Mark Henderson
Well Known Member
The Dynon that is standard in the RV-12 is a wonderful piece of equipment. It is compact, and contains just about every bit of information you could want. With the touch of a button you can scroll between screens and retrieve all flight and engine data. At the same time, this is also the greatest weakness of the Dynon. There is a lot of information depicted in a small space, and not everything can be displayed simultaneously.
One solution is to add the second Dynon that Vans offers. At $2350 it is not exactly cheap. I have flown in a Zodiac that had dual Dynons. I found the second screen more difficult to read than the one directly in front of my eyes. I decided to add a couple of basic instrument for flight and engine instead.
Over the course of several bull sessions we debated what to include. Panel space would be limited, so only the most essential steam gauges could be fitted. An ASI and altimeter were at the top of everyone's list. The Dynon, the Garmin 495, and my Ipad all had compasses, so no need for another. I bought a used united 3 1/8" altimeterfor $100 and a new Uma 3 1/8" 20-140 knot airspeed for $240, which included the correct color bands. I would have liked a VSI, but decided it really wasn't needed. I installed T's on the Dynon and routed lines to the gauges.
For the engine, the choices were in part dictated by the Rotax itself. A couple of builders have experience oil pressure sender failures in flight. Since I was moving the oil pressure sender to the firewall, adding a mechanical pressure gauge was simple. I found a NOS Uma 2 1/4" mechanical oil pressure gauge on Ebay for $50. I would have liked to add an oil temp gauge as well, but it would have been more difficult. There is a spare port on the oil pump right by the oil pressure sender. Per Lockwood the is very little flow there so the reading would be suspect. In the end, I decided I didn't need it.
I have had multiple fuel pressure alarms, so I bought a mechanical Uma 2 1/4" fuel pressure gauge. I didn't want lines running all over the engine for the oil and fuel gauges. I therefor swapped the radiator overflow bottle and fuel sender positions. There was adequate room between the brake master reservoir and the radiator hoses to mount it. I riveted 2 nut plates to the firewall to mount it.
I mounted a manifold that I purchased from Vans in the general area vacated by the overflow bottle. It was bolted to the firewall on a 1" oak spacer to ensure that there was adequate clearance. All lines are Aeroquip Teflon/braided stainless hoses. I bought them from an off road race car supplier. The line from the engine to the manifold is an 04, and the lines to the gauges are 03. They also sold 1/8" pipe to AN adapters. In order to minimize fluctuation, we fabricated restrictors out of aluminum rod and pressed them into the adapters. They were drilled with a #67 drill. Here is a picture of the manifold set up:
The panel was fabricated from .063 aluminum. It took a couple of tries to get the altimeter hole done correctly. I had Monroy ATD-300 traffic alerter that I also added to the panel. Here is what the final product looks like:
I wish I had moved everything a bit to the left in laying out the panel. The map box was a tight fit. I may add a tiny tach later. My original design included a second electronic tach, but Lockwood advised that running 2 tachs from one sender might not work.
The total cost was about $650. It may not be everyones cup of tea, but it fits my needs.
One solution is to add the second Dynon that Vans offers. At $2350 it is not exactly cheap. I have flown in a Zodiac that had dual Dynons. I found the second screen more difficult to read than the one directly in front of my eyes. I decided to add a couple of basic instrument for flight and engine instead.
Over the course of several bull sessions we debated what to include. Panel space would be limited, so only the most essential steam gauges could be fitted. An ASI and altimeter were at the top of everyone's list. The Dynon, the Garmin 495, and my Ipad all had compasses, so no need for another. I bought a used united 3 1/8" altimeterfor $100 and a new Uma 3 1/8" 20-140 knot airspeed for $240, which included the correct color bands. I would have liked a VSI, but decided it really wasn't needed. I installed T's on the Dynon and routed lines to the gauges.
For the engine, the choices were in part dictated by the Rotax itself. A couple of builders have experience oil pressure sender failures in flight. Since I was moving the oil pressure sender to the firewall, adding a mechanical pressure gauge was simple. I found a NOS Uma 2 1/4" mechanical oil pressure gauge on Ebay for $50. I would have liked to add an oil temp gauge as well, but it would have been more difficult. There is a spare port on the oil pump right by the oil pressure sender. Per Lockwood the is very little flow there so the reading would be suspect. In the end, I decided I didn't need it.
I have had multiple fuel pressure alarms, so I bought a mechanical Uma 2 1/4" fuel pressure gauge. I didn't want lines running all over the engine for the oil and fuel gauges. I therefor swapped the radiator overflow bottle and fuel sender positions. There was adequate room between the brake master reservoir and the radiator hoses to mount it. I riveted 2 nut plates to the firewall to mount it.
I mounted a manifold that I purchased from Vans in the general area vacated by the overflow bottle. It was bolted to the firewall on a 1" oak spacer to ensure that there was adequate clearance. All lines are Aeroquip Teflon/braided stainless hoses. I bought them from an off road race car supplier. The line from the engine to the manifold is an 04, and the lines to the gauges are 03. They also sold 1/8" pipe to AN adapters. In order to minimize fluctuation, we fabricated restrictors out of aluminum rod and pressed them into the adapters. They were drilled with a #67 drill. Here is a picture of the manifold set up:
The panel was fabricated from .063 aluminum. It took a couple of tries to get the altimeter hole done correctly. I had Monroy ATD-300 traffic alerter that I also added to the panel. Here is what the final product looks like:
I wish I had moved everything a bit to the left in laying out the panel. The map box was a tight fit. I may add a tiny tach later. My original design included a second electronic tach, but Lockwood advised that running 2 tachs from one sender might not work.
The total cost was about $650. It may not be everyones cup of tea, but it fits my needs.
................ I think!....