Fuel monitoring on remote telecom tower generators
How a Nigerian telecom infrastructure contractor measured real consumption on 40 off-grid GSM-site generators — stopping drains and cutting fuel consumption by 15%.
Building GSM sites far from the grid
The company has worked in Nigeria for more than 30 years, building telecom infrastructure turnkey: GSM masts and towers, repeaters, equipment shelters, diesel generators, solar and hybrid batteries. Most sites are in remote areas with no grid power, so a diesel generator is the main source of electricity.
Data-sheet consumption you can’t plan with
The fleet is mixed — 15 to 100 kVA units from SDMO, Perkins and others — and consumption varies from 10 to 40 L/h from site to site. Data-sheet figures assume ideal conditions: overstated, they leave unaccounted fuel that maintenance staff can take; understated, the tank runs dry early and the site goes down.
The company needed accurate generator consumption, fuel remaining in the tank, and protection against unauthorised draining.
Differential flow meter and telematics gateway
A DFM 100D differential flow meter with CAN J1939 has two measuring chambers — for the feed line from the external tank and the return line back to it — and installs without changing the fuel system. It sends more than 40 counters and parameters, including instant consumption in each line, to a CANUp telematics gateway.
The gateway forwards the data to a telematics service that reports consumption for any period; combined with refuelling data, it shows fuel remaining and flags possible theft. Measurement inaccuracy is within ±3%.
Installation started in 2019; by early 2022, 40 generators were equipped. Fuel deliveries are planned from the reports, the risk of a site stopping for lack of fuel is close to zero, and drains from the fuel system have stopped — fuel consumption fell by 15%. New sites are commissioned only with fuel monitoring installed.
Task → Solution → Result
Unreliable data-sheet figures
Mixed generator fleet at remote sites, 10–40 L/h, with drains and run-dry risk.
DFM 100D CAN + CANUp
Differential consumption measurement on every generator, reported online.
−15% fuel consumption
Drains stopped, deliveries optimised, 40 generators monitored.
Apart from other important data, DFM flowmeter is providing such parameter as generator running hours. It means that we can obtain actual data of generator running time and detect whether the generator was running in the chosen period of time or not – this is a very important factor for us. … Our company plans to install the system at all operating facilities. New facilities will be put into operation only with an installed fuel consumption monitoring system.
Company representative · Telecom contractor, Nigeria
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