Fuel Quantity

[Barnstormer]

Hello All,
My new to me RV-6 has pretty much inop fuel quantity indicators. Don't know if its indicators, probes, or whatever else yet.

My question for ya'll. Are there better systems and or ways to have reliable fuel quantity indicators?

Thanks
Pat

 

[Daver]

fuel gages

I'm just using the float type senders that I got with my kit.

Also, Van's gauges.

initial testing indicates this setup will work fine.

If both your gauges are "dead", I'd suspect an electrical issue at your panel.

There's other systems (like capacitive senders) but they will require you opening up the tanks to install them.

Dave
-9A finish kit
N514R reserved

 

[L.Adamson]

My 6A has floats and Van's fuel gauges. With the angle of the wings dihedral, and floats sitting at the low end, you can run quite a bit of fuel through the engine before the floats even move.

Therefor, I installed one of these.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/flightdatafc10.php

It measures the fuel that runs through the system, and is accurate within a few 10ths of a gallon at fill ups. This way, you always know what's, used, what's remaining, and how far you can go with what's left. Needs to be connected to a GPS to give you the distance/remaining equation.

Basically, I pay little attention to the fuel gauges these days, and just switch tanks every 1/2 hr. when the GPS reminds me.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

 

[almarsh]

dead gauges???????

ONLY ONE THING IS WRONG , LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY CHECK YOUR (2) BLACK WIRES FOR COMMON GROUND , MONEY SAYS THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM

 

[RV6_flyer]

Hello All,
My new to me RV-6 has pretty much inop fuel quantity indicators. Don't know if its indicators, probes, or whatever else yet.

My question for ya'll. Are there better systems and or ways to have reliable fuel quantity indicators?

Thanks
Pat

I have 12+ years on my RV-6 and 3,335+ hobbs hours without any issue with Van's recommended fuel indicating system.

I'm just using the float type senders that I got with my kit.

Also, Van's gauges.

initial testing indicates this setup will work fine.

If both your gauges are "dead", I'd suspect an electrical issue at your panel.

There's other systems (like capacitive senders) but they will require you opening up the tanks to install them.

Dave
-9A finish kit
N514R reserved

I agree. Good possibility that you have a bad ground between the senders and the gauge.

ONLY ONE THING IS WRONG , LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY CHECK YOUR (2) BLACK WIRES FOR COMMON GROUND , MONEY SAYS THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM

Yes the black wire would be the ground wire. IF the builder of the airplane did not use a separate ground all the way to the sender, the ground path through all the different pieces of metal between the sender and the battery ground (negative) is a good possibility that is the problem.

I ran a ground that has a STAR washer on one of the mounting screws of the fuel sender all the way back to the gauge.

If you disconnect the wire on the fuel sender, (the wire that is under the screw that is on an insulator) you should be able to read the resistance of the sender with an ohm meter. Expect something like 7 ohms at one end to near 300 ohms at the other. IF the sender was out of the tank, you could move it from one extreme to the other and see it move. Do not expect exactly 300 ohms but it could be 274 to 288. The 7 could be any where from 3 or 4 to 20 ohms. With fuel in a flying airplane, it is difficult to do this.