calibrating dynon oil temp/press

prkaye · #1 04-09-2010, 08:01 AM

I don't see anything in the D-180 installation manual regarding calibration of the oil pressure/temp sensors. Should I get a hold of a calibrated external sensor and connect this to the engine prior to first engine run to verify the Dynon readings? What have others done... is it safe to trust the dynon sensors for first engine run?

Brantel · #2 04-09-2010, 08:07 AM

Dynon offers no way to calibrate a sensor. You can set some offsets on the OAT and ALT, Attitude and Compass, and set the zero on the ASI.

Just make sure you have the correct sensor type selected. Other than that, there is not much you can do.

You can however verify the accuracy by heating and cooling the probes, applying known pressure or vacuum levels etc. I doubt many people do this.

Jamie · #3 04-09-2010, 08:10 AM

You should be fine using only the Dynon. Oil temp is no big deal. You're not going to run the engine long enough to get the oil temp to a point where it matters anyway. With oil pressure....if you don't get an indication, simply shut it down. If you do get an indication...it's working.

Before my first engine start I had help from Mike Stewart (Kahuna here on the forums). We removed the spark plugs (meaning no compression on the engine) and turned the prop until we saw oil pressure on the EMS.

DakotaHawk · #4 04-09-2010, 06:01 PM

It's very important to make sure that you look at every single sensor in the Global Settings on your Dynon.

I thought that I had everything set properly, but missed my fuel pressure sensor. The carberated version is different than the FI sensor. I was showing 9psi on my FI engine

.

A buddy missed setting his units, and couldn't figure out why his altitude was indicating 300 when he KNEW that he was at 1000'. (He was set to metric/meters)

As for calibrating instruments, it's probably more important to watch trends rather than specific numbers. If your oil temp is running 195* and next flight it runs 125*, you might have something going on...

Bob Kuykendall · #5 04-09-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prkaye

I don't see anything in the D-180 installation manual regarding calibration of the oil pressure/temp sensors...

For the temp sensor, you can just dip it in boiling water, and see if it goes up to the temperature at which water boils for your field elevation. I've done that with a couple of different temperature sensors.

For oil pressure, I suppose you could make an NPT manifold and cross-check it against a known good gauge using pressure from a bicycle tire pump.