Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

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Jakkals
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Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by Jakkals »

The regulations for amateur built aircraft in Canada call for “a fuel quantity indicating system for each main fuel tank”.
To measure the fuel in the wing tanks of a SuperStoI will require either senders in the tanks or sight gauges. The advice I received suggests keeping things simple by using sight gauges instead of installing senders. This makes sense to me but given the way the wing tanks are mounted in the SuperStol I am not sure how a sight gauge can be accommodated. Has anyone done this and, if so, would you please post some information on the topic and a picture or two?
If senders are used, would a capacitance sender be the way to go rather than a float arrangement? Any advice on type/make/model and placement in the tank?
In terms of knowledge I am a blank page, so any advice will be very useful!
Pieter
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Tralika
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by Tralika »

You might look into the new fuel probes from Belite.

http://www.beliteaircraftstore.com/liqu ... 1-4-probe/
John Nealon
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SuperFly
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by SuperFly »

Pieter,

The SuperSTOL comes from the factory with reinforcements welded to the side of the tank to drill and tap for fittings to make a sight tube. It will lay from the bottom near the fuel pick up port, up to the top at an angle. The butt rib has a slot already cut in them to accomodate the tube. Lay the butt rib up against the end rib on the wing, and it will be obvious. Im sorry, I dont have any pictures of it handy right now to post. I decided to go this route since it is dead simple, and fool resistant!

As Trailika points out, Belite makes a pretty cool sensor that should do the job just fine, and it looks pretty trick. But I felt like they were a little pricey...

I just decided to go lightweight, inexpensive, and simple.

After having flown a bit in the SS's you can see the tube fuel levels just fine from either seat.
Best,
Ben Schneider
Highlander #263 converted to SuperSTOL
N45FT Now Flying!
http://www.stolairplane.com
Jakkals
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by Jakkals »

Very useful information, thank you, gentlemen.
Pieter
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kenryan
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by kenryan »

Has anyone successfully installed the Belite fuel sender? I have read only one report (Sonex builder) and it was very negative saying:

"The fuel sender works, but I don’t trust it in flight. Its susceptible to electrical noise (lots with the Jabiru). In turbulence, the readings are all over the place. On the ground, they are stable. So I use it only to check level before flight. I use my MGL with a RedCube flow to calculate fuel level in flight. Its highly accurate. The xTreme allows you to have two fuel levels, one based on a sender, one based on flow. I use the latter. It is too good to be true. I won’t remove it, it provides some benefit."

It would be interesting to hear if others are using it successfully.
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danerazz
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by danerazz »

You need to understand how the belite probe works. It senses the head pressure and converts that to a gauge reading. It is sensing VERY small changes and therefore if you have it in a wing tank any sloshing will cause significant variations. It would read much better on a tall, narrow tank (like a vertical tube). If you put it in the header it would read your fuel system, but if you unport the wing pickups it will only read the header, based on your calibration for the whole system.
Dane

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blzacc
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by blzacc »

Has anyone tried inserting a 1/8" restrictor in the bottom of the wing sight gauge tube to reduce the sloshing effect during flight?
Allan
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Re: Fuel senders/gauges vs. sight gauges in a SuperStol

Post by Allan »

I have fitted sight gauges yo my tanks and are very happy with them. I put black angled marks across a thin reflective tape behind the plastic fuel line sight tube. I also have a small hole in the base of the bottom point that slows the fuel movement in bumpy flight.
I have almost 40 hours on it Si far.
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