Message text written by John & Paddy Wigney <johnwigney@worldnet.att.net>
>Am not sure if this is too late for you but another way of doing this is
to
rely on an EIS unit to manage all your engine instrumentation. I have the
EIS
supplied fuel pressure sender in the line to my carbs and I set the alarm
to
the Rotax minimum fuel pressure of 2.2 psi. I have alarms on all the engine
variables such as rpm, oil pressure and temp, CHT, etc. It is a lot better
than having to scan gauges. If something goes out of whack, you immediately
get the EIS flashing light. From all my reading about the Rotax 912/914
family, fuel pressure seems to be the key item. i.e. Give it fuel and it
works. The EIS has a preferred page display arrangement where I show rpm,
oil
temp & pressure, fuel pressure and CHT. You can access all the other
variables
such as time, OAT, voltage as necessary.
My experience with the EIS 2000 is very positive. For example, it has a
digital rpm readout and I chose to add a separate analog tacho to my panel
because I thought that would be more user friendly --- WRONG. I find that I
rarely refer to the analog tacho since the digital readout is very accurate
and has rapid response to any change. Next time I would leave the analog
tacho
out.
<
Thank you for your input, however this new forum is confusing because it
was not me that placed the question. I was just responding with the info
asked ie. about a source of low pressure switches. As you have mentioned
the above I thought I would offer my views on the subject as well.
I agree that an engine monitoring package is very useful whether EIS or as
in my case the Rocky Mountain uMonitor. I also agree that sustaining
adequate fuel pressure is very important. The two most important systems to
keep an engine running are fuel and ignition. Most a/c engines have two
independant ignition systems but we tend to assume that by putting an
electric pump in series with the mechanical one we do the same for the fuel
system. This is obviously not the case as any blockage, leak or fuel
vapourisation will stop the engine. The reason Dave Anderson was asking
about pressure switches was because I believe he is interested in using my
idea of a parallel fuel system. This doesn't just shout at you when you
have a problem, it solves the problem as well. My Europa has been flying
about 8 hours now and the system works well. I regularly test it before
take-off by switching off the fuel to the mechanical pump to make sure the
electric pump cuts in.
I don't agree with the idea of dispensing with the analogue RPM gauge. I
find that it is much easier to see the position of the needle relative to
the yellow and red marks than reading a digital display. When there is a
lot to grab your attention outside the cockpit (eg. take-off with a
monowheel) very little attention can be spared to look at instruments. I
find that both the analogue IAS and RPM can be picked up in peripheral
vision. I would suggest it is not possible to do this with digital gauges.
It is interesting to note that even with the ultimate sophistication of
modern airliner instrument panels all the important gauges still have
analogue as well as digital indications.
Nigel Charles
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