Digital Engine Monitor for Single Engine Aircraft

[Dallas the Dog]

Have pretty much talked myself into getting a digital engine monitor for my Cessna A150M. Anyone out there have any recommendations? My research has led me to these final three candidates: Electronics International UBG 16; JPI EDM 700; Insight 6XXX (GEM 3 if money isn't an object). All three can give me EGT/CHT, OAT, carb inlet temp, and volts and amps; which is what I am basically interested in. I am not experienced with anyone of these products.

[SeptRepair]

I have had alot of customers in the past have me install the Insight Gem series. If memory serves me right they have a serial port download capability so you can monitor each flight and look through all the data afterwards. The odd probe might go U/S but other than that it was a pretty stable system.

[Cat Driver]

Here is what I had installed in the Husky I fly for a friend.


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e353/ ... 020479.jpg

It is the full E.I. package, the analyzer, note below the analyzer on the left you will find the plug in for the computer down loading.

[C-FKLY]

We have an EDM-700 in our 182. It's a great unit, makes me feel much more confident about my mixture settings and CHTs. And when paired with the fuel flow, it's definitely handy. But you're saying you will be running it in a 150? Not going to discourage you, but have you thought about your costs? With install, even the cheapest units will run $2000 -- up to $4000 on the EDM700 with fuel flow -- and on our 182, had it not come with the plane when we bought it, it would have been hard to justify.

[cgzro]

No kidding, its about 10% of the cost of an engine overhaul!

I think they are probably very useful with fuel injected engines when you have balanced injectors and want to lean the crap out of the engine to save on fuel but for a simple 150 you are unlikely to get much value out of it.

I'd spend the money on a really kick ass GPS like that new Garmin 695 or whatever. That'll have more impact on the safety of your flying than an engine monitor in a 150.

Better yet spend the money on gas. Thats a lot of hours in a 150.

Peter

[Hedley]

The digital stuff is sexy, but as people point out, pretty
expensive for a buck fifty!

I would start with a four-cylinder rotary EGT for USD$230:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/i ... ombos3.php

which will tell you an awful lot about what's happening
inside your engine.

And if you really really liked that, and are a true gearhead,
and need to know more, you could spring the usd$163
on something like this for a four-cylinder CHT kit:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/i ... ombos3.php

The EGT kit is easy to install - just drill some holes in your
exhaust stacks, and remember that you can't change the
length of the wire to the probes.

CHT is only as good as the probes. I hate those crappy ones
that replace the spark plug copper washer - get the proper
probes that screw into the cylinder, IMHO.

If I had to choose between the two, I would go with EGT
before CHT. EGT tells you what's happening inside the
cylinder. If you also have CHT, it mostly tells you about
how good your baffling is - it will tell you if a jug is really
hot, and if the EGT isn't out of whack, usually it's just a
matter of airflow and cooling.

[light chop]

I've got the EDM-700 which works great but I had to replace the display in it recently - segments disappeared on it. They use a plasma display in their units, I'm not the first one to have a display go bad. I think they have a limited lifspan.

Good news is they repaired it very quickly (less than a week total down time) and it only cost $100.