I've installed Jerry's fuel contents gauge in my Europa. It was a little
tricky
to fit, as has been stated.
However, it works perfectly and gives me enough information to know when I'm
close to running out. I would say within +- 5 minutes once the mechanism is
understood.
In my view, I want to know approximate rate of fuel consumption and
consequently
maximum endurance, minus a reserve quantity. In this regard the gauge
exactly meets my
requirement.
I had an incident a few years back when I falsely believed the reading from
a
capacitance style fuel guage (it had shorted somewhere and stopped at 1/4
full !).
There are of course, other ways of working out how much fuel is remaining
(for
example 'time since full') which are reasonably accurate and now I place far
greater emphases on these. In fact, with my 'unpredictable' sight gauge,
this
was my primary means of calculating endurance for over two years, and it
worked
pretty well, even for flights of nearly four hours.
Alan
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa@post.aviators.net
Subject: Re: Europa-Fuel contents
Quite true the sender uses a straight tube with eight switches.
Disadvantages:
Tricky to fit - maybe but hopefully not too bad with Europas instructions
and new installation kit.
Only a resolution of 1/8. Its a bit like using a digital voltmeter to
measure very small values. The digital display with its four decimal places
gives the illusion of accuracy however they are often no more accurate than
an analogue unit.
Advantages:
Inexpensive
Very low current draw
Not susceptible to fuel density changes (like a capacitance device)
Does not break if in contact with water
Very well damped
Readings are very consistent
Very reliable
Currently used by four of Europe's leading A/C manufacturers (soon to be 4)
Capacitance gauges may appear more accurate because they have better than
1/8th resolution but because of the variations in fuel make up they are
often less accurate. The difference being with our gauge if it indicates 20
litres you have at least 20 litres. Whereas with a capacitance gauge if it
says you have 22.5 litres may have 22.5 litres then again you may not.
Jerry
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