New M20F owner question should I add an engine monitor or just a fuel totalizer

[Ragsf15e]

2 hours ago, KLRDMD said:

Good to know, that must have changed. Thanks for the update.

Sometimes their menus aren’t exactly user friendly or easy to decipher.  Coupled with confusing documentation, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what you can and can’t do.  Oh, and never mind the menus changing with software updates but the documentation not necessarily keeping up.

[0TreeLemur]

BTW- if you can buy your engine monitor at a discount, and have mechanical skills and a friendly A&P who will check your work, you can do most of the install yourself.  It isn't that difficult.  The instructions are step-by-step and detailed.   My co-pilot and I installed the pressure transducers, CHT & EGT probes/current shunt and connected the fuel sender lines for a JPI EDM900 in our Mooney.  Our A&P installed the fuel flow sensor/fire sleeve and checked our work. 

We love it.  Plus- because the 900 is primary, we were able to remove the old gauge cluster, tach, and FP/MP gauges.  No more flammables on our side of the firewall, which is great.

Not counting our time, our total cost was considerably less than 7.5AMUs because we bought it on sale, I think during "Sun-n-Fun".

[0TreeLemur]

4 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

You can set lower CHT limits with JPI 900, mine is set to 390°.

Tom, do you recall the menu options that allow this?   Just had to reprogram my EDM900 after a software upgrade, and I didn't see that option.   I've gone through the manual several times, and as @KLRDMD wrote above, they are clear as mud.

[ArtVandelay]

Tom, do you recall the menu options that allow this?   Just had to reprogram my EDM900 after a software upgrade, and I didn't see that option.   I've gone through the manual several times, and as [mention=7117]KLRDMD[/mention] wrote above, they are clear as mud.

Settings-factory settings-advisory limits-change pre alarms:
Enable msgs
Then change EGT, CHT, oil ….limits as desired

[Guest]

19 hours ago, FreightGuy said:

New Mooney owner here.  Love the aircraft.  F model.  Standard fuel gauges that bounce around in flight and also wing fuel level gauges next to fuel caps.  Have been considering a engine monitor even before buying it.  On my ferry flight home from TX to FL averaged 9 gph with no monitor.  My question for the fuel injected Mooney drivers out there, "Are the fuel savings justifiable for a $7500+ plus install?"  Or just a fuel flow gauge like an FS450 has worked for most of you?  Would like to hear from those with and without a engine monitor and those that went from none to a monitor for real time comparison.  Thank you for any help on the subject.

Look at the Insight Avionics G series engine monitors, the fulfill both of your requirements without breaking the budget.

Clarence

[jaylw314]

5 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

The cgr / cgp or gi275 eis systems are compelling if you have a standard instrument hole that you can use because there’s little to no panel cutting.  Much of the wiring is done in the engine compartment and little behind the panel.

Yes, I know they’re small, but they’ve got all the info and keep the panel mod to a minimum.

Even though they're smaller, I think the displays look snazzier and I can't really put a finger on why! 

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, jaylw314 said:

Even though they're smaller, I think the displays look snazzier and I can't really put a finger on why! 

Yeah, they do look good, they keep the panel clean and since they mount in instrument holes, they’re generally right in front of the pilot.  If I had an old school 6 pack to upgrade, I think I might go with the 2xEI units.

[Anzaldi01]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:20 PM, FreightGuy said:

New Mooney owner here.  Love the aircraft.  F model.  Standard fuel gauges that bounce around in flight and also wing fuel level gauges next to fuel caps.  Have been considering a engine monitor even before buying it.  On my ferry flight home from TX to FL averaged 9 gph with no monitor.  My question for the fuel injected Mooney drivers out there, "Are the fuel savings justifiable for a $7500+ plus install?"  Or just a fuel flow gauge like an FS450 has worked for most of you?  Would like to hear from those with and without a engine monitor and those that went from none to a monitor for real time comparison.  Thank you for any help on the subject.

I recently added an engine monitor to my M20A/E/J. Engine was timed out and was having it overhauled so it was the perfect time to protect my $30K investment with the new engine. The JPI 930 is STCd as a primary instrument and is worth every penny. It replaces all of your engine instruments including the Fuel Gages, OAT, EGT, CHT and will interface with your GPS to provide Fuel data for your flight/waypoints. The Lean Find features allow you to optimize your ROP or LOP engine leaning to optimize performance and fuel consumption. Of course it took a panel upgrade which I did while the engine was in the shop. 

 

[bradp]

I’ve got a 730 with plans to upgrade to an 830.  It cost about $2300 to install initially. It has told me of mag issues before they were issues.  It’s paid for itself in fuel savings.   

[Igor_U]

On 7/9/2021 at 7:20 PM, FreightGuy said:

New Mooney owner here.  Love the aircraft.  F model.  Standard fuel gauges that bounce around in flight and also wing fuel level gauges next to fuel caps.  Have been considering a engine monitor even before buying it.  On my ferry flight home from TX to FL averaged 9 gph with no monitor.  My question for the fuel injected Mooney drivers out there, "Are the fuel savings justifiable for a $7500+ plus install?"  Or just a fuel flow gauge like an FS450 has worked for most of you?  Would like to hear from those with and without a engine monitor and those that went from none to a monitor for real time comparison.  Thank you for any help on the subject.

First of all, welcome to MS and Mooney ownership. I see you were the one buying 18M, 67F and my plane's younger sister. They were probably on a Factory floor at the same time. A former owner of 16M brought to my attention the online add; he sold his Mooney since and new owner might be online. Also, we have slightly older 12M on MS...

There will be no appreciable fuel savings with engine monitor; as a matter of fact this would be just a start of spending $$ for maintenance and upgrades and that is OK.

I can tell you that I flew my 14M with all original gages for 10 year with no issues, running it successfully Lean of Peak (LOP) with only 4 channel EGT gage. That being said, I did install a new EI CGR-30P with additional Aerospace logics F202 fuel gages. CGR is a primary monitor so these two round gages replaced the number of original instrument on a RHS panel, with benefit of removing fuel and oil lines coming into the cockpit and having clean design panel  as I chose to cut and install new Al panel at the time. I would really suggest spending additional $$ to get the primary Engine Monitor as in my mind benefits are important to myself.

Other people suggested different boxes and that is fine; you can make your choice depending of your budget and how far do you want to go.

 

good luck

 

 

[ZuluZulu]

On 7/10/2021 at 10:04 AM, jaylw314 said:

I'm pretty sure the non-primary JPI 730 does not have the option for fuel tank sensors (just fuel flow and calculated volume).  That's only available on the primary 900 or 930, AFAIK.    I don't know if that's true for the EI monitors.

Since you're interested in replacing the fuel tank gauges, that's worth taking into consideration

My plane came with an EDM-730 (w/ fuel flow) already installed. As long as you always tell it when you add fuel, double-check its math when you fill up, and continue visually checking your tanks before flight, it’s a very good solution for not that much money. 

[jaylw314]

2 hours ago, ZuluZulu said:

My plane came with an EDM-730 (w/ fuel flow) already installed. As long as you always tell it when you add fuel, double-check its math when you fill up, and continue visually checking your tanks before flight, it’s a very good solution for not that much money. 

Right, I only mentioned that because OP was inquiring about supplementing or replacing the fuel tank gauges themselves.