the ATV from running off while it is in drive with a clamp on the throttle. Bringing the tires just off the ground an inch or two in order to maintain a levelish fuel tank for measurement purposes. From the ground to the bottom of the hitch is 16 inches.

More pictures

  

Measurement

I first attempted to begin my measurements with the use of a string and weight in order to find the depth of the tank to be used as data as a refill point.

 Unfortunately the string method proved to contain two major problems:

1. It was extremely difficult to see at which point the fuel came up to in order to measure

2. The fuel would absorb up the string over a short span of time and make it impossible to measure precisely

So I moved to plan B, based on the supplies I had at hand to work with, I knew using a tube would be the best form of measurement, but could only find a paint stick.

After a few measurements with the paint stick, the only problem resolved over the previous attempt was that it was now visible to see where the fuel was on the stick. However after a few attempts with this method it was soon apparent that the issue of fuel creeping up the stick was still occurring, causing inaccuracy. Having no better alternative at the time, I continued through with the first test run.

I set up a vise grip with the left end on the thumb throttle and the right end on the front hand brake. I initially measured the distance of the rod in between the two sides, until I found that the speedometer worked much better at showing a consistent engine stress point, for accurate testing.

I had to watch the ATV and adjust the vise grip slightly every 5 minutes or so to keep a consistent 5 MPH on the speedometer, otherwise it would either fall or rise 1 MPH.

After an hour I remeasured and saw that the fuel had gone down about a 1/2 inch from 6 inches to 5 and 1/2

So I added a measured amount of fuel

 1 liter down

 then another 1/2 liter to fill the tank

I then measured the fuel again back up to 6 inches confirming that it was near the original fill-point

At this point was when I realized the full unreliability of this measurement method, after this measurement I took two more as follows: this one at 6 and 1/2 inches

 then this last one at just over 5 and a half inches

Conclusion

At the end of the day I got a rough estimate of 1.5 liters per hour of fuel consumption at ~5 MPH. I plan on testing with better measurement tools in the future, and will just hold off further fuel consumption testing until the rest of the objectives have been completed. I figure that it will be easy enough to disable the hydrogen generator for baseline testing after its been installed. I spent 6 hours of the day getting this done on Saturday, and what I've come away with is an inaccurate result and a better idea on how to do things next time.