Float or Capacitive?

papamike · #1 03-20-2010, 05:23 PM

Hi y'all,
Getting ready to order wings for my RV7A. Wondering if there's a major difference between floats and capacitive for fuel quantity? Any experience good or bad for either one? I'm leaning toward capacitive at the moment.

Thanks

AltonD · #2 03-20-2010, 05:29 PM

I have the capacitance probes. I don't see how anything could ever go wrong with them, but there have been others that have had problems.

One thing to consider: Capacitance probes require converters. I bought the Princeton converters for ~$130 each side (read two). The Dynon converters are much cheaper, but they were not out when I needed the converters.

They are a piece of cake to set up and highly accurate with my AFS3500 EFIS.

this is one of those hot button topics. You will get a lot of responses both pro and con.

painless · #3 03-20-2010, 06:43 PM

Pete, I have capacitance senders in my 6A with an EI FL-2C fuel gauge. My 6A is circa prior to the explosion of engine monitors etc.

I continue to be impressed with their accuracy. I routinely see how much fuel I need to fill up each tank via the fuel gauge, and find that it is spot on with what shows at the pump. Absolutely no squawks in going on 4 years of flying.

I am in the highly recommend camp.

Regards

Danny7 · #4 03-20-2010, 06:43 PM

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=float+capacitan...nsairforce.com

only because i've seen many threads already on the topic.

L.Adamson · #5 03-20-2010, 07:55 PM

Which ever way you go, I'd plan on installing a fuel flow gauge tied to a GPS. It's instant information in regards to fuel used, fuel left, and fuel to destination. I hardly look at the fuel gauges anymore. They are float, and not as accuract as a working capacitive unit. But with the fuel flow monitor, I wouldn't go to the trouble of capacitive senders.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

Phil · #6 03-20-2010, 07:59 PM

Are capacitive senders available as an upgrade on QB wings?

Ironflight · #7 03-20-2010, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by papamike

Hi y'all,
Getting ready to order wings for my RV7A. Wondering if there's a major difference between floats and capacitive for fuel quantity? Any experience good or bad for either one? I'm leaning toward capacitive at the moment.

Thanks

Having a general mistrust of fuel gauges in general, I decided (like many others) to go simple and inexpensive wit them (floats) and use Fuel Flow and the EFIS totalizer to track my fuel. I've had zero problems with the float gauges in over 1,000 hours. I use them primarily to tell me which tank has more than the other -once they have come down off the peg (that takes about 4 gallons).

I came to RV's out of a Grumman Yankee which had sight gauges, and they weren't always the most truthful things around - so I learned to depend on time to track my gas. Old habits are hard to break...

Paul

Radomir · #8 03-20-2010, 08:24 PM

No.. floats only.. and that's not a bad thing... they work just fine when installed (bent) properly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil

Are capacitive senders available as an upgrade on QB wings?

yakdriver · #9 03-20-2010, 10:11 PM

I have floats with a Dynon D120. After calibration the gauges read right on the money. No reason to spend the money on capacitance. Don

swisseagle · #10 03-21-2010, 03:45 PM

Hello

The type of fuel where you will do the calibration is important.

With AVGAS 100 it works perfectly and very accurate, with AUTOFUEL 98 (MOGAS in EUROPE) which can contain alcohol it is much more critical and give changing values.

When you have calibrated it with AVGAS and you put in MOGAS, it will read wrong by a certain amount.

A friend of mine changed after flying a year to the float one's, they read always fine, regardless which fuel you have on board.

Dominik