To all,

I'm looking for feedback on the various fuel flow monitoring instruments suitable for a carburetor equipped Conti 0-300 with the original wing root quantity gauges.

Cheer, thanks in advance

Mapleflt

I have always had good luck with the JPI FS-450.

I have the EI MVP now and it works great.

I had bad luck and bad customer service from Shadin.

I have a singel EI fuel flow gauge in my cub. Works great and accurate to 1/10 gal for a 18 gal tank. You can hook it to the GPS to figure fuel to destination if you are not good at math.
DENNY

FC-10 from FDS, using an EI FT-90 transducer. Wired to an Aera 500 series GPS.

I've had very good experiences with both the basic JPI 450 and the Basic EI unit. I'd go with either one and wouldn't look back.

MTV

I've got the EI FP-5L, with the EI FT-90 transducer in my O-200 powered Citabria 7ECA. After using the "auto-adjust" fine-tuning mechanism just one time, it's been accurate to within 1/10 gallon for two years now.

Really great to have it, since the dipstick is totally dry when there's 10+ gallons left in the plane, and the wing-root gauge shows "empty" when there's at least 7 gallons left (out of 39 usable).

JP256 wrote:I've got the EI FP-5L, with the EI FT-90 transducer in my O-200 powered Citabria 7ECA. After using the "auto-adjust" fine-tuning mechanism just one time, it's been accurate to within 1/10 gallon for two years now.

Really great to have it, since the dipstick is totally dry when there's 10+ gallons left in the plane, and the wing-root gauge shows "empty" when there's at least 7 gallons left (out of 39 usable).

I also have the EI FP-5L. It has had to have the transducer replaced twice in 12 years, but its failure modes are pretty obvious. When it's working, it's amazingly accurate. However, hooking it to a GPS has a real downside: I confirmed that my airplane gets all of 13 nmpg in a no-wind situation.

Cary

The FP-5L also includes an AUX channel which can be used for a multitude of different options. Many choose to monitor EGT on the AUX channel to assist in leaning. However, you could have a backup oil pressure, or oil temperature, RPM, manifold pressure, etc. There are also four separate pilot programmable alarms. Two for low fuel, one for time and one for recurring used. It can display estimated quantities remaining, quantities used, time to empty, distance to empty (when connected to a GPS), current GPH, %HP and more. Quite a bit of capability in a 2-1/4" instrument.

The GPS feed sounds like a useful function but the one I have is an old and likely doesn't have any "output" capability

I have the EI with GPS and it's great. The comm channel (I'll call it an ARINC 429 bus but I'm not 100%) is two way so if your GPS has a fuel input, you'll get that information displayed on the GPS too. A lot of it ends up being redundant, but I like to leave the fuel flow on gallons remaining or GPH for leaning and then I can look at the GPS and see fuel remaining at destination.

I did have to replace a transducer right after I got it. It probably failed after 4 or 5 hours and it's been running good for around 100 hours with no issues.

My only complaint is that you have to manually adjust the fuel when you add fuel. Some other totalizers have a "top off" button. It's more of a shortcoming with the pilot, but I've blasted off more than once without adjusting the totalizer.

darata wrote:The FP-5L also includes an AUX channel which can be used for a multitude of different options. Many choose to monitor EGT on the AUX channel to assist in leaning. However, you could have a backup oil pressure, or oil temperature, RPM, manifold pressure, etc. There are also four separate pilot programmable alarms. Two for low fuel, one for time and one for recurring used. It can display estimated quantities remaining, quantities used, time to empty, distance to empty (when connected to a GPS), current GPH, %HP and more. Quite a bit of capability in a 2-1/4" instrument.

I had a FP-5L installed in my 172 with an O-320 10 years ago and it has been trouble free. It is hooked to a 430W. I just installed the FP-5L in my 180 so I have consistency. It looks good with my steam gauges also.

Rod

PilotMikeTx wrote:I have the EI with GPS and it's great. The comm channel (I'll call it an ARINC 429 bus but I'm not 100%) is two way so if your GPS has a fuel input, you'll get that information displayed on the GPS too. A lot of it ends up being redundant, but I like to leave the fuel flow on gallons remaining or GPH for leaning and then I can look at the GPS and see fuel remaining at destination.

I did have to replace a transducer right after I got it. It probably failed after 4 or 5 hours and it's been running good for around 100 hours with no issues.

My only complaint is that you have to manually adjust the fuel when you add fuel. Some other totalizers have a "top off" button. It's more of a shortcoming with the pilot, but I've blasted off more than once without adjusting the totalizer.

If you're talking about the FP-5L, it can be programmed for 2 different fuel loads, so that it only takes a couple button pushes to reset it after refueling. I have mine set for 51 gallons and 41 gallons, the latter being if I am purposely refueling light. Or you can input the actual gallons added, which is a little more time consuming. As long as it's in your general line of sight, its flashing LED should remind you that it needs resetting (although I admit that there have been many times I don't see it flashing until I'm doing my runup, because it's over on the right side of my panel).

Cary

PilotMikeTx wrote:My only complaint is that you have to manually adjust the fuel when you add fuel. Some other totalizers have a "top off" button. It's more of a shortcoming with the pilot, but I've blasted off more than once without adjusting the totalizer.

Setting the two "full fuel" levels that can be easily selected when fueling the airplane is pretty easy on the FP-5L. The explanation for this is found on pg 19 of the "EI FP-5L Operator's Manual" (available on the EI web site) and the instructions for actually making the setting changes are on pg 23. Takes maybe 2-3 minutes, including reading the manual...

I have the JPI FS-450 in my 170 with the O-300 and it has worked flawlessly for the last 1100hrs. It has a top off button or you can add specific amounts. Very accurate and easy to read. It will make you wonder why you flew so long without one