I wanted to share a something I unfortunately discovered the hard way in the event that someone had the same idea I did, in the future.
So the race plane I'm building, Lancair Super Legacy with TIO-580, has a lot of 'extra' things I want to monitor and data log. In order to be able to expand the engine monitor capabilities to handle what I want to measure, I added a second GEA-24. The thought was I would have doubled the available inputs. Well, that is not the case. The ONLY thing you increase is the number of CHT and EGT probes you can monitor, and the ability to display 2 of the same type of engine probe (as if you had a twin) for things like oil pressure, RPM, fuel pressure, manifold pressure, etc. Importantly what you DO NOT expand is any of the 'General Purpose' or Position inputs, which is really all I was after.
So, word of caution, adding an extra GEA-24 does not 'double' your available inputs like I thought it would.
Also, some other advice for those using all the general purpose inputs. You cannot change the order in which they are displayed. So, if you think about what you want shown from left to right, GP1 is on the left and it goes in order from there. So for example, my most important aux input would be O2 sensors, so that goes Left 02 (GP1) Right O2 (GP2) Left Waste Gate Position (GP3) Right Waste Gate Position (GP4) and so on.
I will be requesting (as I'm sure it has been done already) to the new feature wish list the ability to modify the engine instrument display. There is soooo much wasted space. At 50 ft going 400 mph (maybe one day) I really don't want to have to look at the MFD and switch to an Aux tab to see what my inlet air temperature is.. This isn't a knock on Garmin, in fact this is the 5th G3X system I've built, so I'm definitely sold on the product. But, as of now, I'll be the only airplane hopefully racing in the Gold at Reno that uses a G3X, primarily because of the limited engine page display capabilities.
Maybe this will help someone in the future if you start to build an above average complexity airplane.
~Tom
So the race plane I'm building, Lancair Super Legacy with TIO-580, has a lot of 'extra' things I want to monitor and data log. In order to be able to expand the engine monitor capabilities to handle what I want to measure, I added a second GEA-24. The thought was I would have doubled the available inputs. Well, that is not the case. The ONLY thing you increase is the number of CHT and EGT probes you can monitor, and the ability to display 2 of the same type of engine probe (as if you had a twin) for things like oil pressure, RPM, fuel pressure, manifold pressure, etc. Importantly what you DO NOT expand is any of the 'General Purpose' or Position inputs, which is really all I was after.
So, word of caution, adding an extra GEA-24 does not 'double' your available inputs like I thought it would.
Also, some other advice for those using all the general purpose inputs. You cannot change the order in which they are displayed. So, if you think about what you want shown from left to right, GP1 is on the left and it goes in order from there. So for example, my most important aux input would be O2 sensors, so that goes Left 02 (GP1) Right O2 (GP2) Left Waste Gate Position (GP3) Right Waste Gate Position (GP4) and so on.
I will be requesting (as I'm sure it has been done already) to the new feature wish list the ability to modify the engine instrument display. There is soooo much wasted space. At 50 ft going 400 mph (maybe one day) I really don't want to have to look at the MFD and switch to an Aux tab to see what my inlet air temperature is.. This isn't a knock on Garmin, in fact this is the 5th G3X system I've built, so I'm definitely sold on the product. But, as of now, I'll be the only airplane hopefully racing in the Gold at Reno that uses a G3X, primarily because of the limited engine page display capabilities.
Maybe this will help someone in the future if you start to build an above average complexity airplane.
~Tom
