Fuel quantity indication, air vs. ground

I cut mine long enough so that falling into the fuel tank is not a consideration.... Plus being longer makes it easier to use.. BTW I used a square dowel.
 
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Just got back from Oshkosh and spoke with the owner of the CiES fuel senders https://ciescorp.net/ Scott Philiben. (We use his digital fuel senders in our group's Cessna 421C and they are amazingly accurate! They are connected to a Garmin EIS and they always indicate within 1 gallon of accuracy or less.)

Anyway, I asked Scott if he had ever installed them into an American Champion aircraft and he told me that, yes, they had installed them in a 7GCBC that is owned by a Cirrus executive.

So I walked over to American Champion and spoke to Jerry Jr. and asked him if he had ever considered using the CiES senders in the new production aircraft that have the Garmin G3X installations. He said he didn't know of the company but would be interested. I shared with him that in a $450k+ new aircraft with a G3X, it seemed kind of subpar to tell the new owner that they have to keep looking at the bouncing gauge in the wing root vs. using the full capabilities of the G3X for fuel measurement and other calculations, etc. He agreed. I also mentioned that I think the G3X has the capability, by using 2 different algorithms, to accurately measure fuel qty in both the parked attitude and also in the level flight attitude.

Anyway, Jerry & Scott got together and discussed the idea & it sounds like that American Champion is going to move forward with adding the CiES digital fuel senders vs. the current Rochester manual float indicators. The only change that will need to be made for new production aircraft is to go from the current American Champion 4-hole gauge to the industry standard 5-hole sender that CiES uses. (for retrofit installations, American Champion Parts is going to eventually manufacture a 9-hole adapter ring that will allow us to install CiES 5-hole senders in the current American Champion 4-hole fuel tank opening).

I'm in the process of installing a Garmin GI-275 EIS in my fully restored 7GCBC and my installer is pre-wiring (power, sender & ground wires) the current fuel tunnel area in anticipation of receiving the digital fuel senders from CiES. I will keep posting about the progress of this install.
 

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I do have a question/request for the members of the group that have an EIS system installed in a 7GCBC or similar?

Does anyone have pictures of their installation of their fuel flow transducer? Looking through the Garmin GI-275 install instructions, it appears that I will need a minimum of 6" of straight fuel line before and after the transducer in order to get the accuracy correct. Here are pics of my current fuel line so I need to come up with a new fuel line solution, as it really isn't quite long enough.

Thank you!

Fuel Line (1).webpFuel Line.webp
 
I just installed one in my Bearhawk Patrol build. I hate design. Just going through that gives me some ideas and compassion. forgive me....I'm not familiar with AC aircraft. Can you mount the transducer on the hard line under the floor before the firewall? This will keep the mass of the unit in a cool location and so fuel will stay cooler. Can you suspend it between flexible hoses on the existing ports? If you exited the gascolator with a hose end that had a 90 degree fitting the hose assemble would be well supported with an Adle tube clamp on the engine mount tube.

Is your SCAT rubbing on your fuel line?
 

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bcone1381 said:
I just installed one in my Bearhawk Patrol build. I hate design. Just going through that gives me some ideas and compassion. forgive me....I'm not familiar with AC aircraft. Can you mount the transducer on the hard line under the floor before the firewall? This will keep the mass of the unit in a cool location and so fuel will stay cooler. Can you suspend it between flexible hoses on the existing ports? If you exited the gascolator with a hose end that had a 90 degree fitting the hose assemble would be well supported with an Adle tube clamp on the engine mount tube.

Is your SCAT rubbing on your fuel line?
Click to expand...

- I'm not sure that the Garmin STC allows mounting the transducer on the cabin side of the firewall. I will ask my installer.
- Not understanding your second question? Suspend it...??
- I think my installer asked Garmin about doing a 90 degree fitting and I'm not sure what the answer to that was. Will ask him.
- American Champion re-installed my engine when they completely rebuilt the aircraft and they attached the SCAT tubing onto the fire sleeve with that orange RTV so it doesn't rub at all. They are attached to each other. That is the way the factory installed it as the SCAT tubing & fire sleeve is all new.
 
You’re Welcome Plumber . looks somewhat limber but is actually very rigid . Approx .25in clearance with air box .
Phenix Performance Plumbing had the AN fittings for the connections between the transducer and the gascolator /fuel line .
 
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