What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RV14-Fuel Sender Float Wire Bends

jeffw@sc47

Well Known Member
I messed up the two float wires supplied with the sender units yesterday. Bent the first one "precisely" as shown in the diagram Page 18-10. My definition of "precisely" means that I fabricated a plywood jig to hold the wire along the 4" lengths very tight and got the 90 degree bends sharp with a small radius, the arm lengths were as close to the diagram specs as anyone could get them.

After bending the first, the clamp loop around the float interfered with the #2 rib and would not work freely. Tried to put a couple of bends in the leg coming from the sender unit to shorten the leg - kind of fixed it but not good solution. So I bent the other wire per the design specs thinking I the first was not precise enough. Same outcome and the second one was no better than the first - perfect in my opinion. Second also interfered with the rib.

So I got out my measurement tools, my CAD tools, my scanner, and my kit of software. In the diagram (Figure 1, page 18-07) showing the arc swing and scaling of the design I found a couple of discrepancies.

My findings and solution - you will need to decide for yourself whether I got this correct or am off base:

This I Believe - scrutinize what I found and if you see that I am wrong please let me know.

1- The distance between the facing surfaces of the ribs each side of the compartment where the float is located is approximately 8 7/16", almost 1/2" less than the space indicated (8 29/32") in the diagram (Fig 1, 18-07).

2- The arc of the swing designed is not indicated correctly in that the center-point of the swing shown is approximately 3 1/2" beyond the presumed c-p shown at the sender. The arc swing as I calculate is 6 7/16" with the center of the swing at the post inserted into the sender unit.

3- In the diagram, I created the pdf scan (then scaled to actual size) is over-laid with CAD construction - BLUE lines highlighting the designed tank ribs locations, floats, and swing arc; and the RED lines indicate the float wire bends as designed on Page 18-10 with their swing arc.

Fuel%20Sender%20Wire%20Bends%20VAF_160505_zps7morozsz.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

4- The interference point of the actual swing arc and the actual location of the tank rib corresponds exactly with what I found when bending the wires as designed and temporarily installing the sender in the tank. I inserted some 1/32" thick paper shims to simulate the ProSeal gasket thickness.

5- Also, I believe that the bend diagram on page 18-10 showing the 1/2" leg at the sender end of the wire is bent the same direction relative to the float end clamp for both float wires. At first I thought that it would be opposite the left float and that was part of the reason the first wire was discarded. I am still trying to convince myself of that. This float wire bending is akin to a Rubics Cube.

I found that Van's does have a supply of replacement float wires, so I ordered 3 wires to do-over the bends, at $5.50 each. I believe that if I shorten the 4" legs by 1/16" - 3/32" each, the float will clear the rib and I will have the 1/16" clearance called for top and bottom from the skins.
 
I just bent mine in a vise as per plans and then tweaked them for clearance. Mine seemed fine.
 
As I recall, I painstakingly tried to match the drawing and ended up with interference just as you experienced - the drawing and measurements make the "arms" too long. On the first one (already bent), I shortened the arms with V bends and on the second I shortened the arms.
 
float interference

Good bit of work Jeff. I had the same problem only worse, since I did it on a QB wing and assumed all would be ok if I bent per plans since the clearance on the drawing looked more than adequate...then after pro-sealing in place, I discovered the interference. I managed to reach in through the drain and vent holes with a hooked rod and tweak the bend to eliminate the interference, but I should have checked first...

Whoever drew the arc on Fig 1 apparently used the wrong center point...
 
Last edited:
I just worked on those last week and had a similar problem. I put a v-bend in and tweaked until it worked in the tanks. On that topic- how well do these floats actually work in practice? I never trust the floats in my Mooney. I dip my tanks before every flight and use a fuel flow computer to monitor fuel burned.

wing611a.JPG
 
I'm with Ron on this one. Get it close and make small tweaks. I was more concerned with accuracy on the low end, so I made sure that the sender bottomed out per specs. On the high end of travel, I'm assuming my tanks will take slightly longer to show a drawdown since my upper limit of travel doesn't place the float as close to the top surface.

The float wires are cheap. Ask me how I know. :)
 
5- Also, I believe that the bend diagram on page 18-10 showing the 1/2" leg at the sender end of the wire is bent the same direction relative to the float end clamp for both float wires. At first I thought that it would be opposite the left float and that was part of the reason the first wire was discarded. I am still trying to convince myself of that. This float wire bending is akin to a Rubics Cube.

I found that Van's does have a supply of replacement float wires, so I ordered 3 wires to do-over the bends, at $5.50 each. I believe that if I shorten the 4" legs by 1/16" - 3/32" each, the float will clear the rib and I will have the 1/16" clearance called for top and bottom from the skins.

Jeff, thanks for posting this info. It was good timing as I needed to bend the float wires yesterday. I reduced each of the 4" legs by 3/32" per your advice and they fit perfectly, with about 1/8" clearance to the rib. Also I can confirm that you bend the wires for both tanks exactly as shown in the isometric view on page 18-10 and install the float pointing the same direction as the 1/2" leg on the sender end of the wire. In other words, don't try to make the right one opposite of what is shown for the left one. When installed in the right tank this will result in the float pointing back towards the aft baffle (if it were pointing forward like it is in the left tank it would interfere with the vent line).

Thanks,
 
no more replacement wires

I wish I would have seen this thread before I bent up my right tank wire. The left one was too long and I had to play with it quite a bit. Finally got it. I feel the directions aren't real clear, there is no mention of the right tank. Looked at it again and again and thought that making them both the same would be incorrect, so I reversed the bottom bend, the one at the sensor. Wrong.

Just tried to order a replacement wire today. Van's can't get them from Stewart Warner, so I had to buy the whole unit. Expensive mistake.
 
I topic- how well do these floats actually work in practice? I never trust the floats in my Mooney. I dip my tanks before every flight and use a fuel flow computer to monitor fuel burned.

If you use an EFIS to process the float data (I use a GRT HX) it can be amazingly accurate. You need to input a calibration table. Plus, the efis will do a little averaging so you don?t see any sloshing. You can?t measure the top few gallons due to wing dihedral but otherwise it compares really well with my fuel flow measurement.
 
Amazing. Plane plans are 10 years old (almost) I had to buy 3 extra fuel senders to get this right. Glad they are still fixing the plans
 
An interesting fact is that only some RV-14 builders had an issue with float interference after using the original float arm dimensions. Is that because the majority of builders are not super precise with this step and the error provided additional clearance most of the time? Who knows. The prototype/demonstrators were built using the same template as well and are working fine.

Regardless, the new dimensions should provide enough margin to assure that from now on everyone has to buy only two sensors ;)
 
Back
Top