What are you thoughts on the FP-5L fuel flow

[MATTS875]

Well , my plane is set to be delivered on 8-30 and being that it is going to be a week away, I am debating on going ahead and letting the shop install a Electronics FP-5L and connecting it to the 430.I have read a lot of good reviews on it and wanted all your thoughts.

[bnicolette]

Is there an engine monitor already installed?

[MATTS875]

Brett , there is no engine monitor.  Any suggestions on what to do? The aieron trim gauge is inop and that is where I wanted to put the fp-5l. There are a couple of extra places in the co-pilots side to put gauges but seem like they would be hard to see from the pilots side.

[scottfromiowa]

I have one and like it very much, but if I didn't have an engine monitor and wanted to fit in a small gauge spot I would get the Insight G3.  Comes with digital probes for cylinder and exhaust temp (certified Primary) as well as back up digital tach, MP, outside temp, fuel flow, voltage and oil temp.  Check 'em out.  I sump my tanks and program the fuel quantity at beginning of flight (takes 10 seconds).  You can then scroll between flow, remaining, used, HP Fuel to destination etc.  I got mine on sale through Spruce for under $.5AMU.  Wouldn't fly without it or a coomparable JPI unit.

[bnicolette]

Matt,

I hope others will chime in here as well.

The first thing I added to my airplane, as it didn't have anything for fuel flow or engine monitoring either, was a JPI 830.  If I were you, I would go for the engine monitor with a fuel flow component.  I know how much of a hit I took just buying the airplane but I was told that it is nearly impossible to correctly run the engine without an engine monitor.  I had a hard time believing that statement at the time, but now having owned and operated one, I am a believer.  Obviously it is done all the time and it's not dangerous, but it is certainly advantageous to utilize one.  Every piston airplane I had flown previously there was no way I was leaning correctly and a lot of times, I wasn't even comfortable leaning the airplane.  I mean the old way was to pull out the mixture till the engine ran rough (WHAT, rough engine.............no thank you) is what I thought so I rarely leaned very much.  Now, I can do it with precision and it makes sense what I'm doing as opposed to just pulling out the knob.  I also really enjoy being able to put the days flight on a USB jump drive, taking it home, and going over the many parameters that I couldn't possibly keep an eye on during the flight.  It is very reassuring that my engine is running as it ought to be and also gives me a good baseline to see if anything is creeping out of the baseline numbers.

There are many units out there and I'm sure their all good.  I like the JPI because of the size, ease of reading, USB port right in the front of the unit, and being able to customize the parameters I want to see all the time.

Just food for thought Matt and personally, I would wait until I could add the whole enchilada instead of just the fuel flow.

Brett

[MATTS875]

Thanks Scott for the information, I just looked up the insight 3g and it is around $3000 plus install.Very nice unit .Right now being I just bought the plane I am going to have to take it slow.Maybe one day it will work for me.Seems like installation prices are very expensive

[MATTS875]

Thanks Brett, that makes more sense being the installation price could be on the one unit as opposed to several individual ones that can be in the one unit.I will look at the engine monitors and see what is available.I would have around $1200 for just the FP-5L alone. When I sold my cirrus sr20 I sold all headsets etc. so having to start from scratch.

[markeg1964]

I had one installed in my Mooney shorthly after purchasing it.  The fuel guage is not accurate and my A&P recommended the fuel flow meter instead of spending money troubleshooting the fuel guage.  The EI guage is much more useful than I thought it would be.  I will not own another plane without some type of fuel flow meter.

 

[N601RX]

Matt,

JPI had their 730 engine monitor with fuel flow for $1600 at Oshkosh a few weeks ago.  The 830 was $2600.  I'm not sure if they would still honor these prices/rebates, but if called and asked they might.

[MATTS875]

What does it cost to install a jpi 730 or 830? I have no clue.

[bnicolette]

My JPI 830 was installed by a MSC as part of my annual inspection, but I think it was around $1500.  However, the 830 has every component that is available for the JPI unit.  I am extremely happy with the unit and would definitely do it all over again.

There was a rumor circulating about JPI working on the 830 being able to be a replacement unit for the original aircraft components, but I have no idea if this was true.  I tried to ask JPI about that via email, but they would not respond????

[MATTS875]

Thanks Brett, I think I will wait and get the 830 in a few months.It will be a much better deal and get a lot more bank for my bucks.

[N601RX]

Quote: MATTS875

What does it cost to install a jpi 730 or 830? I have no clue.

[MATTS875]

Sounds good. I went ahead and bought the fp-5l and hopefully one day in the near future I can upgrade to the 830.I want to make sure I am going to love my mooney before I start sinking thousands into it.From all the topics I think I will be well pleased with my m20e.This will be a building process

[721lp]

I had an FP-5 installed in my '67 C, ...wouldn't fly without it. The original gauges are junk. Now I know exactly how much fuel I've used and have remaining. I got mine on sale from Spruce for 498. Good deal.

 

[Hank]

So where in the panel of your C did you find room to put it? I would love some engine monitoring even more than fuel flow, but right now all I have is the single factory row along the top of the panel, right side, and Carb Temp and EGT [small dials] on the lower left.

[RJBrown]

When Rocket did the conversion in 1994 they added a FP-5L to it. They added it below the panel on the right side. A sub panel was added for this purpose. See pictue below. I really liked the FP-5L it was very accurate and more user freindly than the unit in my MSE.